Where are services hosted by "svchost.exe -k netsvcs" on Windows XP? What is the meaning of "-k netsvcs" parameter?

"svchost.exe -k netsvcs" command is used to invoke the svchost.exe program to load the DLL file for the given service specified in the registry.

"-k netsvcs" is the process grouping parameter. It allows Windows to load multiple DLL files under a single shared svchost.exe process of the same group name.

In other words, all services that are launched by the same "svchost.exe -k netsvcs" command will be running under a single shared process of svchost.exe.

The advantage of using a shared process is to save process resources. But services of a shared process have execution environment dependency. If one service is running into problem, all other services of the same shared process will be impacted.

Here is a list of services hosted by the shared process of "svchost.exe -k netsvcs":

"Server - srvsvc.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Application Experience - aelupsvc.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Application Information - Appinfo.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Application Management - appmgmts.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Background Intelligent Transfer Service - qmgr.dll" Service on Windows XP

"BitLocker Drive Encryption Service - BDESVC.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Certificate Propagation - certprop.dll" Service on Windows XP

"CNG Key Isolation - KeyIso.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Computer Browser - Browser.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Extensible Authentication Protocol - eapsvc.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Group Policy Client - gpsvc.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Health Key and Certificate Management - kmsvc.dll" Service on Windows XP

"IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules - IKEEXT.DLL" Service on Windows XP

"Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) - ipnathlp.dll" Service on Windows XP

"IP Helper - iphlpsvc.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Service - iscsiexe.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Multimedia Class Scheduler - MMCSS.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Problem Reports and Solutions Control Panel Support - wercplsupport.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Remote Access Auto Connection Manager - RasAuto.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Remote Access Connection Manager - RasMan.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Remote Desktop Configuration - SessEnv.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Routing and Remote Access - mprdim.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Secondary Logon - seclogon.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Shell Hardware Detection - shsvcs.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Smart Card Removal Policy - certprop.dll" Service on Windows XP

"System Event Notification Service - SENS.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Task Scheduler - schedsvc.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Themes - themeservice.dll" Service on Windows XP

"User Profile Service - ProfSvc.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Windows Management Instrumentation - wmisvc.dll" Service on Windows XP

"Windows Update - wuaueng.dll" Service on Windows XP

⇒⇒Windows XP Services Tutorials