ThumbnailExtractionHost.exe
Sources: 300M+ executions observed in the wild.
Summary
Windows Thumbnail Extraction Host - generates file thumbnails for File Explorer preview in a sandboxed process.
ThumbnailExtractionHost.exe is the 268th most commonly executed Windows program in EchoTrail's dataset, observed 45,360 times across enterprise environments. It typically runs from C:\Windows\System32 and it is most often launched by svchost.exe.
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Behavior
Top Paths
- C:\Windows\System32100%
Top Hashes (SHA256)
- a70b9a58d6091599c7309152f13dd9306d1b584139287a7969fb131f1b61f7e899.99%
- 0eb2b00c87b8785f36288da8833a6000741f2a3c59d02e010c3174897b70711d<0.01%
- 20e0f611e31f08b22382de7500978945e286caa7a2162d2d95b77b97cb548240<0.01%
- 42b9dc3dea8839fda52640cdd3e4dd209badc847548905ffa6d5d2347665de6f<0.01%
- 72649a348c72dc1287fd8d88b89e673f31f788e3fb80c06a469d8446d614b068<0.01%
- ab58bab0565be06dbe5eaf5ee4cd0c3281a6bb6efa4f23cebc9e0f71ca29a797<0.01%
Process Ancestry
Top Grandparents
- services.exe100%
Top Parents
- svchost.exe100%
Security Analysis
What does ThumbnailExtractionHost.exe normally do?
Spawned when File Explorer needs to generate thumbnails for image, video, or document files. Runs in a sandboxed low-integrity process.
When is ThumbnailExtractionHost.exe suspicious?
Running from non-System32 path. Making network connections.
False positive notes
Multiple instances may run when browsing folders with many media files.
Related Processes
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