How to Fix svchost.exe using 100% CPU / Memory Leak

Alden says:

Great tip, I love it! I can’t wait to use it :)

Melanie says:

Hello,

Thanks!

I too have been coming across this with increasing frequency on my network.

Thanks,
Melanie

Hank says:

I was trying to do this fix as I was having this on my own laptop. I was unable to get into safe mode my laptop would die when it got to what looked like my ATI drivers. I did the updates in standard mode under my login which is an administrator. It looks like it works I couldn’t find any information on this issue till I saw this article. Seems resolved so now I just have Symantec lagging me on bootup.

Bryce W says:

Did the computer start freezing AFTER installing those three files? or was it freezing beforehand?
If it was freezing before hand you might as well leave them on there since they are Windows patches that you probably should have anyway.

There is a possibility that your issue isn’t what is mentioned here in this article. When you go into Task Manager, is svchost.exe using 99% CPU?

To check, follow these instructions:
First of all, to identify if you have this problem you need to press CTRL+ALT+DEL all at the same time, go to the “Processes Tab” and then press “Mem Usage”. If you have this svchost.exe memory leak bug after about 1 minute you will see that the amount of memory usage svchost.exe uses will keep increasing until CPU becomes 99 or 100%.. Look at the picture above for an example.

If it is the case, try going to Start > Control Panel > Automatic Updates and choose “Turn off Automatic Updates”. Restart the computer and see if you are still having the freezing issue. If it fixes it, it IS this issue. Let me know.

Administrator says:

If svchost.exe’s memory usage keeps growing (regardless of CPU) then yes, this will fix that.

Robyn says:

Hi Bryce,

Thanks for getting back to me. I noticed that svchost.exe was definately using 99 to 100% of the CPU. It was spiking to 100% every 10 seconds or so then back to 1% then up to 100% again. Thats why I thought I would try your solution. The computer was not freezing before I applied the 3 files, but was definately behaving oddly in the task manager as I mentioned above.

I have also turned off automatic updates, but this does not solve the problem.

Mind you, the svchost.exe is no longer spiking to 100% so that bit is fixed, but it still freezes approximately 40 seconds after windows boots up then that only thing I can do is turn off the power and restart in safe mode.

I have tested all the services one at a time to see what was causing the problem, and the computer froze when I activated the “Windows Management Instrumentation” and the “Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions” services. Unfortunately these seem to be essential services so I have no idea how to solve this problem…

Because it was not freezing before i applied the 3 patches you mentioned, I was hoping that if i could undo them, I could solve the freezing problem, but live with the svchost.exe problem..

Im so over this computer!!!!! Any help would once again be greatly appreciated :-)

David says:

Well I never Did have this problem until I JUST UPDATED and INSTALLED THE FIX, :( that’s when the svchost started this, however it seems it did go away as of posting this after I installed the SBE 2k3 SP2..but again the Cure update made mine go whacko..

I’m going to try the fix anyway, but in Normal Windows mode as Litestep sucks in safemode, it tries to start up everything.. oh wait that’s right. :) i can just set explorer as shell again, reboot into safe mode, follow the directions and when done switch back.. I just of that when I was writing this comment.

Wasp says:

I think the best way to get rid of the svchost.exe problem at STARTUP is: to make an administrive account, log on to that, delete you’re actual account (but not you’re files!) and maybe create a new account if you want to. This usually works for me. Seems like problems accure on old ragged accounts.. dunno

David says:

Hi i have the same problem but it’s only intermittent every now and then it just make everything go really slow and then 1 min later back to normal is this the same problam if it is i will try patch as it’s most annoying when i’m coding
thanks

Chris Hobbs says:

Hi.

I had the same problem. Your solution fixed it.

Thanks,
Chris.

a very grateful person says:

can’t thank you enough for your easy and simple fix! , saved me alot of hassle.

thanks again :)

Gediminas says:

Very usefull information. It helps me and I’m happy now. :) If you have same problem, just fallow this guide and everything will be allright. :)

Dependra Pundir says:

Can you please tell me why it has happened. Any reason!!

