Ntoskrnl.exe

ntoskrnl.exe (short for "Windows NToperating system kernelexecutable"), also known as the kernel image, is an executable file that contains the kernel and executive layers of the Microsoft Windows NT kernel, and is responsible for hardware abstraction, process handling, and memory management. In addition to the kernel and executive layers, it contains the cache manager, security reference monitor, memory manager, scheduler (Dispatcher), and blue screen of death (the prose and portions of the code).