Question

Process instd64.exe running in 32 bit mode over svchost is causing my system to hang

Asked by: laplaque

All of a sudden I had a hangup caused by the process mentioned above. the 2 processes, instd64.exe and svchost where consuming 100% of my system power. There was no clear cause for this problem to occurr. I did however find the following message every couple of minutes in the event viewer; the last time around the time my system hung totally.

Event Type:      Error
Event Source:      Windows Search Service
Event Category:      Gatherer
Event ID:      3083
Date:            11/3/2009
Time:            11:31:15 AM
User:            N/A
Computer:      XXXX
Description:
The protocol handler Search.Mapi2Handler.1 cannot be loaded. Error description: Class not registered
.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

The strange thing is that the instd64 process is situated in SYSWOW64, which designates it as a 64-bit process, but still it ran in 32 bit mode.

Who knows this process and how to prevent this from happening again?

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Asked On
2009-11-03 at 02:59:41ID24866644
Tags

Windows XP 64

,

instd64.exe

,

syswow64

Topics

Windows 64-bit

,

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
2
Points
50
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: dbruntonPosted on 2009-11-03 at 16:02:25ID: 25735246

It is probably a 32 bit process.  These get placed in the SYSWOW64 folder if they are 32 bit.  See http://www.vistax64.com/vista-general/73986-syswow64.html for more information on this.

What this process is I don't know.  Googling finds nothing.  I do suggest a good antivirus scan in case it is something you don't want.

 

by: MeretePosted on 2009-11-03 at 18:52:17ID: 25736000

There's a reference to Event ID:  3083 here at EE
http://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Microsoft_Operating_Systems/Q_23032501.html
it relates to windows desktop search so i was thinking if these letters point to a running installer for a desktop?
instd64.exe...  install desktop64.exe maybe?
Did you attempt to install a desktop?
I concur with dbrunton to scan for malware.
Try process explorer
Process Explorer makes it useful for tracking down DLL-version problems or handle leaks, and provide insight into the way Windows and applications work.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx

 

by: laplaquePosted on 2009-11-04 at 01:22:38ID: 25737601

Thanks for your comments dbrunton and Merete. I too tried to google for this process before posting, and came up with.... nothing.

It's truly helpfull to realize that SysWOW64 is actually the folder where 32-bit compiled executables are stored and that System32 is the place where the actual 64-bit compiled executables can be found for compatibility reasons.
As I am a Windows 64-bit newbie, I was totally unaware of that, but the implication of that notice is that I should conclude that instd64

Merete, given the fact that I have installed desktop search over a week ago, it would be odd to presume that the installer invoked itself. I did download the full sysinternals suite (includes process explorer) to explore further along this path.

Any things you can find in the mean time would be greatly appreciated.

 

by: laplaquePosted on 2009-11-04 at 01:23:57ID: 25737610

I managed to trace the instd64 process back to instd32, which is from manufacturer Absolute Software Corp.

File instd64 has the following details.
Version: 8.0.852.0
Description: instd32
Copyright: Copyright © 2005 Absolute Software Corp.

It has nothing to do with Windows Search, so I assumed wrong; at the most this could be an incompatibility issue between computrace and windows search.

I asked our IS to take this up with Absolute
Thanks all for your help.

 

by: laplaquePosted on 2009-11-04 at 01:32:41ID: 31649889

Realizing the role of the SysWow64 folder in windows 64-bit got me to check whether the file was 32-bit or 64-bit compiled.

 

by: MeretePosted on 2009-11-04 at 03:13:33ID: 25738134

Glad to see you resolved it laplaque.
regards Merete

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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