How to Install Prometheus on Windows 11 – Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

If you're working in DevOps, system monitoring, or just curious about improving your infrastructure visibility, you’ve probably heard of Prometheus.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to install Prometheus on Windows 11, explore how it works, and get it running in your local environment with zero confusion.

Let’s dive in! 👇

✅ What Is Prometheus?

Prometheus is an open-source monitoring and alerting toolkit, designed for time-series data collection. Originally developed by SoundCloud, it is now part of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) — alongside Kubernetes.

Prometheus collects metrics from configured targets at specified intervals, stores them efficiently, and allows powerful queries through PromQL.

It’s widely used to monitor:

Server performance
Application uptime
Cloud workloads (AWS, Azure)
Kubernetes clusters
Custom services with exporters

💡 Why Use Prometheus on Windows?

While Prometheus is often used in Linux or containerized environments (like Kubernetes), installing it on Windows 11 is a great way to:

Learn how it works
Monitor local services
Build dashboards with Grafana
Test PromQL queries
Simulate real-world monitoring setups

🛠️ Step-by-Step: How to Install Prometheus on Windows 11

Here’s how to get up and running in just a few minutes:

🔹 1. Download Prometheus

Visit the official website: https://prometheus.io/download
- Find the latest Windows version and download the ZIP file
  (e.g., prometheus-2.54.0.windows-amd64.zip)
🔹 2. Extract the ZIP File
Right-click on the downloaded ZIP file and select Extract All
Save the extracted folder somewhere easy to find, e.g., C:\Prometheus

🔹 3. Review the Configuration File

Open the file named prometheus.yml inside the folder.
This is where Prometheus stores its scraping configuration.

Default settings will scrape its own metrics from localhost:9090, which is great for getting started.

🔹 4. Run Prometheus

Open Command Prompt
Navigate to your Prometheus folder using cd:
cd C:\Prometheus\prometheus-2.54.0.windows-amd64
Run the Prometheus server:
prometheus.exe --config.file=prometheus.yml
You should see logs confirming it has started.

🔹 5. Access Prometheus in Your Browser

Open your browser and go to:

🌐 http://localhost:9090

You’ll see the Prometheus web interface, where you can:
Run PromQL queries
Monitor metrics in real time
View your targets and config status

📈 Useful PromQL Queries

Try typing these into the web UI:

up – Shows if targets are reachable
process_cpu_seconds_total – CPU usage metrics
prometheus_http_requests_total – Internal Prometheus traffic

🧠 Bonus: Connect Prometheus with Grafana

Want stunning dashboards? Use Grafana with Prometheus to visualize metrics beautifully.

Check out our video:
📹 5 Features of Grafana vs Prometheus

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