What are UpdateNotificationMgr.exe, UNPUXLauncher.exe, UNPUXHost.exe Files and UNP Folder in Windows 10?
SUMMARY: UpdateNotificationMgr.exe, UNPUXLauncher.exe, UNPUXHost.exe, UNPCampaignManager.exe and UNPDetector.exe files present in UNP folder in your Windows 10 computer are not a virus or malware. These files are used by Windows 10 to improve Windows Update Service components in your machine.
Today while working on a Windows 10 machine, I got notification from my firewall software that a suspicious file “UpdateNotificationMgr.exe” was trying to connect to Internet. I immediately disallowed/blocked the executable from accessing Internet. The EXE file was having digital signature of Microsoft Windows.
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When I tried to find the location of the EXE file, I found following folder in C: drive:
C:\Windows\System32\UNP
The UNP folder contains following DLL and EXE files in my computer:
- UNPUX.dll
- UNPUXHost.exe
- UNPUXLauncher.exe
- UpdateNotificationHelpers.dll
- UpdateNotificationMgr.exe
I also found another UNP folder in following location:
C:\Program Files\UNP
The second UNP folder contains following 2 sub-folders:
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- Logs
- UpdateNotificationMgr
“Logs” folder contains following 3 ETL files:
- UpdateNotificationPipeline.001.etl
- UpdateNotificationPipeline.002.etl
- UpdateNotificationPipeline.003.etl
The “UpdateNotificationMgr” folder contains only one file as following:
- .UpdateNotificationMgr_LockFile
I started some investigation and found that no EXE file present in UNP folder contains any UI or program window. Nothing happens when we launch them. Only “UNPUXHost.exe” file opened following URL in web browser:
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=844161
The above mentioned URL automatically redirects to following main URL at Microsoft.com:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4014916/windows-10-choose-your-privacy-settings-after-updating
The above mentioned URL opens “Choose your privacy settings after updating Windows 10” web page at Microsoft Windows Support website which contains following information:
Along with our continuing commitment to your privacy with Windows 10, it’s important to make sure your privacy settings are also ready. If you’re updating your device to a new Windows 10 version, you may be prompted to review or choose your privacy settings after the update when you sign in with an administrator account.
If you see preselected settings, these are based on what you chose before updating Windows. You can adjust them by turning any toggle on or off, and then selecting Accept. If you don’t see preselected settings, you’ll need to make new selections by choosing the icon or block text you prefer and then selecting Accept.
For detailed info about each privacy settings category and how it affects data collection, transfers, and usage, select Learn more.
After installing the update and reviewing your privacy settings, you can change them at any time by selecting the Start button > Settings > Privacy. To learn more about Windows 10 and your privacy, see privacy.microsoft.com.
Finally I was able to find out what this UNP folder and all EXE files exist in my Windows 10 devices.
UNP stands for Update Notification Pipeline. Sometimes it’s wrongly referred as Universal Notification Platform by some people.
In past, the UNP folder also contained following files and folders in Windows 10 computers:
- CampainManager
- UNPCampaignManager.exe
- UNPDetector.exe
- UNPHost.exe
- Task.xml
Now the above mentioned files and folders have been removed and replaced by new files and folders as mentioned above.
Windows 10 creates a scheduled task “RunUpdateNotificationMgr” under “Microsoft\Windows\UNP” folder in Task Scheduler (taskschd.msc) to run “UpdateNotificationMgr.exe” present in “%windir%\System32\UNP\” folder daily.
This UNP folder and its EXE files are related to Windows Update specifically upgrading to new feature updates for Windows 10.
If you don’t want the EXE file running in background, you can delete or disable the “RunUpdateNotificationMgr” task present under “Microsoft\Windows\UNP” folder using Task Scheduler (taskschd.msc).
So the bottom line is that basically these files and folders are used by Windows 10 update to make sure future updates and feature updates are installed without any issues in your Windows 10 PC.
PS: If you don’t want to upgrade your Windows 10 system to new feature update, you can check out following articles:
How to Prevent or Skip Feature Update Installation in Windows 10
Fixing Windows 10 Automatic Updates Installation Problem
Also Check:
What are Sedsvc.exe, Sedlauncher.exe Files and REMPL Folder in Windows 10?
What are USOCoreWorker.exe and USOClient.exe Processes in Windows 10?
What are MusNotifyIcon.exe, MusNotificationUx.exe and MusNotification.exe Processes in Windows 10?
The icon of the apps seem familiar. They took the icon from the old GWX application.
I’m currently blocking network access to updatenotificationmgr.exe, I want to receive normal Windows’ updates, do I need to unblock it to do so? Or the updates will continue as normal?
^^ If you want to receive Windows updates, I’ll advise to allow the process to connect to Internet.
Thank you very much for your answer!
Weird program. Creates things on its own. Comes back after deleting. Don’t like this. Don’t like this at all.
Does anyone know if it’s okay to delete the etl files?
I have the following files in the UNP directory:
UniversalNotificationPlatform.###.etl (6 of them from Jan 2018)
UniversalNotificationPipeline.###.etl (80 of them dating back to 2019)