Question

An anonymous visitor asked “Does owstimer.exe host a .NET runtime (Common Language Runtime)?”.

Answer

The short answer is yes. The SharePoint Timer Service (owstimer.exe) is a Windows service. Services in Windows must be created in a Windows Service application project or another .NET Framework–enabled project that creates an .exe file when built and inherits from the ServiceBase class. The owstimer.exe was likely compiled using managed as an .exe assembly unmanaged code that runs outside the Common Language Runtime (CLR), but has code that starts the CLR automatically by using the mscoree.dll when the .exe is executed.

For more information about Windows services visit Introduction to Windows Service Applications.

For more information about hosting the Common Language Runtime visit Hosting the Common Language Runtime.

For more information about SharePoint’s owstimer.exe visit SharePoint 2010 Architectures Overview and Creating Custom Timer Jobs.

Thank you for your question and please feel free to follow up with any additional questions you may have about the SharePoint Timer Service.

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