How to Install the OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib on WindowsSummaryThis guide is developed as a manual install guide for the OpenTelemetry Collector (contrib distribution) as it currently does not have an easy MSI available. The OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib only distributes, as of March 2024, an executable file for Windows platforms.ReleaseWindows environments (64-bit)Instructions1. Download otelcol-contrib.exe from opentelemetry releases and extract files for the Windows platform necessary (arm64 or otherwise) into the following folder C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-releases/releases 2. Add config.yaml from this gist into this folder with the otelcol-contrib.exe. Obtain a unique access token for the Cloud Observability project you wish to hit on ingest. C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib\config.yaml https://gist.github.com/dodegaard/093ff750e4596aba0009e59d01445451 3. Run the following command at command line in the host directory to test it out initially otelcol-contrib.exe --config config.yaml 4. Check CloudObs for metrics. If successful proceed to the next step if you wish to install it as a Windows Service. 5. (optional) Install as a Service (in PowerShell as Administrator) $params = @{ Name = "OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib" BinaryPathName = "C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib\otelcol-contrib.exe --config config.yaml" DisplayName = "OTel Collector Contrib" StartupType = "Automatic" Description = "OpenTelemetry Collector Contrib" } New-Service @params 7. Start Service in Windows Services or using Start-Service in Powershell Start-Service -Name "otelcontribcol" 8. Check Cloud Observability for metrics.Related LinksIf port conflicts then issue the following command to find out the host process using the port. netstat -a --> this lists all listening ports netstat -ano | findstr :4317 --> this finds the PID of the program using the port Once the PID is found kill the process to release the port