Charles Rippert says:

Hi,
the procedure describe above didn’t help on my computers.
Deleting the Value “NetworkService = DnsCache” in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WinNT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost
did the trick for me on a lot of systems.
Cheers!
Charles
(SME-Admin of 50+ PCs/NBs)

mt says:

it worked well because the cpu of the svchost went down to 0 and memory to about 23,000 and my pc is working normally now thanks!

Liza says:

Our laptop just started doing this about a week ago. My family is a bunch of gamers, so the lag is creating a huge disruption for all of us!:) Anyway, I saved everything you showed above, but when I go to run the fix_svchost file, it won’t run. I also don’t get the black screen pop up, but it goes straight to the screen where I can run or cancel. I click run & nothing happens. Please help! We really need to get this fixed!

Toon Schilder says:

Hi All,

I found out it can happend after buying a new HP printer and installing the latest printer software.

Via the process explorer of Microsoft you can see the a HP process is taking all the time.

This is the solution:
Go to services (start –> run –> services.msc) and put the following service to manual:
HP network device support.

Chad Patterson says:

Hi All,In reference to post #33, I also just installed HP network printer software and was having this same issue.

Nikky says:

This is really worth :)

Dave says:

My wife’s laptop had a svchost.exe consuming 100% of CPU problem a while back. It seemed to only occur some of the time. After some aggravation I got it to go away using a repair install. The only painful part was re-installing all of the various patches afterwards. Of course this assumes you can find a proper CD to repair install from. I have used the repair install as a last resort on a couple of occasions. Both times it worked the gremlins out of the system.

Mike says:

Thank you post 33. simple excelent solution. “Cheers”

Kitsune_Baka says:

Having a similar problem, I have 5 instances of SVCHOST running, but only one of them is taking up 17,208 KB of memory. The rest are only taking up around 4,000. I only noticed this after I tried playing some Divx videos I had burned to CD a long time ago, Windows thingie said it didn’t want to run the file because it would risk security (Didn’t know I had Dr Watson…) I tried playing the video in Winamp and it crashed. Sometimes even trying to click the file in Explorer would cause an error and Windows to say it didn’t want to play the file. I always thought that viruses couldn’t be attached to media files.

Nikola says:

Hi, I have installed SP3 RC and have svchost problems, but that procedure cant overwrite update or that patch cause i have newly installed programs.

my leek is round 1.5 GB of all memory (so round 3 GB RAM and page file)

Can you help me???

mike says:

Sweet solution # 33. Yesterday i loaded software for my HP printer and svchost.exe was at 99% cpu ever since. Your fix deserves a grammy award. Thanks.

Craig says:

Exact same problem occured day after installing software for a new HP C8180 All-in-One printer. Humm. Post 28,33,35,47,48 all similar problems with HP wireless printer. Hope the fix continues to solve this problem. thanks.

Alan says:

I have 6 svchost.exe processes in my Task Mgr. All show a CPU usage of 00 but the Mem usage ranges from 3,xxxK to 29,xxxK. Im running XP Home SPack 2. Should I have this many svchost.exe? If not what can I do?

Jim - Denver says:

After installing HP software for HP4385 wireless printer/scanner a “new” svchost.exe started using 100% of the CPU. After deleting the HP software svchost.exe returned to normal and iexplorer.exe started using 100% CPU. Went into Internet Explorer Tools-Internet Options-Programs-Manage Ad-Ons and disabled “HP Download Manager”. Finally my computer is back to normal operations. Thanks HP for that great software (:

Bg says:

Installed Hp wireless printer about a month ago and have noticed a 100% cpu on SVCHOST..

