DWM.EXE process: functions, location and instructions for disabling it

If you often visit the "Task Manager", you might notice the DWM.EXE program on the Processes tab. There you can see that it consumes computer power. But what kind of process is DWM.EXE, why is it needed, and can it be closed to reduce the consumption of computer resources? This and much more we have to find out in this article.

General information about DWM.EXE

Before proceeding directly to the description of all the properties of this process, it is worth saying that it is not a virus in itself, as some users might have thought. On the contrary, this is the system process responsible for the work of the "Desktop Manager", but this will be discussed in more detail later.

Now let's look at how to see DWM.EXE on the system. To do this, you need to perform simple steps:

1. Call up the "Task Manager" window. You can do this through the Start menu, by searching for a name in the system or by pressing the key combination Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
2. In the window "Windows Task Manager" you need to go to the tab "Processes". If you do not observe it, then change the view mode to "Advanced", you can do this by clicking the corresponding button at the bottom of the window.
3. Going to the tab, find the specified process. It’s easier to do this by sorting by name. To do this, click on the "Image Name" column heading.

It may happen that he will not be there. In this case, it is either disabled, which is extremely undesirable, or the operating system does not support this technology.

Functions and Tasks

It was said above that the DWM.EXE process is a special technology responsible for the work of the "Desktop Manager", now let's talk about this in more detail.

So, "Desktop Manager" is a system that refers to the graphical shell. It is only available on Windows operating systems starting with Vista. But it’s worth clarifying that in some editions this element is missing. So, you cannot find it in the Windows 7 edition of Starter. By the way, for the DWM.EXE process to work properly, you need a video card installed in the computer that supports the ninth DirectX technology, otherwise not all functionality will be involved.

If we talk about the main tasks of this technology, they are to display the transparency of the windows, the appearance of the window preview windows, as well as other less noticeable graphic effects.

Process completion

Speaking about the DWM.EXE process, it is also worthwhile to analyze the consequences of its completion. In fact, this will not cause any critical errors, and you will not have to reinstall the operating system. All that will be - the quality of the display of some graphic elements, in particular those listed above, will decrease. By the way, in the operating system, only one DWM.EXE process can be started, and it starts directly in the current user account.

Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that in order to improve computer performance, you can sacrifice the graphic display of some elements by disabling this process. And really, nothing bad will happen, and your computer will be less loaded.

Now let's see how to disable the DWM.EXE process:

1. Launch the "Task Manager" window. How to do this was described earlier.
2. Go to the "Processes" tab.
3. Select the appropriate process from the list.
4. Click the "End Process" button located in the lower right part of the window.
5. In the window that appears, click the button of the same name.

After that, the process will be stopped - the quality of the graphic component of the system will decrease, and the consumption of computer resources will also decrease.

Complete process shutdown

It has already been told how to complete the DWM.EXE process, but after rebooting it will still start again. If you want to completely disable it, then you need to stop the corresponding Windows service. Here's how to do it:

1. Open the Run window. To do this, press two buttons: Win and R.
2. In the window that opens, enter the following value in the "Open" line: services.msc
3. Click OK.
4. The Services window will appear. In it, you need to find the item "Session Manager of the desktop window manager." To do this faster, sort the list by name.
5. Once you find the service you need, double-click on it with LMB.
6. The properties window for this service opens. In it you need to change the startup type from "Automatic" to "Disabled".
7. Click "Apply," and then "OK."

Now, when the system starts, the DWM.EXE process will not start automatically.

Process location in Explorer

Some users may also be interested in the question of where the executable file for this process is located. And it is located in the System32 folder in the Windows directory on the system drive. But it’s easier to open this folder through the task manager, here's how to do it:

1. Open the Task Manager window.
2. Click the Processes tab.
3. Find the name DWG.EXE.
4. Click on it with RMB.
5. Select "Open Storage Location."

A file manager window will open in which the desired file will be highlighted. By the way, this way you can find out the location of any other process.

So we figured out what the DWM.EXE process is, where it is located, what it is for, and whether it can be deleted.