To enable built-in Sysmon in Windows 11, open PowerShell as an administrator, enable the optional feature, and then initialize it. In elevated PowerShell, run Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Sysmon, followed by sysmon -i. Sysmon is disabled by default, and the optional-feature command alone does not complete setup. Microsoft’s setup guide documents this procedure.
Before you enable Sysmon
Check whether the standalone Sysmon utility is already installed. Open PowerShell as an administrator and run:
Get-Service sysmon*
If the command returns a Sysmon service, uninstall the standalone version before proceeding. Microsoft says the standalone and built-in versions cannot coexist. See Microsoft’s built-in Sysmon instructions and the Sysinternals Sysmon reference for the standalone tool.
Enable and initialize built-in Sysmon
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Open PowerShell with administrator privileges. Search for PowerShell, right-click it, and choose Run as administrator.
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Enable the optional Windows feature by running:
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Sysmon -
When the feature is enabled, initialize Sysmon with its default configuration:
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sysmon -i
Microsoft’s dedicated instructions apply to Windows 11, but the reviewed documentation does not establish a minimum build that guarantees availability on every installation. If the feature or command is unavailable, your Windows installation may not expose it.
Use a custom Sysmon configuration (optional)
The default configuration is the simplest way to start collecting Sysmon events. To select event types and apply include or exclude filters, prepare an XML configuration file. Review and test it before deploying broadly: configuration choices affect what gets recorded, and a poorly tuned setup can generate a high volume of events.
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- Install with an XML configuration:
sysmon -i <path-to-config.xml> - Apply an XML configuration to an existing installation:
sysmon -c <path-to-config.xml>
Replace <path-to-config.xml> with the path to your actual file. Refer to Microsoft’s configuration guidance for configuration details.
Verify that Sysmon is logging
Open Event Viewer and navigate to Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > Sysmon > Operational. Look for events such as Process Create, Network Connect, or File Create. Sysmon writes its activity to the Windows Event Log; events can also be collected through Windows Event Collection or a SIEM agent. Details about recorded activity and event behavior are in Microsoft’s Sysmon overview.
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What Sysmon does—and does not do
Sysmon is a telemetry collection tool. It can record activity such as process creation, network connections, and file creation-time changes, and remains resident across reboots when enabled. It does not analyze the events it generates, create alerts, or block or prevent activity. Microsoft states: “Sysmon doesn’t analyze the events it generates, nor does it attempt to conceal its presence from attackers.” Use a separate monitoring or security tool to analyze collected events and respond to them.
One processing detail matters if you collect rendered event messages: Microsoft says the message text is localized, while the underlying XML event data remains consistent across languages. Scripts and collection pipelines that parse rendered text may therefore need to account for the Windows display language.
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Why the Settings and DISM instructions may differ
Microsoft’s KB5077241 release-notes page lists a Settings route—Settings > System > Optional features > More Windows features > Sysmon—and the DISM command Dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:Sysmon, followed by sysmon -i. However, the same page’s change log says on April 10, 2026, that Sysmon was removed from that update’s documentation and planned for a future release. Because that page retains the feature entry despite the change-log note, it does not establish that the option is present on a particular Windows 11 build. The dedicated Learn setup guide documents the PowerShell method used above.
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