I tried the solution#33

This is the solution:
Go to services (start

starman says:

Several people asked about if having so many svchost appear in their process list is okay, but no one responded to their question. Does anyone know this answer. Secondly, I have at least ten occurances of CLI.exe in my list that use up even more resources than svchost. Does anyone know how to fix this issue? Right now CLI.exe is using over 140KB of memory. It appears to be a ATI file. Any ideas are welcome! Thanks, Stardude

Ray Smith says:

Gosh this is good onfo, I know I have done that Ctrl, alt and del. and did see all that stuff, Now I will try your segestions and will give you back the info. please do sign me up for your letters
Thanks

PK says:

This was a gr8 solution!! I am really happy with the performance of my laptop.

myson says:

When I sign in mig33 from internet explorer my internet explorer getting slow when I see task manager IEXPLORE.EXE CPU reads 45,80,90 etc.
How do I fix this please?

Ray says:

Found another solution to the Svchost.exe problem mentioned in 33 and 42 etc. The issue seems to have something to do with the Firewall and the hp Wireless printers/all in ones. I have the hp All In One 4380 (mentioned in some of the other comments). By adding the Exclusion to the Firewall settings, the problem seems to go away without losing any other functionality.

Here it is:

To add “HPSLPSVC32.DLL” file to Firewall exception list, perform the below steps.

1. Click Start –> Run.

2. In Run dialog box, type “firewall.cpl” and press OK.

3. Windows Firewall dialog box will open. Select “ON” option. And then click OK.

4. Again perform the above steps to open “Windows Firewall” dialog box. Then select “Exceptions” tab.

5. Click “Add Program” –> “Browse”.

6. Select “C:\Program Files\HP\Digital Imaging\bin\HPSLPSVC32.DLL”

After completion of the steps, click Apply & OK.

Hope this is some help. This was a result of working with HP Tech Online Chat. :)

Ray

Tim says:

Hello all in reference to the HP printer driver problem, I have the HP PSC4385 AiO and had the svchost.exe maxing out at 99% of my CPU. Follow post 33’s instructions!

Post 33, you are the best. Did your simple solution, and all went well. You are awesome!

To everyone else that had the issue with HP printers, I work for a 3rd party company that represents HP, so I have some connections. I’ll be sending this one off to our HP lady. Hope they fix this!

Char says:

I am also having problems with the SVCHOST.EXE as a popup, with error reporting. The error message is: IT EVEN COMES UP BEFORE I CLICK ON MY ACCOUNT WHILE IT’S BOOTING UP. I run Windows XP PROF.

SVCHOST.exe Application Error
The instructions at “0x009a96bc referenced memory at “9×00000000”. The memory could not be “written.” Click okay to terminate or Cancel to debug.

I also have a wireless all in one HP. Model 7410. Went to do the fix from #65 and I do not have the HPSLPSVC32.DLL

Char says:

I wish I could send you a screenshot. No where in services is HP listed. I even ran a search for “HP Network Device Support”, it’s not in there either. I also used the Run command as listed in #33.

#33 This is the solution:
Go to services (start

Barry Smythe says:

Re Char Post #70
Mine also got worse after trying the programs at the top of the page, I think I’ll try Dave’s #39 doing a reinstal and see what happens, anyone else had any luck with this?

Dhaw says:

It worked like a charm! Thanks.

Phil says:

Hi All,

What worked for me was to change the time from when Automatic Updates was scheduled for to a later time in the day so the CPU for svchost wasn’t high at startup. Hope this helps

RichardC says:

Thanks for both Bryce and then #33 as I needed to do both to fix this problem, and at last I have a system I can use……..tymuch

RichardC says:

I was to soon…..When I restart my laptop, svchost goes beserk again……….I have to use Byrce;s fix……BUT as you can understand it’s not permanent, so I have to have something in my startup that overrides Bryce’s stuff and #33, #67 have been done ……ideas………………….HELP

BarryZZZ says:

Works for me! Most thanks.

