> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://developer.harness.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://developer.harness.io/resilience-testing/chaos-engineering/faults/chaos-fault-categories/windows/windows.md).

# Chaos faults for Windows

### Introduction <a href="#introduction" id="introduction"></a>

Windows faults disrupt resources running on a Windows Server VM. All Windows faults run through the Windows chaos agent installed as a service on the target VM. Go to [Windows requirements and security considerations](/resilience-testing/chaos-engineering/faults/chaos-fault-categories/windows/windows-chaos-permissions.md) for prerequisites. Basic faults run as a non-administrator user; Advanced faults (network family, blackhole, disk stress) require the agent to run as administrator.

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th><select multiple><option value="BE9FWZ8-" label="cpu" color="blue"></option><option value="4Bict649" label="memory" color="blue"></option><option value="br9aljy7" label="disk" color="blue"></option><option value="fssO7ZYn" label="process" color="blue"></option><option value="_QyVVKf_" label="kill" color="blue"></option><option value="G4c3Lb5z" label="network" color="blue"></option><option value="KY7GeN84" label="blackhole" color="blue"></option><option value="S8gXvVZ4" label="latency" color="blue"></option><option value="Sbmhdg-q" label="loss" color="blue"></option><option value="3OmO7-5K" label="corruption" color="blue"></option><option value="BM0NroNS" label="duplication" color="blue"></option></select></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Windows CPU stress</strong></td><td>Drive CPU utilization to a configurable percentage across a configurable number of cores on a Windows VM for a configurable duration.</td><td><span data-option="BE9FWZ8-">cpu</span></td><td><a href="#windows-cpu-stress">#windows-cpu-stress</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Windows memory stress</strong></td><td>Consume a configurable amount of memory on a Windows VM for a configurable duration so you can test how the workload behaves when memory headroom shrinks.</td><td><span data-option="4Bict649">memory</span></td><td><a href="#windows-memory-stress">#windows-memory-stress</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Windows disk stress</strong></td><td>Drive disk IO load on a Windows VM for a configurable duration so you can test how the workload behaves when storage throughput is saturated.</td><td><span data-option="br9aljy7">disk</span></td><td><a href="#windows-disk-stress">#windows-disk-stress</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Windows process kill</strong></td><td>Terminate one or more processes (by PID or name) on a Windows VM for a configurable duration.</td><td><span data-option="fssO7ZYn">process, </span><span data-option="_QyVVKf_">kill</span></td><td><a href="#windows-process-kill">#windows-process-kill</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Windows blackhole chaos</strong></td><td>Block all network traffic to selected destination hosts or IP addresses from a Windows VM for a configurable duration.</td><td><span data-option="G4c3Lb5z">network, </span><span data-option="KY7GeN84">blackhole</span></td><td><a href="#windows-blackhole-chaos">#windows-blackhole-chaos</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Windows network latency</strong></td><td>Add latency to egress traffic from a Windows VM for a configurable duration. Scope by destination IP, hostname, port, or protocol.</td><td><span data-option="G4c3Lb5z">network, </span><span data-option="S8gXvVZ4">latency</span></td><td><a href="#windows-network-latency">#windows-network-latency</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Windows network loss</strong></td><td>Drop a configurable percentage of egress packets from a Windows VM for a configurable duration.</td><td><span data-option="G4c3Lb5z">network, </span><span data-option="Sbmhdg-q">loss</span></td><td><a href="#windows-network-loss">#windows-network-loss</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Windows network corruption</strong></td><td>Corrupt a configurable percentage of egress packets from a Windows VM for a configurable duration.</td><td><span data-option="G4c3Lb5z">network, </span><span data-option="3OmO7-5K">corruption</span></td><td><a href="#windows-network-corruption">#windows-network-corruption</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Windows network duplication</strong></td><td>Duplicate a configurable percentage of egress packets from a Windows VM for a configurable duration.</td><td><span data-option="G4c3Lb5z">network, </span><span data-option="BM0NroNS">duplication</span></td><td><a href="#windows-network-duplication">#windows-network-duplication</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Windows CPU stress <a href="#windows-cpu-stress" id="windows-cpu-stress"></a>

Windows CPU stress drives CPU utilization to a configurable percentage across a configurable number of cores on a Windows VM for a configurable duration.

<details>

<summary>Use cases</summary>

Test how a workload behaves when CPU headroom shrinks: whether latency stays inside the SLA, whether the OS scheduler keeps critical processes responsive, and whether monitoring detects CPU saturation.

