Objective To measure the residual stress of GH4169, a kind of high temperature alloy, using two-dimensional detector method. Methods Because GH4169 is a high temperature nickel base alloy which has a strong diffraction peak under the Cr target, this paper used Cr target to obtain the residual stress of GH4169 alloy. Using 500 detection heads uniformly distributed on a surface to measure diffraction angle changes, the portable X-ray machine could get the values of strain in 500 directions. According to the relationship between stress and strain, the residual stress of the material could be calculated. Results The Debye ring of GH4169 alloy hasd only one diffraction peak and its intensity changed with the changes of angle alpha. This result showed that the stress orientation of the material was not uniform, with obvious texture. The residual stress in the principal stress direction of the material surface was -968 MPa with an error of 62 MPa, and the tangential residual stress was 24 MPa with an error of 43 MPa. Shot peened GH4169 alloy was affected by the residual compressive stress, which was consistent with the experiment results. Conclusion It was feasible to measure the residual stress of the material from the principle and the practical operation by the twodimensional detector method which effectively measured the residual stress of GH4169 alloy. Moreover, shot peened GH4169 alloy was affected by the residual compressive stress, the distribution of which was not uniform and had obvious texture.