Windows Devices Flow

In my Windows 10 start menu I have a Devices Flow.lnk element whose target is

%windir%\DevicesFlow\DevicesFlow.exe

By running it, I do not see any visible effect. Do you know what is it for?

The file DevicesFlow.exeis digitally signed by signer: "Microsoft Windows".

Solution 1:

There are a lot of sources of information on this. The best one is probably of dubious quality (I won't link it because of that as it seems a bit shady).

From the 4-5 sites I looked at, devicesflow.exe is safe. It's designed for 2-in-1 style machines (convertibles that will switch from being a laptop to a tablet) and its purpose is to change how to handle/expect input, depending on the mode the machine is in.

It's a service, which is why you don't see any noticeable difference. Services have no UI and generally perform background tasks. Also, since it's specifically for 2-in-1 machines, that would explain why some people may have this specific service and others do not.

Note that I am only reporting what I was able to find. Both my desktop and my laptop (with can be used like a tablet) have this EXE, and the signature appears to be valid. That's no guarantee that it is, but for what it's worth, I've got ESET running on both, and it's pretty good about freaking out over suspicious software. It detected nothing.

The only question I have is why you would have a shortcut to a service in your Start Menu. That's a mystery that shall, alas, remain unsolved for now. :)