wininit.exe
Summary
Windows Start-Up Application - initializes Session 0 during boot. Launches services.exe, lsass.exe, and lsm.exe.
wininit.exe is the 507th most commonly executed Windows program in EchoTrail's dataset, observed 11,195 times across enterprise environments. It typically runs from C:\Windows\System32 and it is most often launched by smss.exe.
Behavior
Top Paths
- C:\Windows\System32100%
Top Hashes (SHA256)
- 9961f4f459769b024ce26ada1054f0c0f3f567e7b5e67f614e7fca86efcde83431.64%
- 6f3304f91e1597435d5a74edc928bbee5ebfc88cd5a650a6dac50f919137a11c12.84%
- d5e122606054fa0b03db3ee8cf9ea7701e523875e2bdb87581ad7232ffc9308e8.45%
- a283a3000e631e281ec3b9f2a029faaf76aaf267bb8b1921fb2b9b0b51c87d197.25%
- 86041cb454fcc11d46764e2587815f64377f72e5df969ebb35f852b5da5bff057.01%
- c4e98f07170cec69cacdd5cedb8927e48a2a299cb1b8cda87526e768af6174f05.38%
- 13ad43ee6d19dfc9709c3106d796bc3f21791a564e443d042a5aa117f26806494.57%
- 71dd6bfc68e6a840bc935ac08dc71618043bf705849b619d31a2b83e54670a3e2.72%
- 3d5a4e21debab78e167047462a82de535cb0caa09e8232e34f0f592ffb28b5512.06%
- 2ef3fb620bfd78597d6117795e85e9d20e9999032e334b2e3de5004c0af8f7f82.03%
Process Ancestry
Top Grandparents
- smss.exe93.56%
- services.exe4.54%
- winlogon.exe1.3%
- wininit.exe0.55%
- svchost.exe0.05%
Top Parents
- smss.exe92.99%
- svchost.exe3.95%
- fontdrvhost.exe1.37%
- WUDFHost.exe0.42%
- winlogon.exe0.36%
- LogonUI.exe0.27%
- dwm.exe0.08%
- services.exe0.04%
- TrustedInstaller.exe0.02%
- wermgr.exe0.02%
Top Children
- lsass.exe34.89%
- services.exe34.5%
- fontdrvhost.exe26.44%
- lsm.exe1.82%
- WerFault.exe1.07%
- LsaIso.exe0.66%
- LogonUI.exe0.56%
- dwm.exe<0.01%
Rare or environment-specific process names are omitted from ancestry tables. Percentages are of all observed relationships.
Security Analysis
What does wininit.exe normally do?
Single instance running from %SystemRoot%\System32\wininit.exe in Session 0. Launches services.exe, lsass.exe, lsm.exe.
When is wininit.exe suspicious?
More than one instance. Running from non-System32 path. Running in any session other than Session 0. Spawning unexpected child processes.
How do attackers abuse wininit.exe?
Malware masquerades as wininit.exe. Any instance outside Session 0 or System32 is malicious.
Detection guidance
Validate single instance, Session 0, System32 path. Any anomaly is high-confidence indicator.
MITRE ATT&CK techniques
Related Processes
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Data from EchoTrail's dataset of ~346M Windows process executions. Last extracted 2026-08-04.