Member Avatar for Zaali

Hi..im having a serious issue..we have three computers hooked up to a DSL modem using Linksys Router RT41-BU...my roomate has installed Vista Beta 2 on his two comps while I am still running XP Pro. Now all of the sudden the bandwidth has gone crazy he is sucking it all up and some program which looks like a windows media program is sucking up all his RAM and CPU usage by almost 100% the program is wmpnetwk.net..cant uninstall it or shut it down..I keep telling him to just uninstall Vista cuz this problem didnt start till he installed the OS, and when I unplug him from the Router everthing works fine and I can play my online games (Lineage II ftw!) without lag and surf the net with no troubles...but once we plug him in my ping goes haywire and makes browsing and playing unbearable....HELP!!!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by odiegh

Dani AI

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Short answer: the process shown as "wmpnetwk" is the Windows Media Player network‑sharing service (wmpnetwk.exe). It advertises and streams your media library to other devices (UPnP/DLNA). That service can consume CPU, disk and network while it indexes a large or broken library or while it is actively streaming — which explains the slow ping and high resource use described. is correct that it ties back to Windows Media Player rather than being a core Vista kernel process.

Immediate, safe steps to stop the impact:

  • Stop the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service: Start -> Run -> services.msc -> find "Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service" -> Stop, then set Startup type to Disabled or Manual.
  • Turn off media sharing inside Windows Media Player: open WMP (press Alt if the menu is hidden), look under Library or Stream for "Media Sharing" / "Turn on media streaming" and disable sharing.
  • If you want to remove the feature entirely: use Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows features on or off (Vista/7) and uncheck Windows Media Player (XP uses Add/Remove Windows Components). Admin rights are required.

If it keeps restarting or resource use remains high:

  • Verify the executable path: it should be in C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (or Program Files (x86) on 64‑bit). If it runs from another folder, run a malware scan.
  • Use a per‑process network viewer (Process Explorer or TCPView) to see which process actually holds network sockets and how much bandwidth it sends.
  • To fix a corrupted index: stop the service, delete the Windows Media Player database files from the user local appdata Media Player folder (XP: C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player; Vista/Win7: C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Media Player), then restart WMP so it rebuilds the library.

These targeted fixes are usually faster and safer than reinstalling the OS (as suggested). 's msconfig idea and checking for P2P/file‑sharing apps are also sensible additional checks. Disabling the service will stop DLNA/UPnP streaming to other devices — only re‑enable it if you need media sharing.

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Member Avatar for TheNNS

I really don't know what program that is, but I do know vista uses massive amounts of ram and cpu power. I think its that program that's sucking all the bandwitdth. tell him to reinstall vista again.

Member Avatar for alc6379

I really don't know what program that is, but I do know vista uses massive amounts of ram and cpu power. I think its that program that's sucking all the bandwitdth. tell him to reinstall vista again.

Why not just eliminate the program?

It appears this thread has been cross-posted amongst a number of other forums. I think re-installing Vista for this one issue isn't really sound advice. I'm not familiar just yet with the Vista startup process, but it's feasible that there's some kind of MSCONFIG-type program to run to eliminate this process.

Is your friend running any P2P software on these systems, like Bittorrent, perhaps?

Member Avatar for odiegh

THIS is not a Vista process it's from mediaplayer 11!

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