Why w3wp.exe

Check out our free transaction tracing tool, Prefix! These worker processes run as w3wp. It is possible to run IIS on a Windows desktop or Windows server, although it is usually only seen on Microsoft Windows Servers configured as web servers.

Within IIS you can set up websites and which application pools they are assigned. Multiple websites can be assigned to a single IIS application pool. To learn more about web sites, web applications, and application pools within IIS, check out the Microsoft docs. A defined IIS application pool is what becomes a w3wp. They have two basic settings which are related to the version of.

NET being used. IIS application pools also provide a bunch of advanced settings. These impact the behavior of w3wp and your IIS worker process. Including things like what Windows user account it runs as, auto restarting of the process, auto shutdown, and more.

It is also possible for one IIS application pool to create multiple IIS worker processes in what is called a web garden. Via the Windows Task Manager, you can see processes named w3wp. Within the IIS management console, you can view more details. Open IIS manager and on the left side click on the name of your computer. You will then see a similar list of icons on the right as shown in the screenshot below.

The file is a software component accompanying the Internet Information Services package. It is a windows system file published by Microsoft Corporation. If you find w3wp. You can determine the working status of the IIS worker process, including w3wp. Here are the steps:. For more information, here are the steps on how can track all running threads from the IIS manager —.

Double-clicking on a specific process also provides information on the application pool, including the following details —. If the worker process i. Suppose the details do not indicate a particular anomaly, test and debug your web application for errors and implement proper garbage collection practices.

Optimize the. NET source code and check the application dependencies. Many users have recently complaint that the w3wp. You guessed it: w3wp. Detection opportunity Several of our detectors were triggered to flag this activity. PowerShell script for enumerating w3wp.

Name -eq "cmd. The 2nd script is needed to work with this script, Get-W3WP. Credit: Adam Roben for pstree. ParentProcessId -eq 0 -or! Related Articles. Detection and response Intelligence Insights: October Detection and response Better know a data source: Process command line. Detection and response Intelligence Insights: September Subscribe to our blog.

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