Quality Windows Audio Video Experience (QWAVE) Service Defaults in Windows 11
Quality Windows Audio Video Experience (qWave) is a networking platform for Audio Video (AV) streaming applications on IP home networks. qWave enhances AV streaming performance and reliability by ensuring network quality-of-service (QoS) for AV applications. It provides mechanisms for admission control, run time monitoring and enforcement, application feedback, and traffic prioritization.
Default Settings
| Startup type: | Manual |
| Display name: | Quality Windows Audio Video Experience |
| Service name: | QWAVE |
| Service type: | share |
| Error control: | normal |
| Object: | NT AUTHORITY\LocalService |
| Path: | %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k LocalServiceAndNoImpersonation -p |
| File: | %SystemRoot%\system32\qwave.dll |
| Registry key: | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\QWAVE |
| Privileges: |
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Default Behavior
Quality Windows Audio Video Experience is a Win32 service. In Windows 11 it starts only if the user, an application or another service starts it. When the Quality Windows Audio Video Experience service is started, it logs on as NT AUTHORITY\LocalService and running in a shared process of svchost.exe. If Quality Windows Audio Video Experience fails to start, the failure details will be recorded into Event Log. Then Windows 11 should boot up and notify the user about the QWAVE service startup failure.
Dependencies
Quality Windows Audio Video Experience cannot be started, if the following services won't start:
- Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper I/O Driver
- QoS Packet Scheduler
- QWAVE driver
- Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
Restore Default Startup Configuration of Quality Windows Audio Video Experience
Before you begin doing this, make sure that all the services on which Quality Windows Audio Video Experience depends are configured by default and function properly. See the list of dependencies above.1. Run the Command Prompt as an administrator.
2. Copy the command below, paste it into the command window and press ENTER:
sc config QWAVE start= demand
3. Close the command window and restart the computer.
The QWAVE service is using the qwave.dll file that is located in the C:\Windows\system32 directory. If the file is removed or corrupted, read this article to restore its original version from Windows 11 installation media.