The following only applies to Windows9x, and is seriously out of date! Ignore it all!

WMIEXE.EXE

What is it?

A background task loaded at Windows 98 startup.

What Does It Do?

You will notice WMIEXE.EXE's presence when just after startup has seemingly finished (Start Menu loaded, System Tray programs settled, etc.) the cursor is still in hourglass form. It tends to stay like this for 20-30 seconds. WMIEXE.EXE also resides in the background and is thus highly undesirable.

Why Does it do This?

WMIEXE.EXE is part of the WMI/WBEM system. Despite many MS Knowledge base links (see appendix), I can't fully determine or identify what these systems/packages/whatevers do/are. Yet WMIEXE is often loaded without the other WMI/WBEM components and thus I have long suspected that it is loaded either precautionarily or in error.

I have only heard of two instances where preventing loading of the file caused problems, both with webcams. So maybe WMIEXE is there for a good reason? I can't tell, but I readily enjoy the benefits of not loading it. I suggest you prevent WMIEXE from loading and observe the results. In my experience they are almost always good.

So, How do I Get Rid of it?

Note, the following only works with Windows 98. In Windows ME, wmiexe.exe is recreated when you reboot, so you may as well put up with it or try to disable whatever recreates the file. I think it's something to do with SystemHealth, but I'm not sure.

This executable is not launched with a Registry key, or INI file setting. In fact, it is seemingly loaded by SYSTRAY.EXE (the background task that provides the System Tray volume control, battery meter, etc. ), and additionaly won't load unless SYSTRAY.EXE has been previously loaded. I don't know what SYSTRAY.EXE has to do with it; perhaps they're chums..

Anyway, because it is loaded automatically, to stop it from being loaded you must hide it from Windows. The best way to do this is through deletion and here are two ways to remove it permanantly from your system:

The easiest way to stop WMIEXE.EXE loading is to delete it, however you'll quickly find that removing it with explorer is not possible; Windows complains that the file is in use. This is because WMIEXE.EXE is running in the background. Thus to remove it you need to terminate the task first, usually it's possible to do this with the CTRL-ALT-DEL end-task menu, however WMIEXE.EXE runs as a Windows service and thus is invisible in this menu. Thus you need to use an application like Appswat. Appswat is a fabulous program that instantly kills any running Windows task.

So, with Appswat terminate WMIEXE.EXE and with explorer either delete WMIEXE.EXE or rename it to WMIEXE.EXE.BAK. Appswat has a simple interface, I hope it's obvious what to do, and for the second step you'll find WMIEXE.EXE in \windows\system.

Alternatively, you can boot to DOS Prompt (or use a Windows startup disk) and type the following commands:

cd\windows\system
delete wmiexe.exe

Or to rename it:

rename wmiexe.exe wmiexe.bak

If you have any questions, feel free to mail me.

Appendix

Feedback has alerted me to the WMISDK, which is a more recent description of the WMI system by Microsoft. It sheds some light on WMI's less evil purposes. You may want to leave it there in the background. I still think it is most often running unnecessarily. My box is wonderfully stable and functional without WMIEXE.EXE for over 1.5 years.