</details>

<a href="/resilience-testing/chaos-engineering/faults/chaos-fault-categories/windows/windows-cpu-stress.md" class="button primary">View details</a>

#### Windows memory stress <a href="#windows-memory-stress" id="windows-memory-stress"></a>

Windows memory stress consumes a configurable amount of memory on a Windows VM for a configurable duration.

<details>

<summary>Use cases</summary>

Test how a workload behaves when memory headroom shrinks: whether the OS swaps gracefully, whether GC-heavy .NET applications pause, and whether monitoring detects the saturation.

</details>

<a href="/resilience-testing/chaos-engineering/faults/chaos-fault-categories/windows/windows-memory-stress.md" class="button primary">View details</a>

#### Windows disk stress <a href="#windows-disk-stress" id="windows-disk-stress"></a>

Windows disk stress drives disk IO load on a Windows VM for a configurable duration. Requires administrator.

<details>

<summary>Use cases</summary>

Test how a workload behaves when storage throughput saturates: whether IO latency stays inside the SLA, whether databases queue writes correctly, and whether monitoring detects the saturation.

</details>

<a href="/resilience-testing/chaos-engineering/faults/chaos-fault-categories/windows/windows-disk-stress.md" class="button primary">View details</a>

#### Windows process kill <a href="#windows-process-kill" id="windows-process-kill"></a>

Windows process kill terminates one or more processes (by PID or name) on a Windows VM for a configurable duration.

<details>

<summary>Use cases</summary>

Test how a workload behaves when a critical process is killed: whether Windows Service Recovery restarts it inside the SLA, whether replicas absorb the load, and whether monitoring detects the regression.

</details>

<a href="/resilience-testing/chaos-engineering/faults/chaos-fault-categories/windows/windows-process-kill.md" class="button primary">View details</a>

#### Windows blackhole chaos <a href="#windows-blackhole-chaos" id="windows-blackhole-chaos"></a>

Windows blackhole chaos blocks all network traffic to selected destination hosts or IP addresses from a Windows VM for a configurable duration. Requires administrator.

<details>

<summary>Use cases</summary>

Test how a workload behaves when a downstream dependency is unreachable: whether retries and timeouts work, whether circuit breakers open correctly, and whether the workload fails over to a backup endpoint.

</details>

<a href="/resilience-testing/chaos-engineering/faults/chaos-fault-categories/windows/windows-blackhole-chaos.md" class="button primary">View details</a>

#### Windows network latency <a href="#windows-network-latency" id="windows-network-latency"></a>

Windows network latency adds latency to egress traffic from a Windows VM for a configurable duration. Scope by destination IP, hostname, port, or protocol. Requires administrator.

<details>

<summary>Use cases</summary>

Test how a workload behaves when a downstream dependency becomes slow: whether retries and timeouts work, whether circuit breakers open correctly, and whether monitoring detects the regression.

</details>

<a href="/resilience-testing/chaos-engineering/faults/chaos-fault-categories/windows/windows-network-latency.md" class="button primary">View details</a>

#### Windows network loss <a href="#windows-network-loss" id="windows-network-loss"></a>

Windows network loss drops a configurable percentage of egress packets from a Windows VM for a configurable duration. Requires administrator.

<details>

<summary>Use cases</summary>

Test how a workload behaves when packet loss spikes: whether TCP retransmits stay within the SLA, whether application-layer retries recover correctly, and whether cluster membership stays healthy.

</details>

<a href="/resilience-testing/chaos-engineering/faults/chaos-fault-categories/windows/windows-network-loss.md" class="button primary">View details</a>

#### Windows network corruption <a href="#windows-network-corruption" id="windows-network-corruption"></a>

Windows network corruption corrupts a configurable percentage of egress packets from a Windows VM for a configurable duration. Requires administrator.

<details>

<summary>Use cases</summary>

Test how a workload behaves when packets are corrupted: whether TCP checksums catch the corruption, whether application retries recover, and whether monitoring detects the regression.

</details>

<a href="/resilience-testing/chaos-engineering/faults/chaos-fault-categories/windows/windows-network-corruption.md" class="button primary">View details</a>

#### Windows network duplication <a href="#windows-network-duplication" id="windows-network-duplication"></a>

Windows network duplication duplicates a configurable percentage of egress packets from a Windows VM for a configurable duration. Requires administrator.

<details>

<summary>Use cases</summary>

Test how a workload behaves when packets are duplicated: whether TCP de-duplication handles the load, whether UDP receivers handle duplicates correctly, and whether the bandwidth spike triggers alerts.

</details>

<a href="/resilience-testing/chaos-engineering/faults/chaos-fault-categories/windows/windows-network-duplication.md" class="button primary">View details</a>

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