Windows Experience Index reports error. How can I diagnose and fix this?

Hello Anne,

Thank you for posting your question on Microsoft community forum.

I would like to know some information about the issue so that we could help you better.

Have you made any hardware or software changes to your computer?

I would suggest you to try following methods and check if it helps.

Method 1:

Please follow these steps and check the issue.

a. Click Start, click "Accessories", right-click "Command Prompt", and click "Run as administrator". Command prompt will open.

b. Type the following command in the command prompt and press Enter.

winsat formal

It runs a pre-defined set of assessments and saves the data to an XML file in %systemroot%\performance\winsat\datastore. There are no command line parameters available for use with the formal assessment.

If it does not help, then use method 2.

Method 2:

Please follow these steps and check.

a. Press Windows + R keys, type the following path in run window and press Enter.

C:\windows\Performance\WinSat\DataStore

b. Delete all the .xml files in the folder.

If issue still persists, then use method 3.

Method 3:

Please follow these steps and check the issue.

a. Click Start and type performance in start search box.

b. Click “Performance Information and Tools”.

c. If the following information appears, click "Refresh Now" to update the Windows experience index.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or click continue.

Windows experience index assesses the components in the computer.

Note: the value that appears next to your computer has a Windows experience index base score.

d. Click update my score.

I hope this information helps.

Please do let us know if you need any further assistance.

Thank you

Ann

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Hello - 

   I tried to take ownership of the "C:\Windows\performance folder" and got nowhere.  Each thing I tried showed an error message and that access was denied.  Other ideas for me or should I just forget using the Experience index and the other errors?  

Ann

Hello Anne,

Thank you for keeping us updated on the status of the issue.

The ACLs(Access Control Lists) for C:\Windows\performance folder may be restricting the .xml creation.

I would suggest you to try taking the ownership of the C:\Windows\performance folder and check the issue.

Refer this article:

Take Ownership of a File or Folder

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753659.aspx

I hope this helps.

Please reply with results so that we can assist you further.

Thank you

Rantadeep-

    Thanks for your help.  I had purchased a reconditioned Lenovo ThinkCentre to replace an old desktop running XP and terribly low on memory.  The Windows 7 was new and I have the product key.  I used Windows Easy Transfer and that's when I first ran the Window Experience index.  I  then loaded what I could of compatible software and peripherals - printer, webcam, monitor etc and got the error message I sent to this forum.  Just today I tried to run it again and it again could not run.

     I did step 1 and it ended with:

   ERROR:  cannot process assessment results

.             cannot load XML data from a string

              An invalid character was found in text content.

              From Interface msxm/6.dll:IXMLDOMDocument 2

 I also found: 

           179010414 (3732) - winsat\processwinsaterror.cpp:0095  ERROR:  tried to read resource strings, unknown exception occured

           179012863 (3732) - winsat\logging.cpp:1763;  ERROR: pahse enter/leave imballance.  I changed the spelling on the ones I could find.

           179070427 (3732) - d3d\graphicsop.cpp:0209:  Driver is not WDDM 1.1;  aborting DX10 assessment.

I did option 2 and deleted the .xml files sucessfully

Option three yielded the same results that it could not do the assessment "due to an error of the OS, driver or component."

If I am right in thinking that the above errors etc are causing the problems, what do I do about it?  I am fairly computer savy but not a programmer or technician.

Thank you in advance