What does WOWEXEC.EXE do?

[UNCjigga]

I'm trying to install SETI@Home and I keep getting an error from NTVDM Kernel that says: "Missing 16-bit system module--Please re-install the following module to your system32 directory: WOWEXEC.EXE" I remember noticing this module in use and I might have deleted it thinking it was adware or spyware or something ...Windows File Protection didn't care so neither did I. I'm using XP Pro SP1 btw.

Any chance someone could send it to me or tell me how to extract it off the Windows CD? And what is this used for btw?

 

[spyordie007]

it is in the i386 directory of your Win XP CD nammed "WOWEXEC.EX_" rename it to WOWEXEC.EXE and replace.

what wowexec (windows on windows) does

-Spy

 

[spyordie007]

in your defense I am also surprised that SFC didnt replace it after you removed it, although whenever you plan on deleting anything you should always keep a backup or set a restore point.

Usually when I want to delete something I am unsure about I just rename it and after several weeks if I still dont have problems (and still want to get rid of it) I can, however if there are problems you can name it back to what it was.

-Spy

 

[bsobel]

The other part of your question; 'wow' is 'Windows on Windows' the 16bit emulation layer for older apps. Alot of installs need it as part of their installers are older 16bit code.
Bill

 

[Smilin]

It thunks.

It stands for Win16 On Win32. It allows Win16 applications (Windows 3.1 crap mostly) to run in a Windows 32bit environment. You'll usually find WOW running under NTVDM in your task manager. NTVDM being the NT virtual dos machine.

 

[Nothinman]

Win16 applications (Windows 3.1 crap mostly) to run in a Windows 32bit environment

Now I'd say mostly it's Installshield installers, for some reason they're still 16-bit and require WOW.

 

[UNCjigga]

Thanks for all your help...however I am still surprised Windows didn't try to prevent me from deleting it. Also, I am dead-on 100% sure that when I was checking out the wowexec.exe thread in task manager, it did NOT have the 'SYSTEM' user name that other OS components use.

Is it possible that a virus or some other shady app might have given me a hacked copy of wowexec or somehow it got corrupted? the reason I deleted it in the first place was because it was consuming GOBS of memory one day and a consistent 30% cpu time...

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: uncJIGGA
Thanks for all your help...however I am still surprised Windows didn't try to prevent me from deleting it. Also, I am dead-on 100% sure that when I was checking out the wowexec.exe thread in task manager, it did NOT have the 'SYSTEM' user name that other OS components use.

Is it possible that a virus or some other shady app might have given me a hacked copy of wowexec or somehow it got corrupted? the reason I deleted it in the first place was because it was consuming GOBS of memory one day and a consistent 30% cpu time...

You probably just had a 16bit app that was running and either hung or ran off on you. I have noticed several times where the Win XP taskmgr does not report the user under which a task is running. Just because it is blank doesnt mean a virus is running it, even a virus has to run under somebodys credentials to run at all.

-Spy

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: uncJIGGA
Thanks for all your help...however I am still surprised Windows didn't try to prevent me from deleting it. Also, I am dead-on 100% sure that when I was checking out the wowexec.exe thread in task manager, it did NOT have the 'SYSTEM' user name that other OS components use.

Is it possible that a virus or some other shady app might have given me a hacked copy of wowexec or somehow it got corrupted? the reason I deleted it in the first place was because it was consuming GOBS of memory one day and a consistent 30% cpu time...

Gobs of memory and 30% cpu time eh? Whelp you're dealing with 16 bit apps and a virtual dos machine. If the app goes crazy it won't lockup the whole machine but it will sure try. I'm thinking you were probably page faulting all over the place (with the memory use) otherwise your cpu would probably be pegged at 100% too. If it happens in the future, switch to task manager and kill wowexec or ntvdm and the app should close.

Some app was bugging out, not wowexec...it just took the blame.

I'm not positive but I think that thing runs in user mode rather than executive...so it might not have "system" as the user but whoever executed the app.

 

[Nothinman]

I'm thinking you were probably page faulting all over the place (with the memory use) otherwise your cpu would probably be pegged at 100% too.

I believe you mean paging to disk, page faults alone don't necessarily mean disk access is needed. And since Win3.11 apps were written for a cooperative multitasking environment they can very easilly get stuck in a loop where they don't yield control back to the OS, which since Windows has moved on to a preemptive multitasking environment all that does is slow things down instead of halting the whole system.

I'm not positive but I think that thing runs in user mode rather than executive...so it might not have "system" as the user but whoever executed the app.

This I think is true, because IIRC (it's been a while) you can kill ntvdm with a normal user account, which wouldn't be possble if it were running as SYSTEM.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

I'm thinking you were probably page faulting all over the place (with the memory use) otherwise your cpu would probably be pegged at 100% too.

I believe you mean paging to disk, page faults alone don't necessarily mean disk access is needed.

Yes I did mean paging to disk. I hate it when you correct me..Shoosh!

 

[Nothinman]

Yes I did mean paging to disk. I hate it when you correct me..Shoosh!

I do what I can =)