Win32 exposes processes and threads of execution within a process as objects. Functions exist to create, manipulate, and delete these objects.
A process object represents a virtual address space, a security profile (Windows NT only), a set of threads that execute in the address space of the process, and a set of resources or objects visible to all threads executing in the process. A thread object is the agent that executes program code. Each thread is associated with a process object which specifies the virtual address space mapping for the thread. Several thread objects can be associated with a single process object which enables the concurrent execution of multiple threads in a single address space (possible simultaneous execution in a multiprocessor system running Windows NT).
The process and thread functions include:
| Function | Description |
| CreateProcess | Creates process and thread objects |
| CreateThread | Creates an additional thread in an existing process |
| ExitProcess | Exits the current process |
| ExitThread | Exits the current thread |
| GetCurrentProcess | Gets a process handle for the current process |
| GetCurrentProcessId | Gets the process id for the current process |
| GetCurrentThread | Gets a thread handle for the current thread |
| GetCurrentThreadId | Gets the thread id for the current thread |
| GetProcessExitCode | Gets the termination status for a process |
| GetThreadExitCode | Gets the termination status for a thread |
| GetThreadPriority | Gets the priority for a thread |
| GetThreadSelectorEntry | |
| OpenProcess | Returns a handle to the process with the specified id |
| ResumeThread | Resumes execution of a thread |
| SetThreadPriority | Sets the priority for a thread |
| ShellExecute | Executes a program. |
| Sleep | Delays execution of the current thread for a specified time |
| SuspendThread | Suspends execution of a thread |
| TerminateProcess | Kills a process |
| TerminateThread | Kills a thread |
| WaitForInputIdle | Waits for a child process to reach GetMessage. |
| WinExec | Executes a program. |