What’s smss.exe (Windows Session Manager)? Is it safe or a virus?

You might guess that this smss sends SMS messages to phones from your Windows PC, but you'd be guessing wrong... Actually this exe has nothing to do with SMS, but it's still an important part of the Windows OS.

Our cybersecurity team members here in Austin, Texas at SpyShelter labs found all our PCs has this important executable. But, if it isn't sending SMS messages, then what on earth does this .exe do for you?

Smss.exe, or Session Manager Subsystem, is a critical system process in Microsoft Windows operating systems that is responsible for handling user sessions. It plays a fundamental role during the startup phase of the computer, taking part in the initialization of the system environment, setting up system variables, and starting other core processes like winlogon.exe (which manages the login and logout processes) and csrss.exe (Client/Server Runtime Subsystem). Its operation is essential for the stability and security of the system, and it should not be terminated manually as it could lead to system instability or a crash.

Researched by Jon @ SpyShelter Labs