What is WWAHost.exe and Why is it Running?
Recently I found my system running a little slow and found a servicer running called WWAHost.exe. What is it? A virus or a normal Windows service? Let’s take a look.
You’ve probably landed here because you’ve found WWAHost.exe running on your computer and you’d like to know why. Fear not, it is not a virus. Microsoft intentionally put WWAHost.exe in Windows 8 as an executable necessary for certain Windows Apps. Read on for more details.
If you take a look at the description of WWAHost.exe in Task Manager you’ll see it says “Microsoft WWA Host.” If you think that’s a bit vague, you’re right! Microsoft is saying that the WWAHost process is a WWA Host… OK… that explains it right! Sarcasm aside, here’s what it does.
Windows 8 uses Javascript to execute some Metro apps, and WWAHost is the process that hosts this. Because any Metro apps are written in the same fashion as web apps, several of them need to run interchangeably within Internet Explorer. With that said, Microsoft explains WWAHost as “an Internet Explorer-based rendering platform.”
A look at WWAHost on my Windows 8 test system using Process Explorer reveals that it is currently hosting the platform that the Bing Weather app is running on.
Conclusion
WWAHost.exe is a safe and essential process in Windows 8. It acts as a host for Metro app processes similar to how svchost.exe acts as a host for .dll files. This process is safe and is best left alone to continue normal function on a Windows 8 system.
36 Comments
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Vizor
August 20, 2012 at 1:55 am
That is good article. Thank you.
But please, what WWA stands for? I gues that is Windows Web Application, but who knows? Google knows nothing (except this article :) ).
oscar
August 5, 2013 at 9:19 pm
in my case, the task start running wen i start skype, check if you have somethigk like that running
DAVID hANSEN
April 9, 2014 at 1:29 pm
my WWA HOST.EXC IS SUSPENDED WHAT SHOULD I DO TO START IT ? OR SHOULD i ?thank you D. Hansen
DAVID hANSEN
April 9, 2014 at 1:40 pm
I think this artical is Great, Q- Every time i try to access anything I get a popup that asks for -A SMART CARD-? OR AN OLD E-MAIL Address i dont know the password to , There in a window w/two boxes asking for those two things I cant access the Smart card-? or the e- mail add. Why is this happening….I do have a LOT OF APPS INSTALLED…D.Hansen
pw
May 13, 2017 at 9:47 am
ok….so its good for 8…..but what about 10?
Alek
October 7, 2020 at 3:14 am
It’s a host for Netflix app on my system
ibcom
October 22, 2012 at 4:11 pm
article utile !! merci
Flipsen
February 6, 2013 at 4:40 am
My switchable graphics card set preset for this application to High Performance instead of Power Saving. Because it acts as a host for Metro app proccesses, I can be switched to Power Saving, right?
Andrey
February 16, 2013 at 9:33 am
Help please, I do not know what to do, by accident “took the task” in task manager. Thanks in advance.
PS Sorry for my English.
Crazyblogger
February 16, 2013 at 7:37 pm
As you said it is definitely used for some metro apps. It starts to show up when I start metro apps like skype. And BTW it listens to Port 80 so application like XAMPP will not start properly. So, if you use application which uses port 80 make sure that you turn on metro app only after you have started the other app.
Stu Jones
February 21, 2013 at 8:26 am
I’m having a problem with it. Every now and again. My system will almost freeze up. found this running and making my SSD run at 100% but next to no actual Read/wright data going. closing it makes everything fine, WWAHost will even start up again fine for hours. then do the same randomly. Any ideas
Bill Carmody
March 8, 2013 at 11:16 am
Me too. I’m having the same problem as Stu Jones. Wondering why WWAHost seems to go crazy every now and again and freeze up my machine entirely.
Magic
March 26, 2013 at 2:35 pm
Question: What will happen when I kill this process ? Performance manager in my Windows 8, reported me that this software slows down computer during hibernation / sleep
Yu
May 21, 2013 at 4:08 am
the process takes a lot of cpu power for a little while.
it is harmless to kill it , but it is neccesary for windows startpage tiles and it will do its task again automaticly after being killed.
the problem that it hangs ur pc is because it uses java which is full of security holes and probably one or more applications on the start-screen that are not well-written.
it does not use that much harddrive activity, so if it does you have to check your harddiskcontroller and see if it has the right driver for it. intel matrix storage from version 8 of its better to use intel rapid storage controller. AMD uses the AMD raid driver found on their website under chipset drivers.
the best thing is to let the WWAHost do its thing and not touch it.
it is not a virus nor a trojan or spyware and it is safe to let it be on your pc.
Technoish
November 13, 2013 at 6:37 pm
I’m with windows 8.1 9600 build (latest as of now) with a SSD, i7-4770, 16GB ram and the very same thing is happening to me too! And how do you mean “let it do it’s thing”? This is very annoying, it happens like every 5-10 minutes and hangs for about 20-30 seconds.
I also have my windows installed on a SSD and I’m also running skype as others have suggested here.
