How to Fix Generic Host Process for WIn32 Services Error

Sometime we get Generic Host Process for Win32 Services error and sometime svchost.exe error in windows XP constantly and if we click on " Don’t Send " button, computer gets hang and we end up in rebooting it.

This may be problem of corrupted Windows Update in Windows XP.

Follow the steps below to get rid of above error message.
1) Re-Register Windows Update DLLs

Click on Start, Run, and type CMD and click ok

In the command window type the following commands one by one to re-register windows update dll files

REGSVR32 WUAPI.DLL

REGSVR32 WUAUENG.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAUENG1.DLL
REGSVR32 ATL.DLL
REGSVR32 WUCLTUI.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS2.DLL
REGSVR32 WUWEB.DLL

This will re-register all windows update related dll files.

2) Remove Corrupted Windows Update Files

At the command prompt, type the following command and press Enter

net stop WuAuServ

type cd %windir% and press Enter

In the opened folder, type the following command and press Enter to rename the SoftwareDistribution Folder

ren SoftwareDistribution SD_OLD

Restart the Windows Update Service by typing the following at the command prompt

net start WuAuServ

3) Clear Winsock state

Go to command prompt and type following commands

netsh winsock reset

netsh interface reset all

Close the command prompt

4) Restart  Windows XP

After restart, run windows updates and make sure you have all critical windows updates/patches applied on your windows XP machine and also make sure that you have Service Pack 3 installed for Windows XP.

Although this method may not solve all of the issues with a SVCHOST.EXE Application error, but I have found it fixed the problem with the most of the time.

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Sumit