The Peer Networking Grouping (p2psvc) service supports peer "grouping," which is a technology that allows a developer to create a private peer-to-peer network. Administrators create the groups and invite members to join after verifying their credentials. Each member has a specific certificate, which is called a Group Member Certificate (GMC). The GMC ensures that all records exchanged between peers are digitally signed. The public key of a peer is contained in the structures that are passed as part of the communication between peers. The groups are opened and closed by the administrator as needed. This service supports the HomeGroup feature in Windows 7.

This service is installed by default and its startup type is Manual.

When the Peer Networking Grouping is started in its default configuration, it logs on by using the Local Service account.

The Peer Networking Grouping service is dependent upon the following system components:

• Peer Name Resolution Protocol
• Peer Networking Identity Manager