How to Fix Problems with COM Surrogate on Windows 10

COM Surrogate is a basic Windows 10 process that shows thumbnails and similar information, but some users have reported issues with it, so let’s fix those issues.

Step 1 : Close COM Surrogate using Task Manager

When User try to change picture information, they are getting “The action can’t be completed because the file is open in COM Surrogate” message and in order to fix this,  try closing COM Surrogate process.

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to start Task Manager.


2. When Task Manager starts, find the COM Surrogate process and right click it.


3. Choose End Task.
   
   
   
   1. If you can’t find COM Surrogate process, go to Details tab and search for dllhost.exe.
   
   
   2. Right click dllhost.exe and choose End Task.
      

      Step 2 :Disable thumbnails and use Process Monitor to find problematic file

      
      Sometimes corrupt image or video file can cause issues with COM Surrogate process, and since this image or video is corrupt, COM Surrogate won’t be able to access it.
      
      
      
      1.  Type File Explorer Options in Search box,  and choose File Explorer Options from the list.
      
      
      2. When File Explorer Options window opens, go to View tab and  check Always show icons, never thumbnails,
      
      
      3. Open My Computer
      
      
      4. 
         
         
         
         1. Right Click your Local disk C:/ ,and click Disk Cleanup Click OK.
         
         
         2. Click Apply and OK to save the changes.
            
            
            

            Step 3 :Remove existing thumbnails

            
            Open Advanced System Settings by pressing Windows Key + S and typing Advanced System Settings in the Search Bar. Choose View advanced system settings from the list of results.
            
            
            
            
            
            1. In the Performance section click Settings button.
            
            
            2. Go to Data Execution Prevention tab.
            
            
            3. 
            
            
            4. Check Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select and click Add button.
            
            
            5. 
               
               
               
               1. Navigate to C:\Windows\System32\ (if you have 32-bit Windows 10) orC:\Windows\SysWOW64\ (if you have 64-bit Windows 10) and finddllhost.exe. Select it, and click Open.
               
               
               2. Click Apply and OK to save the changes.
                  

                  Step 4 Update your antivirus software

                  
                  It has been reported that certain antivirus software, such as Kaspersky antivirus, can sometimes cause issues with COM Surrogate process. In order to fix those issues, it’s advised that you install the latest version of your current antivirus software.
                  

                  Solution 5 – Re-register dll files using Command Prompt

                  
                  
                  
                  
                  1. Open Command Prompt as administrator. To do that type Command Prompt in the Search bar, right click Command Prompt from the list of results and choose Run as administrator.
                  
                  
                  2. 
                  
                  
                  3. When Command Prompt starts enter the following lines. After each line press Enter to run it:
                     
                     
                     
                     • regsvr32  vbscript.dll
                     
                     
                     • regsvr32  jscript.dll
                  
                  
                  4. Go to Tools tab of Local Disk C: and click the Check button.
                  
                  
                  5. If this issue started after you have installed a new driver for a specific device, you might want to remove that driver

Before we start fixing issues with COM Surrogate, make sure that your Windows 10 is up date, and that you have all updates installed, because quite often issues with Windows 10 components are fixed with Windows Update.