WOW Environment Remains in Memory After Quitting 16-Bit Program
Article ID: 181333
Article Last Modified on 2/22/2007
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Edition
- Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition
This article was previously published under Q181333
SUMMARY
When you start a 16-bit program on a computer running Windows NT, the
Ntvdm.exe and Wowexec.exe processes start. After you quit the 16-bit
program, the Ntvdm.exe and Wowexec.exe processes remain in memory.
MORE INFORMATION
This behavior is a design feature of Windows NT. The Ntvdm.exe and
Wowexec.exe processes remain in memory in case you start another 16-bit
program. Leaving the Windows-On-Windows (WOW) environment (which consists
of the Ntvdm.exe and Wowexec.exe processes) in memory improves performance.
The WOW environment is not loaded when you start Windows NT. It is loaded
when you first start a 16-bit program.
Additional query words: subsystem 16bit
Keywords: kbinfo KB181333