While applying cumulative updates to sql server 2016 SP1, there are a bunch of services and applications that need to be stopped for the update to go on.
Among those is the very core of the virtual machine, the VMware Tools core service.
Is it safe to stop all the instances of this application in order to go on with the updates?
What could be a safe way of doing it?
Best Answer
The
WmiPrvSE.exe
belongs to the service Windows Management Instrumentation and is located in the%WINDIR%\SysWOW64\wbem
directory.However, when looking at the Task Manager compared to the details of the Windows Management Instrumentation service, you may notice that the service runs via the
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs -p
process/executable.So you will have a
WmiPrvSE.exe
running in the Task Manager, but the service is running via saidsvchost.exe
process. What is the reason for this?Explaining (Some) Windows Services
You can determine what is actually running as a service by starting the Sysinternals tool
procexp.exe
and looking at the details of the individualsvchost.exe
processes running by mousing over the varioussvchost.exe
processes running.It looks a bit like this:
You can then click on the details of that process and will find the following:
And if you switch to the Service tab you will find this:
...scroll a bit to the right and you are presented with:
What's Going On?
When various windows services start (and you might have noticed there are a few), they don't always start the actual
<service_name>.exe
, but instead a kind of shell executable, which is thesvchost.exe
and a corresponding*.DLL
required by the service.If the system or user actually requires a portion of that service, either by starting a program or opening up an Management Console, then the
*.DLL
which has been loaded by thesvchost.exe
process will trigger the actual executable required.In fact during the writing of this answer the WmiPrvSE.exe started multiple times and then closed again, even though the service was always in the running state.
Answering Your Question
Option 1
You can safely stop the Windows Management Instrumentation service and continue with your SQL Server upgrade/installation.
However, when you stop the Windows Management Instrumentation service, you might be prompted to close other services that rely on WMI to be in a running state. Examples from my computer:
This can reduce the probability of having to reboot after upgrading. It will not stop the installation routing from rebooting the SQL Server service (if required).
Option 2
In some cases you can wait a bit for the
WmiPrvSE.exe
to shut itself down and then continue with the installation. But, depending on what your server is running, this could take a while.Option 3
Let the installation continue and reboot the server. Your SQL Server service might go down anyway.