How to retrieve the number of running applications/processes inside an Azure Virtual Machine

Hello Aravind,

Thank you for reaching out Q/A.

I understand that you are looking for a supported and programmatic way to retrieve the count and details of running applications/processes inside an Azure Virtual Machine.

To set the right expectation, Azure does not expose process-level information at the platform (fabric) level, since all running processes exist within the guest operating system. As a result, retrieving this information always requires either executing commands inside the VM or using a supported monitoring agent.

Below are the recommended and supported approaches:

1.VM Insights with Processes & Dependencies:

This is the primary Azure-native and fully supported approach for continuously monitoring running processes inside a VM.

How it works:

• Enable VM Insights from the Azure Portal (VM → Monitoring → Insights)
• During setup, ensure “Enable processes and dependencies” is selected
• This deploys the Azure Monitor Agent (AMA) along with the Dependency Agent
• Process data is collected into the VMProcess table in the Log Analytics workspace
• You can use KQL queries to retrieve process details and process counts

Reference: https://dotnet.territoriali.olinfo.it/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/vm/tutorial-enable-monitoring

2.Performance Counter for Process Count:

For near real-time monitoring of process count metrics, you can configure custom performance counters using a Data Collection Rule (DCR) with the Azure Monitor Agent.

• Works for both Windows and Linux VMs
• Useful for alerting scenarios (for example, when process count exceeds a threshold)
• Best suited for numeric monitoring rather than detailed process inspection

Reference: https://dotnet.territoriali.olinfo.it/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/vm/data-collection-performance

3. Azure VM Run Command (On-Demand / Ad-hoc)

For one-time or ad-hoc retrieval without relying on continuous monitoring:

Windows:

az vm run-command invoke --resource-group <ResourceGroupName> --name <VMName> --command-id RunPowerShellScript --scripts "(Get-Process).Count"

Note: This approach is recommended for on-demand checks only and is not suitable for continuous monitoring or alerting scenarios.

Please refer below documentations also:

https://dotnet.territoriali.olinfo.it/en-us/azure/azure-monitor/reference/tables/vmprocess

Monitor Azure Virtual Machines

Query map data from VM Insights

Hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any queries.