What is the Purpose of the Forwarded Events Event Log?

Written by Barry Dysert (last updated October 19, 2020)

There are several types of event logs maintained by the Windows operating system. One of these is the Forwarded Events event log. This log records events written by other computers in the same network ("source computers") that have forwarded their events to the "collector computer." By using the Forwarded Events log, you can keep track of the event logs of several other computers from one central location.

In order to make use of the Forwarded Events log, you have to configure the source computers and the collector computer. From each source computer, run the following command from an elevated-permissions command prompt:

C:\> winrm quickconfig

You must also add the computer account of the collector computer to the local Administrators group on each of the source computers.

Then on the collector computer run the following command from an elevated-permissions command prompt:

C:\> wecutil qc

Finally, you must establish a subscription so that the computers know which events are to be collected on the collector computer. Perform the following steps on the collector computer:

  1. As an administrator, launch the Event Viewer and click Subscriptions in the navigation pane.
  2. In the Actions pane, click Create Subscription.
  3. Fill in the details of your subscription per the following figure. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. Creating a subscription.

Now the specified events that occur on the source computers will be forwarded to the Forwarded Events log, where you can analyze them all from one machine.

 This tip (12878) applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10.

Author Bio

Barry Dysert

Barry has been a computer professional for over 35 years, working in different positions such as technical team leader, project manager, and software developer. He is currently a software engineer with an emphasis on developing custom applications under Microsoft Windows. When not working with Windows or writing Tips, Barry is an amateur writer. His first non-fiction book is titled "A Chronological Commentary of Revelation." ...

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