Why Are There Several Instances of the Process Running? In the end, the Console Window Host is something like a shell that maintains the power of running a system-level service like CSRSS, while still securely and reliably granting the ability to integrate modern interface elements. If you check the conhost.exe process out in Process Explorer, you can see that it actually runs under the csrss.ese process.
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And that’s the method still used in Windows 8 and 10, allowing all the new interface elements and styling that have come along since Windows 7.Įven though the Task Manager presents the Console Window Host as a separate entity, it’s still closely associated with CSRSS. The process sort of sits in the middle between CSRSS and the Command Prompt (cmd.exe), allowing Windows to fix both of the previous issues-interface elements like scrollbars draw correctly, and you can again drag and drop into the Command Prompt. As the name implies, its a host process for the console window. This is because the Desktop Window Manager handles drawing the title bars and frame, but an old-fashioned CSRSS window still sits inside.Įnter Windows 7 and the Console Window Host process. Still, that theming only went so far. If you take a look at the console in Windows Vista, it looks like it uses the same theme as everything else, but you’ll notice that the scrollbars are still using the old style. The Command Prompt gained some superficial theming from this (like the glassy frame present in other windows), but it came at the expense of being able to drag and drop files, text, and so on into the Command Prompt window. Windows Vista introduced the Desktop Window Manager-a service that “draws” composite views of windows onto your desktop rather than letting each individual app handle that on its own. RELATED: What Is Desktop Window Manager (dwm.exe) and Why Is It Running? Notice in the screenshot of Windows XP below that the Command Prompt doesn’t get the same styling as an app like Notepad. So, the Command Prompt always had the classic look rather than using new interface elements.
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The second problem was that CSRSS could not be themed, because the developers didn’t want to risk theme code to run in a system process. First, a crash in CSRSS could bring down a whole system, which exposed not just reliability issues, but possible security vulnerabilities as well.
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As the name implies, CSRSS was a system level service. In the Windows XP days, the Command Prompt was handled by a process named the ClientServer Runtime System Service (CSRSS). Understanding the Console Window Host process requires a little bit of history. So What Is the Console Window Host Process?