What is splwow64.exe?
Read on for the details.
Splwow64.exe is a Windows core system file. The program runs in the background and is not normally visible. It is a trustworthy resource created by Microsoft. Task Manager lists it as the “Printer driver host for 32-bit applications.” In other words, splwow64.exe allows 32-bit applications to connect with the 64-bit printer spooler service on x64 Windows builds. Further exploration into the process lists the “Thinking Spooler APIS from 32 to 64 Process.” It is stored at “C:\Windows\splwow64.exe” and is started by the parent process spoolsv.exe. It has a light system footprint of ~1,124k and shouldn’t affect performance much.
Should I Get Rid of It?
You’re normally best off just leaving splwow64.exe running. It isn’t hurting anything, and it isn’t using up any memory your normal print services aren’t already using. I can see disabling it to be beneficial if you don’t have any physical or virtual printer installed on your system. In that case, here is how to prevent it from starting. Open the Start menu and type services into the search box. Click the Services program link that appears.
In the services, window scroll down and right-click Print Spooler, then select Properties.
Click the Startup type drop-down menu and select Disabled from the list. Then click OK to exit and save changes. Changes will take effect the next time you reboot your computer.
Conclusion
Splwow64.exe is a core Windows process and shouldn’t be causing any problems on your computer. It can be disabled or removed; however, doing so will cripple your computer’s ability to print from 32-bit applications. This process is safe and best left alone. I have a printer but I’m NOT doing any printing while I’m waiting for each little step in photoshop. So, what the heck is going on???? Why is photoshop waiting on a freekin print spooler when I’m not doing any printing???? Some viruses mimic splwow64.exe and use the same name. Sometimes they even hack over your original splwow64.exe and then run as a virus within it. My problem was that my mouse cursor would constantly switch between the normal cursor to the blue loading or waiting circle when I was inside most Microsoft Office programs. So apparently, splwow64.exe is a program that allows 64-bit programs to print to 32-bit printers. If your default printer is a 32-bit printer and you’re in a 64-bit program, splwow64.exe will run constantly. That’s what caused my mouse cursor to blink erratically. My solution was to switch my default printer to a non 32-bit printer. That fixed my cursor blinking problem immediately. Hopefully that helps some others out. Good luck! My printer and all my programs worked fine before without it. Why is splwow64.exe there now? This is suspicious to me. Thanks, I think I know all the tricks for switching from one document to another, but what works best for someone like is to bring up Task Manager and look at the alphabetical list of open documents and then right click the one I want to go to and click “bring to front”. Since a recent update, Task Manager usually doesn’t list the documents that are open; instead, it lists Microsoft Word as an app, and Print Host Driver for Applications — just those two entries instead of the long, alphabetical list of all open Word documents. Exactly the same thing can happen with the document list that should come up for OpenOffice 3.3. Sometimes — but only sometimes — if I right click Print Host Driver for Applications and click End Task, it disappears and the list of open Word, or OpenOffice documents appears. But this is only sometimes and more often than not I have to close Task Manager, reopen it, and hope that the list of open documents shows up. Many a time, Task Manager opens with the same problem. Sometimes it does open properly with a list of documents, but then after a while, Word and its list of open documents simply disappears from Task Manager and I have to open it again, often to just go through the whole rigamarole again, Can someone please tell me how to get the Print Host Driver from coming up in Task Manager and preventing the list of open documents being shown. Or, is there some way to have the Print Host Driver show in Task Manager AND the list of open documents appear as well? I don’t want to upgrade to a newer version of Word because I don’t trust it work any better than Word 2007. I know I can use the Switch Windows function of Word to get a list of open Word documents, but the old way of using Task Manager is better and faster for how I work. Task Manager never had this problem until one of the updates from late 2018 or early 2019 got into my computer. I would like to get Task Manager working like it used to. Any help on this question would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks for anything you can say. Comment Name * Email *
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