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What triggers wowexec.exe

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by kcav

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When I attempt to use the Acquire facility in my image editor, the hour glass appears for a lengthy time. In Task Mgr. I found a program running called wowexec.exe. I terminated it, and the image editor connected with the scanner. What caused wowexec.exe to run? Why whenI end the process is the connection between my image editor and scanner completed?

3 replies

by kcav

Thank you for answering my post. I believe you are right, wowexec.exe is a bridge between 16-bit and 32-bit programs. How can I find out more about what triggers it, and why when I delte it the operation proceeds they way I want it to?

by jellimonsta

Try searching for wowexec on the M$ Technet site. Here is some info I found.

Window on Windows (WOW)
WOWEXEC.EXE - Handles the loading of 16-bit Windows-based applications.
WOW32.DLL - Dynamic Link Library of the WOW application environment.
NTVDM.EXE - VDM Component.
NTVDM.DLL - VDM Component.
NTIO.SYS - VDM Component.
REDIR.EXE - VDM Component.
VDMREDIR.DLL - Redirector for WOW environment.
KRNL386.EXE - Used by WOW on x86 based systems.
KRNL286.EXE - Used by WOW on non x86 based systems.
GDI.EXE - Modified version of Windows 3.10 GDI.EXE.
USER.EXE - Modified version of Windows 3.10 USER.EXE.

Identify a 16-bit Program
To identify a 16-bit program:
Use Windows Explorer to open the folder that contains the program's executable (.exe) file.
Right-click the .exe file, and then click Properties.
A 16-bit program does not have a Version tab in this dialog box.

Identify 16-bit Programs that Are Running
To determine if any 16-bit programs are currently running, and identify any that are:
Start Task Manager. To do so, right-click a blank spot on the taskbar, and click Task Manager.
On the Processes tab, note the contents of the Image Name column.
If any 16-bit programs are running, you see an entry for Ntvdm.exe, which is the virtual DOS machine that is provided by Windows XP. You also see wowexec.exe (the Windows on Windows subsystem), and the executable name of each 16-bit program that is running in that WOW virtual machine. As a helpful visual aid, wowexec.exe and the 16-bit executable file names are indented.

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