This is really bugging me..
somebody
January 9, 2015 at 5:18 pm
Ok. I’m sticking my butt out for some spam from this site.
On Win 7 start screen those tile can be right clicked to turn them off live.
Tiles for some apps are more less constantly in communication with network/system or whatever.
== if you don’t turn them off. more tiles, more clutter in RAM. Doing this I kind of fixed the “WTF moments” when it shows user using 10% of CPu when total is running 35%CPu and your the only one on.
Now something I got a problem with. How the heck do I disable OneDrive. That piece of crap is constantly running and I can’t find it in services.
Garratt
April 25, 2014 at 3:25 am
YU,
Java runs on virtual machine, the machine acts as a security layer and takes care of all memory problems thus it’s quite hard to write java to be a memory hog purposefully, viruses are pretty much non existent in the java world.
That said, as Rob pointed out, it’s mostly javascript / flash etc.
Rob
June 5, 2013 at 5:25 pm
Yu — modern apps do not use Java. They use JavaScript. Huge, big, gigantic difference between those two technologies.
Sean S
July 10, 2013 at 6:17 pm
Thanks for this.
Killing this process is a quick handy way for getting rid of any Metro apps that have inadvertently been started or haven’t quit cleanly or won’t quit (2 so far).
joe johns
November 8, 2013 at 10:46 am
This site offers a wealth of info. I also found WWAHost.exe in my task mgr. It showed it as being “suspended” but, I had no idea what it was. After reading these comments, I know everything I need to know about it. Thanks to all of you!!
nascentt
April 4, 2014 at 1:51 pm
Great article. Very comprehensive.
roberta
June 20, 2014 at 8:05 am
Great explanation! I’m not too savvy and I wanted to get more info on my “STORE” process but I can’t get to that detailed properties screen, can anyone help me?
Andrea
October 5, 2014 at 9:15 pm
I am trying to delete my skype chat history but I can’t because the WWA host is running it. What should I do?
Sugram22
November 11, 2014 at 8:03 am
Before i noticed the suspended exe process i noticed win store under processes tab, also when i looked in process explorer that suspended exe is not running cause of Bing, but cause of windows store, & under processes Windows Store shows 1MB Memory, & suspended exe is what runs win store, so why is it listed in taskmanager if it is not running? or is it running & searching updates for APP’S?
Sugram22
November 11, 2014 at 11:38 am
i also have Topic about it here
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-windows_store/why-is-window-store-listed-in-taskmanager-when-it/92daf6d0-d786-4587-91c0-d37427a81556?tm=1415724062311
Sugram22
November 14, 2014 at 10:23 am
2 days row & store is still running, when i open taskmanager & do EndTask it reappears after some time, it runs until i shutdown PC & starts again when i turn on PC, store is not in startup
Brandon
November 21, 2014 at 7:41 pm
This article is really helpful. However, I’d like to know if it is possible to run the whole thing without installation..
Christophe
March 25, 2015 at 7:06 am
Thx for your expertise.
fabiofer
April 22, 2015 at 4:40 am
Thanks a lot, Mr. Ruthruff.
It’s almost three years since you posted this, and it´s still the BEST article you can find about this topic when you search google.
Nowadays, many people are using the “Music” app in Windows 8, and it (of course) uses WWAhost, a lot…
Renata
July 5, 2015 at 3:09 am
In my case, it is blocking the use of camera while i’m using skype. what can i do?
rebecca smith
August 18, 2015 at 2:52 pm
it’s only an essential program if you use or want to use Windows 8 ‘metro apps’ – which I don’t and many people don’t. Therefore it really isn’t essential in my opinion.
Watha
October 5, 2015 at 11:14 pm
Oh great !
So does that mean I have two javascript interpreters running, this one and the one in my browser.
Is that supposed to improve my machine’s performance ?
Terje Henriksen
October 23, 2017 at 10:43 pm
In my opinion, WWAHost.exe is also used by hackers, so I have blocked a lot of connections using it with Nsauditor.
At the moment, it seems that hackers have started to use WinStoreApp.exe instead, because when I try to block the connections, I get messages that some of them are already blocked (when they were used by WWAHost.exe).
LA
November 23, 2017 at 7:26 am
I’m running Windows 10 and Malwarebytes is blocking several WWAHost.exe processes listed as “Outgoing.” It may not be a virus in itself but something else is using it.
Terje Henriksen
November 23, 2017 at 8:51 am
Malwarebytes is very good. It has found and deleted several PUPs (over 900 in certain programs) and other suspicious programs. I am trusting it.
Alek
October 7, 2020 at 3:13 am
Actually there is no need for this file to run, at all. On my system, it’s a host for Netflix app. I do use Netflix app, but when I’m not using I’d like to have this app unloaded from memory (Uses 100MB of RAM for no reason).
The only thing that I’ve found is to terminate it temporarily, or uninstall Netflix. So, no solution yet I think.
It’s NOT a virus, but there should be a way to not have it in memory.