Some users have reported freeze and suspension periods related to the Consent executable. Other reports state that when the consent.exe process is activated, a lot of CPU resources are required.
Note: The consent.exe process should only be found on Vista operating systems, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.
What is consent.exe?
Consent.exe is a genuine Windows process that belongs to User Account Control. This particular process loads automatically every time the operating system starts. The process will display a pop-up message asking the user for permission to allow a non-Windows program to start with administrative permissions.
As for the way Vista works, the consent.exe process is extremely important to the way the operating system is designed. The Consent process is responsible for requesting administrative permissions on behalf of third-party software that needs it to make changes to a particular computer..
Depending on the stage, consent.exe might cause high CPU consumption and slow PC performance. Although this process is vital to allow the installation of most programs, this process should only be active while User Account Control is running.
Possible security risk
Although the genuine consent process consent.exe is an important part of some versions of Windows, the file must be properly inspected. We say this because there are many malware programs known to disguise themselves as processes with administrative permissions.. They do this to avoid detection by security scans. And since the consent.exe file has enhanced system privileges and resides in a location “safe”, is the perfect goal.
We determine if it is executable malware by consent by inspecting your location of residence. To do this, open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc), right-click on the consent.exe process and choose Open file location.
If the revealed location is C: carpeta Windows N-System32, you can probably assume the process is legitimate. But if you want to be more sure, right click on the executable and choose Properties. Inside the Properties window, Access the Digital Signatures tab and see if the Signer's Name appears as Microsoft Windows. If in fact it is signed by Microsoft, just determined that the file is legitimate.
If you discovered that the consent.exe process originates from a different place, it is probably a malware that impersonates the genuine system process. In this case, We strongly recommend that you run a powerful security scan on your PC. If you don't have a security suite, we recommend that you use Malwarebytes. If you are not sure how to use the software, follow our article step by step (here).
Should I remove consent.exe?
As noted above, consent.exe process is only called when UAC (User account control) is enabled. Without this process, it is impossible for any non-Windows program to start with administrator level access to files and settings.
Taking this into account, we can conclude that the original consent.exe file is a vital part of Windows Vista and should not be removed unless the file is confirmed to be a virus.
The consent.exe process is considered by security experts to be one of the few effective security measures that are successfully preventing the unauthorized execution of malicious computer programs.. Our advice is to avoid disabling this service unless absolutely necessary..
And if you decide to disable it, you just have to do it from the User Account Control settings page (as it's shown in the following).
How To Fix Crashes And Crashes Caused By Consent.exe
There are cases where the consent.exe executable gets corrupted and prevents the system from installing, uninstall or run any non-Windows software. If it's the same scenario, we have managed to identify some possible solutions that have helped users in a similar situation.
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Follow the following methods in order until you revert to the normal behavior of consent.exe:
Method 1: repair catalog database with Esentutl
Some users have managed to solve the problem by repairing the catalog database using the Esentutl command using an elevated command prompt. But keep in mind that this is only possible if you start your computer in Safe Mode. Here is a summary of the whole thing:
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Access the Windows start bar, click the power button and hold the Shift key while clicking Restart. This will restart your computer in safe mode.
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Once Safe Mode starts, go to windows start bar again (lower left corner) and search for »cmd«. Later, right click on Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator.
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At the elevated command prompt, start typing »net stop cryptsvc» and hit Enter. This will stop crypto services to facilitate the next step.
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Write »esentutl / p System32catroot2 {F750E6C3-38EE-11D1-85E5-00C04FC295EE} catdb »and press Enter.
Note: if you receive the error »Access Denied«, will not boot into Safe Mode.
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When asked to confirm that it should only run on corrupt databases, click ok.
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Once the process is complete, type »net start cryptsvc» and hit Enter to restart crypto services.
Method 2: temporarily disable UAC (User account control)
If restarting the catalog database did not work, You can bypass the functionality of consent.exe by temporarily disabling User Account Control. This will allow you to install, uninstall or reinstall any non-Windows software that has previously failed. Just remember to re-enable the UAC after completing the installation.
Here is a quick guide to disable UAC:
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Go to the Windows start bar in the lower left corner and search for »UAC«. Then click Change User Account Control settings.
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In the User Account Control Settings window, lower the slider to Never notify and click OK.
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With UAC disabled, install or uninstall software that previously failed. After the installation is complete, return to the User Account Control Settings window through step 1 and readjust the slider to go back to what it was before.
Note that even if you manage to install the non-Windows software by disabling the UAC, the underlying problem will continue to exist. Your system most likely has a corrupted consent.exe file. You can try to resolve this problem by allowing your system to install the latest updates and hotfixes.. If this fails, Consider restarting Windows by visiting How to Factory Reset Windows 10.
SUGGESTION: If none of the methods have solved your problem, we recommend that you use the Reimage repair tool, which can scan repositories to replace damaged and lost files. This works in most cases, when the problem originates due to a system corruption. Reimage will also optimize your system for maximum performance. You can download Reimage for By clicking here
