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Install by .msi Installer v4 (Windows)

The recommended way to install Fluentd on Windows is to use MSI installers of td-agent.

What is td-agent?

td-agent is a packaged distribution of Fluentd.
  • Includes Ruby and other library dependencies (since most Windows machines don't have them installed).
  • Includes a set of commonly-used 3rd-party plugins such as out_es.
  • Originally developed by Treasure Data, Inc (hence the name).
Currently two versions of td-agent are available.
  • td-agent v4 packages Fluentd 1.11.x (or later). This version is recommended.
  • td-agent v3 packages Fluentd 1.10.x (or below).

Step 1: Install td-agent

Download the latest MSI installer from the download page. Run the installer and follow the wizard.
td-agent installation wizard
Alternatively td-agent can be installed with winget:
> winget install td-agent

Step 2: Set up td-agent.conf

Open C:/opt/td-agent/etc/td-agent/td-agent.conf with a text editor. Replace the configuration with the following content:
<source>
@type windows_eventlog2
@id windows_eventlog2
channels application
read_existing_events false
tag winevt.raw
rate_limit 200
<storage>
@type local
persistent true
path C:\opt\td-agent\winlog.json
</storage>
</source>
<match winevt.raw>
@type stdout
</match>

Step 3: Launch Td-agent Command Prompt

Open Windows Start menu, and search Td-agent Command Prompt. In most environments, the program will be found right under the "Recently Added" section.
Windows start menu and Td-agent Command Prompt
Td-agent Command Prompt is basically cmd.exe, with a few PATH tweaks for td-agent programs. Use this program whenever you need to interact with td-agent.

Step 4: Run td-agent

Type the following command into Td-agent Command Prompt:
C:\opt\td-agent> td-agent
Now td-agent starts listening to Windows Eventlog, and will print records to stdout as they occur.
Td-agent Command Prompt

Step 5: Run td-agent as Windows service

Since version 4.0.0, td-agent is registered as a Windows service permanently by the msi installer. You can start td-agent service manually.

Using GUI

Please guide yourself to Control Panel -> System and Security -> Administrative Tools -> Services, and you'll see Fluentd Windows Service is listed.
Please double click Fluentd Window Service, and click Start button. Then the process will be executed as Windows Service.

Using net.exe

> net start fluentdwinsvc
The Fluentd Windows Service service is starting..
The Fluentd Windows Service service was started successfully.

Using Powershell Cmdlet

PS> Start-Service fluentdwinsvc
Note that using fluentdwinsvc is needed to start Fluentd service from the command-line. fluentdwinsvc is the service name and it should be passed to net.exe or Start-Service Cmdlet.
The log file will be located at C:/opt/td-agent/td-agent.log as we specified in Step 3.

Step 6: Install Plugins

Open Td-agent Command Prompt and use td-agent-gem command:
C:\opt\td-agent> td-agent-gem install fluent-plugin-xyz --version=1.2.3

Next Steps

You are now ready to collect real logs with Fluentd. Refer to the following tutorials on how to collect data from various sources:
For further steps, follow these:
If this article is incorrect or outdated, or omits critical information, please let us know. Fluentd is an open-source project under Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF). All components are available under the Apache 2 License.