If the value for the PerformanceCounter.InstanceLifetime property is PerformanceCounterInstanceLifetime.Process and the performance counter category was created with .NET Framework version 1.0 or 1.1, an InvalidOperationException is thrown. Performance counter categories created with earlier versions use global shared memory, and the value for PerformanceCounter.InstanceLifetime must be PerformanceCounterInstanceLifetime.Global. If the category is not used by applications running on versions 1.0 or 1.1 of the .NET Framework, delete and recreate the category.

To read performance counters in Windows Vista, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, or Windows Server 2003, you must either be a member of the Performance Monitor Users group or have administrative privileges.

To avoid having to elevate your privileges to access performance counters in Windows Vista, add yourself to the Performance Monitor Users group.

In Windows Vista, User Account Control (UAC) determines the privileges of a user. If you are a member of the Built-in Administrators group, you are assigned two run-time access tokens: a standard user access token and an administrator access token. By default, you are in the standard user role. To execute the code that accesses performance counters, you must first elevate your privileges from standard user to administrator. You can do this when you start an application by right-clicking the application icon and indicating that you want to run as an administrator.