By following a number of procedures, a “prevhost” application error can be resolved. Since it can interrupt the processes of some programs and even infect them with viruses or malware, which can cause program or system instability, it poses a threat to your operating system. As some would agree, you should fix such an error immediately. Otherwise, your computer will not function accordingly and may cause errors that are more critical. If not fixed, you may be temporarily or permanently unable to perform basic tasks, such as opening media files through a downloaded application or using the media player.

What is Prevhost?

Preview Handler Surrogate Host or prevhost, usually 31 bytes in size and can be located in a Windows system subfolder, is a hidden.exe or Windows executable file associated with Home Premium Windows Vista Service Pack 1. It is designed to help with the function of certain programs, especially those that present media or data from a third-party source. By default, it will load automatically every time Windows or any programs that depend on it start up. However, although not recommended, the original setting can be changed and disabled.

What is the Prevhost error?

Being an executable file, Preview Host will likely cause an error or crash if a procedure during execution has not been followed accordingly. Either that, or it has been malicious (by viruses or malware) or manually disabled. If the malfunction is not fixed, some programs will not work properly. Also, if you were unable to eradicate the problem by opening and executing the file, high memory usage will be a concern.

Causes of Prevhost errors

A program conflicts with Home Premium Windows Vista Service Pack 1

Corrupt or incomplete download of prevhost.exe or other executable files

Malicious programs have removed prevhost

The executable file is infected with viruses or malware

Windows registry keys associated with prevhost or Home Premium Windows Vista Service Pack 1 are corrupted

With prevhost.exe error, Win 7, Windows 8, Windows XP, Windows Vista or any other version of Windows may malfunction and may interrupt an activity while using your computer. Since it can pop up unexpectedly and can stop a program before allowing you to save your progress, it can be annoying. To be safe, consider getting the download from a trusted source rather than other executable file distributors that make it available. The product they give away may be free, but it may be potentially harmful. You cannot guarantee that what you have received is not infected with viruses or malware.

List of Prevhost error messages

Driver Host Application Crash Preview

Preview Handler Surrogate Host is an invalid application

Preview controller surrogate host has been disabled

This action cannot be completed because the file is in use on the controller surrogate host

Preview Controller Substitute Host Error: No file in application path

host is missing

Controller host memory usage is too high

Prevhost has failed

There was an error running Surrogate Host

After receiving a notification that prevhost.exe has stopped working, fix the problem as soon as possible. Usually, the error will appear while trying to initialize a program, but since it is a Windows system file, it can also appear during computer startup or shutdown, and even while using a specific program. Although it can be resolved with just a few steps, it is recommended not to prolong the occurrence of the error on your system. Otherwise, it may cause faulty operations of some programs and may result in eventual system failure.

8 steps on how to fix Prevhost errors

Repair all registries associated with Windows Vista Service Pack 1.

Enable a full malware scan to assess all files on your PC.

Clean up temporary files and folders on your system with Disk Cleanup.

Update your system device drivers.

Use Windows System Restore to undo all recent system changes.

Uninstall and reinstall Home Premium Windows Vista Service Pack 1 associated with Surrogate Host.

Run “sfc /scannow” to scan system files.

Install any available Windows updates and make sure each process completes.

Fixing a system infected with the prevhost.exe virus is easy and can be accomplished without the assistance of a technical expert. If the step-by-step instructions are taken into account, the problem can be successfully eliminated. However, although certain procedures can take a long time to execute, it is better to allow them to complete before starting another process.