Com surrogate dllhost.exe is one of many Windows features that have been around for a while now, starting from windows’ very earlier versions, dating back to 1993. The word COM stands for Component Object Model and is Microsoft’s own model for making and rendering windows apps.
In this article, we shall take a deep dive on Com Surrogate and help you fix issues related to it.
Contents
What is Com and Com Surrogate (dllhost.exe)?
COM interface is built up using many programming languages. Basically, this interface applies COM objects into other windows apps. Sounds too techy? Let’s see some examples. Ever opened file explorer on windows and see icons on folders, thumbnails on pictures and videos and other GUI. That’s COM.
So now you know, that COM is just a windows’ service that runs in the background and helps other apps open and work correctly. Most users don’t even know about COM running in the background.
COM surrogate is another process that opens these COM objects in a sandbox type environment so that if it crashes, it doesn’t bring the whole system down.
When Does Com Surrogate Lead To High CPU usage or Errors?
The thing is, when anything related to COM dies or crashes, it takes the whole process down with it. For example, File Explorer on windows was running until a COM object failed. Then the whole File explorer activity will fail and restart, leaving you with the wallpaper only background for 5-10 seconds. Bet you have seen that before.
Enter COM surrogate. Surrogate means the object will be a COM object but technically won’t be related to the creator ( surrogate ) process in any way. Just like surrogacy works! The result? Now whole application doesn’t get killed if something goes wrong.
COM surrogate is also called dllhost.exe because it hosts dlls (dynamically linked libraries ) that contain source code for programs to run on windows.
Summing up, COM surrogate dllhost.exe is just a background housekeeping service that is run by windows and doesn’t harm your PC in any way.
Does This Service Harm The PC? Is It A virus?
As explained, it is not a virus. If you want to get more in the detail of com surrogate,
- Open the task manager
- Find the COM surrogate process
- Right-click and choose a file location and process details
File location: The file location would be System32 inside the windows folder
** If the location is not among the option mentioned, then the process possibly is a virus or a malware. Just go to file location and delete the file. Also, run a whole system scan.
Process details: Sadly the task manager won’t tell you a lot about the process. It will show that it is a Com Surrogate dllhost.exe process and that’s it. If you want to know about what process started the COM surrogate and which processes are using it, then you need an advanced system monitor. Try out Microsoft’s process explorer ( link here ) and see the whole details on COM surrogate process and sub-processes.
How to tell virus and COM surrogate apart?
Okay, now you understand what COM surrogate does for your system. Even if you did not understand a thing, need not worry! At least the COM surrogate doesn’t hurt the system. But there is a way to see if the service is actually the one that windows allow.
Check for the CPU and Ram utilization of the COM surrogate (dllhost.exe) process. If you notice high resource usage, this possibly may be a malware.
Go to the file location. If it’s not System32 folder, then suspicion is even more! You can force the end process and delete the file.
Can I Disable COM Surrogate Or dllhost.exe?
Simply put, No you can not disable the process. And you shouldn’t. It works in the background to make windows crash proof and better to use. There is no apparent reason to stop its natural working flow.
How To Fix COM Surrogate Related Errors?
If you frequently see COM surrogate has stopped working errors, try the following ways to prevent it from happening again.
1. Move The COM Surrogate (dllhost.exe) To DEP List
DEP stands for data execution prevention. DEP helps in protecting against damage from viruses and other security threats. It deeply monitors the application’s course of the operation and more importantly, it’s resource utilization. If it finds something sketchy, it closes the app and reports to the user.
To fix com surrogate errors, we will put the dllhost.exe file in the DEP list.
- Open my computer or This PC
- Right-click on the middle and choose properties
- Now click on advanced system settings
- Under performance settings, choose Data Execution Prevention ( DEP )
- Turn on DEP for all programs and choose a file.
- Choose the dllhost.exe file
- Save your settings
- Restart your computer for the settings to take effect.
- You can also turn on or off DEP protection for any other programs that you like to monitor more closely.
After applying this fix, the error must not come back again.
2. Roll Back Your Display Driver
If you recently updated your video drivers ( graphic card drivers ), rolling them back to the previous version might the issue.
- Open the run menu by WIN + R
- type devmgmt.msc to open device manager
- Search for the display adapter
- Right-click on it to open properties.
- Select roll back the driver to the previous version
- This will restore the previous version
- Restart the PC after the process completes
Many users have reported that rolling back the display driver was easy to hit for them to fix the issue.
3. Fixing the registery files via cmd or powershell
- Open command prompt or powershell ( as admin ) by right clicking on the start button
- Once it is opened, type in the following commands and wait for their results
- regsvr32 vbscript.dll
- regsvr32 jscript.dll
These commands are registry fixes that deals with issues that reside in windows files etc. Once this is done, your problems with the COM surrogate stopping should now disappear.
Final Verdict
In this guide, you learned great details about COM surrogate dllhost.exe and how to fix issues related to it. Hope you found our guide useful.
Tell us your thoughts on this topic in the comment section down below. Cheers and peace!
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