What is Bonjour Service on Windows 10 and How to Remove It?

Are you curious to know what is bonjour service mDNSResponder.exe, and should you disable it? Learn what is Bonjour Service on Windows 10 and how to remove it.

Did you recently notice the Bonjour Service on Windows 10 Task Manager, an unknown service on your system running unnecessarily? Do you want to know what is bonjour service? And is it safe to disable Bonjour service on your computer?

If you are an Apple user then you may be familiar with this service but if you aren’t then we will clear all your doubts in this guide. What is bonjour service in the task manager? How to uninstall bonjour service from Windows 10 PC? We answer all these questions and more in this guide. So, without further ado, let’s dive right in.

What is Bonjour Service on Windows 10? Do You Really Need It?

The Bonjour Service is a service developed by Apple to assist devices and applications to discover and connect to one another on the same network. The service is primarily used to share files or allow access to network-connected printers. Airdrop is a feature that uses this service. The Bonjour Service comes bundled with macOS and iOS but isn’t preinstalled on standard Windows installations. Some programs like iTunes do require the service to be installed.

what is bonjour service on windows 10
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Now the question is, do you really need Bonjour Service on your computer? To be honest, the answer to this is subjective. Do you have Apple devices? Do you use iTunes or other Apple services? If yes, you most likely need it on your system. Is it causing any sort of sluggishness or harm to your system? If not then there’s no point stressing over it. So it really comes down to personal preference.

In my personal opinion, if you aren’t facing any issues because of the Bonjour Service then you shouldn’t tinker with the software.

Is Bonjour a Virus or Malware?

No, the Bonjour Service is not a virus or malware. We have not seen any instances of viruses faking to be the Bonjour service to infect your Windows System either. We can say with considerable certainty that mDNSResponder.exe Bonjour Service is completely safe and is not a virus or malware.

If you are unsure and want to check for yourself then I recommend you use Malwarebytes to scan your system for any potential issues or viruses. 

Is It Safe to Uninstall Bonjour?

Yes, it is safe to uninstall Bonjour service on Windows. On macOS, you can’t uninstall Bonjour service in any case. Should you uninstall Bonjour service is a different question altogether.

In my personal opinion once again, I would like to say that you should not uninstall the program or service.

Can I Uninstall Bonjour and Still Use iTunes?

Yes, you can uninstall Bonjour from your system and still use iTunes. If you use any service that uses the Bonjour Service such as iMessage, some Adobe services, Skype and others then uninstalling Bonjour service will cause random glitches, errors and crashes so think twice before you uninstall the service.

If you use Home Sharing, remote app or syncing functionality Apple TV then I recommend that you don’t uninstall the service and let it stay.

How to Disable Bonjour Service on Windows 10

Disabling Bonjour service on Windows operating systems is a very simple process, only you have to disable it from the Windows services list and it will stop working on your computer. So, if you wish to disable Bonjour service on Windows 10 then you can easily do so by:

Step (1): At first, press Windows + R keys together to open the Run dialog box and then type services.msc and press the Enter key.

services.msc

Step (2): Now from the Windows Services list, look for the Bonjour Service and double click on it.

bonjour service

Step (3): On the Bonjour Service properties dialog-box, scroll down till you see the Service status and then click on the Stop button to terminate the service.

Step (4): Next, click on the Startup type dropdown menu and select the Disabled option.

disable bonjour service

Step (5): Finally, click on the Apply and OK button to save the changes. That’s it!

This is how you can easily disable mDNSResponder.exe Bonjour Service on Windows 10 operating system. The process is fairly easy.

How to Uninstall Bonjour Service from Windows 10 using the Control Panel

If you still wish to uninstall Bonjour Service from Windows 10 systems then you can uninstall it easily from the Control Panel just like any other normal program. Here’s how to do so:

Step (1): First of all, type control panel in the Windows 10 search box and then select Control Panel from the search result.

control panel

Step (2): In the Control Panel window, click on the Programs > Programs and Features option.

Step (3): On the Programs and Features window, look for the Bonjour service and then right-click on it and click on the Uninstall option.

what is bonjour service

Step (4): Now simply follow the instructions on the screen to remove Bonjour Service from your system.

On some systems, the uninstallation may not be possible as it may corrupt iTunes. So, try your luck on your system and if you are unable to uninstall it then try the second method to remove Bonjour Service from Windows 10 PCs or laptops.

How to Remove Bonjour Service and Files from Windows 10

Along with disabling and uninstalling it, removing Bonjour Service and all its files (mDNSResponder.exe and mdnsNSP.dll) from your Windows 10 device is another helpful method you can try out.

This method is a bit more complicated and requires some knowledge of tinkering with Windows and core files. Fret not, if you follow this step by step tutorial to the tee you will be able to remove the Bonjour service in a jiffy. Here’s is how to do so:

At first, open This PC (File Explorer) and go to the C:\Program Files\Bonjour folder.

what is bonjour service on my computer

Here you will notice a few files like mDNSResponder.exe and mdnsNSP.dll. Of course, you can try to delete them (by right-clicking on them and selecting the Delete option) as is but Windows won’t allow you to easily delete them so to be able to delete them you need to change some parameters. And in order to do so, you need to:

Step (1): At first, press Windows + X keys together and then select the Command Prompt (Admin) option to open the Command Prompt as administrator.

windows 10 command prompt

Step (2): Now in the Command Prompt window, type the following command and hit the Enter key:

“%PROGRAMFILES%\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe” -remove

Once the command to remove mDNSResponder.exe is executed, close the command prompt window.

Step (3): Now its time to unregister the dll file, so again press Windows + X keys together and then select the Command Prompt (Admin) option to open the Command Prompt with administrator privileges.

Step (4): And in the Command Prompt window, type the following command and hit the Enter key:

regsvr32 /u “%PROGRAMFILES%\Bonjour\mdnsNSP.dll”

Once the command to unregister mdnsNSP.dll is executed, close the command prompt window.

Step (5): Finally, restart your Windows 10 computer for the changes to take effect.

And once your computer boots back up, go to the C:\Program Files\ and look for the Bonjour folder. Once you find the Bonjour folder, select it and press Shift + Delete to permanently delete the folder and remove Bonjour service from your Windows 10 machine.

Thus, you can see how simple is to completely remove Bonjour Service from Windows 10 computer.

Conclusions 

I can’t reiterate this enough but if you use any service that Apple provides or have an Apple device at your disposal then you should not remove or tamper with the Bonjour Service on Windows 10 laptop or desktop computer.

We hope this detailed guide answered all your questions such as – What is Bonjour Service on Windows 10? Is it safe to disable bonjour service? and how to uninstall bonjour service from Windows 10? etc.

If you have still any more questions related to mDNSResponder.exe Bonjour Service that you seek the answers to then all you need to do is drop them in the comments below and we shall ensure that we help you end your search for answers.

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