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ETL

Evidence: ETL
Description: Collect ETL Log
Category: System
Platform: windows
Short Name: etl
Is Parsed: No
Sent to Investigation Hub: Yes
Collect File(s): Yes

Event Trace for Windows (ETW) is a high-performance event tracing mechanism built into Windows. ETL (Event Trace Log) files store trace data captured by ETW providers. These files contain detailed system and application event information that can be more granular than standard Windows Event Logs.

ETL files are used for diagnostics, performance analysis, and troubleshooting. They can contain valuable forensic information about system behavior, application activity, and performance metrics.

This collector gathers structured data about etl.

FieldDescriptionExample
NameArtifact nameETL Log
TypeFile or FolderFile
SourcePathOriginal file pathC:\Windows\System32\WDI\LogFiles\trace.etl
PathRelative path in evidenceOther/trace.etl

This collector collects ETL files from the following locations:

  • Windows\System32\WDI\LogFiles\*.etl
  • Windows\System32\LogFiles\WMI\*.etl
  • Windows\System32\WDI\*\*\*.etl
  • Programdata\Microsoft\Windows\Power Efficiency Diagnostics (directory)
  • Windows\Panther\*.etl
  • Users\*\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer\*.etl

ETL logs provide detailed diagnostic and performance data that can reveal system behavior and application activity. Investigators use this data to analyze system performance issues, track application behavior, investigate diagnostic events, detect anomalous system activity, and reconstruct detailed system timelines.