How to Download and Install PresentMon on Windows

Getting presentmon onto your PC is refreshingly simple. There is no bloated installer, no account sign-up and no cost, because the tool is free and open source from Intel. In most cases you are looking at one small download and a double-click. This guide walks you through where to get it safely, how the console build differs from the PresentMon 2.x app, and the one setup step that trips up almost every first-time user.

Follow the steps below and you will have the tool running and ready to capture frame data within a few minutes.

Step 1: Download PresentMon from a Safe Source

Stick to official sources. PresentMon is developed by Intel and published on GitHub under the GameTechDev organization, and Intel also hosts an official PresentMon page. The site you are reading, presentmon.org, offers the project zip as well. Avoid random download portals that bundle the exe with wrappers or ads, since the real tool is a tiny file that needs none of that.

On the GitHub releases page you will typically find two things to choose between:

The console build, PresentMon.exe: a single standalone file. This is the classic benchmarker’s tool, and the one most guides (including this one) are written around.
The PresentMon 2.x app: Intel’s newer application with a graphical in-game overlay and capture service, better if you want live stats on screen while you play.

Pick the latest release, download the file, and save it somewhere easy to find, such as a folder called PresentMon on your desktop or in Documents. Keeping it in its own folder matters later, because capture files and configuration end up next to the exe.

Step 2: “Install” the Console Build (There Barely Is One)

The console build does not install in the traditional sense. There is no setup wizard, nothing written across your system, and nothing to uninstall later. The exe is the whole program. If you downloaded a zip, extract it first, since running from inside a zip can cause odd permission issues.

That said, there is one configuration step worth doing right away. Right-click PresentMon.exe, open Properties, and on the Compatibility tab tick “Run this program as an administrator”. PresentMon captures frame data through Windows ETW, and ETW needs admin rights. If you skip this, the tool will either fail to start or run while capturing nothing, which is the most common support question by far. Setting it once saves you the headache on every future run.

If you chose the 2.x app instead, run its installer like any normal Windows program and launch it from the Start menu. Its capture service handles the capture side, and the app walks you through enabling the overlay on first run.

Step 3: Do a Quick Test Run

Before you benchmark anything serious, confirm the tool works. Launch a game you play often, then run PresentMon as administrator. The simplest test is to start the console build and watch its window: it should begin reporting the processes it sees presenting frames, with live FPS and frame time figures updating as you play.

A basic targeted capture looks like this:

PresentMon.exe -process_name yourgame.exe -output_file test.csv -timed 30

That tells presentmon to watch one game process, save the data to a CSV file called test.csv, and stop on its own after 30 seconds. Swap in your game’s real exe name, which you can find in Task Manager while the game runs. If the CSV fills with rows of frame data, your setup is complete and correct.

Common Download and Setup Problems

A few issues show up again and again, and all of them are quick fixes:

The console window opens and closes instantly: you probably double-clicked the exe with no game running or no arguments. Run it from a terminal window instead, so the window stays open and you can read any message it prints.
“Failed to start” or an empty capture: the tool was not run as administrator. Go back to Step 2 and set the compatibility option, or right-click and choose “Run as administrator” each time.
Antivirus flags the file: ETW capture tools occasionally trigger heuristic warnings. If your download came from the official GitHub or Intel page, this is a known false-positive pattern. Verify the source first, then allow the file in your antivirus if you trust it.
Windows SmartScreen prompt: small open-source utilities often trigger the “Windows protected your PC” screen. Click “More info” and then “Run anyway”, as long as you downloaded from an official source.

Where to Put Your Capture Files

One small habit will save you confusion later. PresentMon writes CSV output relative to where you run it, so if you launch it from a random folder, your results scatter. Keep the exe in one dedicated folder, run it from there, and create subfolders per game or per test session. When you start comparing drivers or settings, having tidy, clearly named captures (game, settings, date) makes the analysis far easier.

Also note that the console build is portable. You can copy the exe to a USB stick or a second PC and it will run exactly the same way, which is handy if you test on more than one machine.

Keeping PresentMon Updated

PresentMon is actively developed, and new releases appear on the GitHub project page over time, with fixes and support for new Windows and game behaviors. Updating the console build could not be simpler: download the newer PresentMon.exe and replace the old file in your PresentMon folder. Your CSV captures live elsewhere in your folder structure, so nothing you have measured gets lost.

One habit is worth adopting if you benchmark seriously. When a new version lands mid-way through a comparison project (say you are testing a series of drivers), finish the project on the version you started with, or rerun your baseline after updating. Keeping the measuring tool constant is part of keeping results comparable, the same reason you would not change resolution mid-test.

For the 2.x app, updates arrive through its normal release channel on the same project page. Install the newer build over the old one and your settings carry across. It is also a good idea to skim the release notes: they tell you if capture behavior changed, if the overlay gained options, or if a Windows update required a fix on the tool’s side.

Finally, keep your download habit clean. Bookmark the official GitHub page and Intel’s PresentMon page, and always pull fresh copies from there rather than from file-hosting mirrors. The genuine tool is small and free, so any site wrapping it in an installer with extra offers is giving you something you never asked for. A ten-second source check protects both your results and your PC.

One more small tip: keep the previous version’s exe in a subfolder instead of deleting it during an update. It takes almost no space, and if a comparison ever looks strange after an update, you can rerun a capture with the older build in two minutes and see whether the tool or your system changed. Serious testers treat their measuring tools the way photographers treat a reference lens: known, stable, and easy to fall back on.

Conclusion

Downloading and setting up presentmon takes minutes: grab the release from Intel or the official GitHub page, extract the exe into its own folder, and set it to run as administrator so the ETW capture works. The 2.x app is there if you prefer an installer and a graphical overlay. Run one 30-second test capture, confirm the CSV has data in it, and you are ready to measure real frame times instead of relying on a simple FPS counter.

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