Use Windows Reliability Monitor to Trace a Repeating App Failure

An app closes for a second time, and you suspect the last Windows update or driver change. The timing is useful, but it does not prove what caused the failure. Reliability Monitor gives you a dated view of problems Windows recorded; comparing repeated entries can help you decide what to check next.

This documentation-based guide covers Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft lists perfmon /rel as the command to open Reliability Monitor on both systems. Use the tool to collect clues, then check Event Viewer if you need more of the recorded event.

Open Reliability Monitor

1. Press Windows + R to open Run.
2. Enter perfmon /rel and press Enter. Microsoft’s Perfmon command reference documents /rel as the Reliability Monitor option.
3. Find the date when the app closed or stopped responding. Select the event that matches the app and time, then read the details Windows provides.

Write down the description as shown. If the detail view includes a problem report or technical details, copy them exactly rather than guessing what a code means. If there is no matching event, note that too; the timeline only helps when Windows has a relevant record to show.

Look for a repeatable pattern

Do not treat every warning on the same day as part of one problem. Compare entries using the application name, the description, the time, and what you were doing when the failure happened. Then note changes that might matter, such as an app update or a new driver, and whether the same symptom appeared before that change.

An illustrative example: suppose the same app closes while opening the same project on three separate days, and each entry has a similar description. That is a more useful lead than one unrelated warning on the day Windows installed an update. It still does not prove whether the app, the project, or another component caused the failure; it gives you a specific pattern to investigate.

A short record is enough:

• The date and approximate time of each failure.
• The app name and, if available, its version and the event details.
• The action that preceded the failure.
• Whether the same symptom happened again, and whether other apps or Windows also failed.
• Recent changes you can confirm, with their dates.

Check Event Viewer for the matching record

Reliability Monitor is a quick overview. For another view of what Windows and applications logged, open Start, search for Event Viewer, then expand Windows Logs and choose Application. Look for entries from the same time and open a relevant one to read its details. For a Windows or device-level event, check System as well. Microsoft describes Event Viewer as a reader for Windows event logs, which record selected software and hardware events; see its Event Logging documentation .

Read the event’s time, source, level, ID, and message together. An Event ID is defined by its source, so the number alone is not a diagnosis; Microsoft’s event identifier reference explains that each event source defines its own numbered events.

Event Viewer is not a complete trace of everything that happened. Microsoft’s logging guidelines describe event logs as records of significant events and state that event logging is not intended as a tracing tool. If you cannot find a matching entry, treat that check as inconclusive rather than proof that the app did not fail.

Choose the next check from the evidence

If one app repeatedly fails during the same action, give its developer the dates, steps, and recorded details. If the problem began after a confirmed app or driver change, compare the before-and-after behaviour and use the publisher’s or device maker’s instructions before changing anything. If several apps fail, Windows restarts, or the problem affects a managed PC, share the record with the device maker or your IT team.

Do not clear event logs or roll back several drivers just because a red marker appeared. The useful result is a smaller question: what failure repeats, under which action, and what changed beforehand? That gives the next troubleshooting step a reason to exist.

Sources

• Microsoft Learn, Perfmon command reference — /rel opens Reliability Monitor; applies to Windows 10 and Windows 11. Last updated 3 February 2023.
• Microsoft Learn, Event Logging — overview of Windows event records and Event Viewer. Last updated 14 August 2025.
• Microsoft Learn, Event Identifiers — event IDs are defined by their sources. Last updated 7 January 2021.
• Microsoft Learn, Logging Guidelines — event logs record significant events and are not a tracing tool. Last updated 14 August 2025.