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Running PostgresSQL 11.4 on Windows 10

I made a DB cluster in C:\Users\WindowsUser\AppData\Roaming\postgresql\Db_1

I registered that cluster to start on as a windows service on startup:

pg_ctl register -D C:\Users\WindowsUser\AppData\Roaming\postgresql\Db_1 -N PostgreSQLdb1 -U WindowsUser -P WindowsPassword  -S a

And the Where to log In C:\Users\WindowsUser\AppData\Roaming\postgresql\Db_1\postgresql.conf I changed the log parameter to a absolute location.:

# - Where to Log -
log_destination = 'stderr'      # Valid values are combinations of
          # stderr, csvlog, syslog, and eventlog,
          # depending on platform.  csvlog
          # requires logging_collector to be on.
# This is used when logging to stderr:
logging_collector = on      # Enable capturing of stderr and csvlog
          # into log files. Required to be on for
          # csvlogs.
          # (change requires restart)
# These are only used if logging_collector is on:
log_directory = 'C:\Users\WindowsUser\AppData\Roaming\postgresql\Db_1\log' 
                      # directory where log files are written,
          # can be absolute or relative to PGDATA
log_filename = 'postgresql-%Y-%m-%d_%H%M%S.log' # log file name pattern, 
          # can include strftime() escapes

However, the cluster database does not write anything to log. The main PG database is located in a totally different directory, and that database does write to its log file.

Both databases works just fine, except the log part.

I have have even restarted my PC, but it still does not write to log.

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  • Try to start the database from the command line using pg_ctl start -D :\Users\WindowsUser\AppData\Roaming\postgresql\Db_:\Users\WindowsUser\AppData\Roaming\postgresql\Db_1 (after stopping the service). That should show you potential problems. Perhaps the permissions are wrong?
    – Laurenz Albe
    Oct 14, 2019 at 11:07
  • That gave me an error: pg_ctl: directory ":/Users/WindowsUser/AppData/Roaming/postgresql/Db_:/Users/WindowsUser/AppData/Roaming/postgresql/Db_1" does not exist . However this does work if a specify a specific log file: pg_ctl start -D "C:\Users\WindowsUser\AppData\Ro" -l "C:\Users\WindowsUser\AppData\Ro\log\postgresql-2019-10-14.log"
    – tomatoeshift
    Oct 14, 2019 at 11:15
  • Well, does the directory exist? If it does, are the privileges setup correctly, so that the service account that runs Postgres (WindowsUser) can write into that directory? Unrelated, but I prefer a relative directory: log_directory = 'log'
    – user1822
    Oct 14, 2019 at 13:28
  • Sorry, I meant pg_ctl start -D C:\Users\WindowsUser\AppData\Roaming\postgresql\Db_1. Hmm. Your question has a Roaming in there, your comment doesn't. What's going on there? Try to change log_directory in postgresql.conf. If that causes a log file to be written, then it must be some kind of permission problem.
    – Laurenz Albe
    Oct 14, 2019 at 13:42
  • Ok, so my previous comment missed a few characters. I got it working when I entered a specified log file with the manual pg_ctl start -D "C:\Users\WindowsUser\AppData\Roaming\postgresql\Db_1" -l "C:\Users\WindowsUser\AppData\Roaming\postgresql\Db_1\log\db1_logfile.log". I also tried with log_directory = 'log', but when nothing happened, I tried with the absolute dir-path instead. The user WindowsUser is an admin, so it should have write privileges. However, I added my "answer" below with the event-log alternative.
    – tomatoeshift
    Oct 14, 2019 at 14:19

1 Answer 1

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Ok, so I did not get the Log files to work. But instead I got the Windows event log to work.

In postgresql.conf I set these line uncommented with those options: 

log_destination = 'eventlog'        # Valid values are combinations of
                    # stderr, csvlog, syslog, and eventlog,
                    # depending on platform.  csvlog
                    # requires logging_collector to be on.

# This is only relevant when logging to eventlog (win32):
# (change requires restart)
event_source = 'PostgreSQL'

log_statement = 'all'    # none, ddl, mod, all

  • To register The Event log to Windows, I followed these instructions

  • I entered this command: REGSVR32 "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\11\lib\pgevent.dll" and a pop-up dialog confirmed that the pgevent.dll was registerd to REGSVR32

  • Then I opened Windows Event Viewer

  • On the right hand side, I chose Create custom view and got this pop-up dialog. I just filtered by the event source.

Pop-up dialog to configure the custom view

Then i get a neat list of events.

Windows Event Viewer

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