Peebles says:

Been looking for a solution to this for a while, and although I use neither Windows Update (I update manually) nor an HP printer I did have problems trying to run Outlook or IE straight after booting.
I found the fix for this in post 27 – DNS caching being set up as a network service at startup through a registry key (although on my machine it is at “HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost” rather than “WinNT” as mentioned)
Presumably on most machines either Windows Update or HP driver update utilities are trying to run at startup and cause svchost to hog resources, so rather than sort each of the apps that use svchost in this way it is better to fix the problem at source (DNS caching)
Cheers!

ibanez7 says:

thanks worked like a charm for me

Bob says:

Awesome Fix! I had the problem both on my laptop with XP Home Edition and my desktop with XP Pro Edition. Incredible efficiency difference immediately in the two PCs I was beginning to call “Legion One” and “Legion Two.” So can I contribute to “The Society for Unemployed Technology-Anchored Techies?” Among other serious problems they exhibit, they believe that if their peers think their skills are indespensable to the organization, managers and other bean counters will think the same thing…you of course must do the disgusting type of networking to survive in today’s techie environment.I will answer my own question, “No I can’t contribute because I’ve just been downsized (again” If you want to understand how you could have ever thought that your peers’ opinions could trump the opinions of the downsizers, see, “Career Anchors” (copyright ~1994). It is as awesome a self evaluation procedure as this svchost solution is a prized silver bullet!  Thanks! Sincerely,OnePointFiveYearsToGo!  

BIGTEK says:

This worked until I went on the internet
then 100% svchost

I also found the “microsoft” update site was not working

When I went into the options & went back to “windows” update the problem went away
yahoo
;-)
Hope that helps some others too
cheers

Karen D. says:

I also recently installed HP printer software and started seeing the svchost.exe run at near 100% cpu usage as well. I did what #33 suggested and it worked wonderfully! Thanks Toon Schilder for posting your solution. I am so grateful.

GoodStuff says:

I have been looking for a solution to this problem for about 2 weeks. Microsoft always gives their half arse answers as they did this time. This work very well. Thanks for the time and research.

Lyn McDaniel says:

This fixes my problem but after a period of time, sometimes hours, sometimes longer, the problem returns. Any suggestions?

Timothy D. Greider says:

Great advise! I am using Service Pack 3 XP and I believe the only fix that was required for my installation was Fix SVCHost.Bat

Thanks for the advise

ken says:

i cant download anything from microsoft. can someone send zip or rar to yahyeq@hotmail.com

Tommy says:

And Now it will not let me D/L updates from Microsoft!

ea2000 says:

This fix worked for me on XP with SP3. It even got my network use up to almost 100%, which I´ve never seen go over 20% or 30% on my 100Mb LAN.

However, this svchost problem is a symptom of more serious problems that most likely need a clean installation to solve completely.

Farid says:

Thank you man, but the problem keeps repeating it self after a couple of days! any suggestions?

TANGUSH says:

hi,
i wanted to know if this could work in vista to?

Alvin M. Martinez says:

WOW!!! post number 27 did it!! thanks a lot bro i’ve been looking for this solution for 7 months wheeeeww!! Thanks a lot your such a nice guy mwuuuaaahhh……

Cheers!! From Philippines
R.A. Padilla Carranglan Nueva Ecija.

David says:

The fix did not work for me either. I have a pre-release version of service pack 3, and I followed your instructions. I had already installed the 927891 or whatever number it was service pack that you mentioned, and already had the windows update agent. But now, my automatic updates window doesn’t show up any more – let me check whether the service is started. And I still have that svchost memory leak error. When I end the process in Windows Task Manager, it seems then that my RPC server is then toast. I have another computer which I use to connect to the internet, as a gateway, and this one connects to the internet through that computer. So after I toast that process, I can no longer go into Network Connections and connect to the internet under that Internet Gateway icon. Plus when I open “cmd” and type in ipconfig /renew it says that the rpc service or server something like is not available. Plus, if I’m already connected to the Internet, I won’t be able to use that icon to disconnect – it just won’t work. And if I’m disconnected, I can’t use it to connect. I’m thinking of going into my services and switching all of them to manual just to see if that will help. Maybe if I got an updated version of svchost off the web or something that might help as well. I wish I could find a program that would in more detail tell me what svchost is all about and what it’s running, which dll file it’s working with and what not. But it seems that it’s the RPC server. But that’s pretty general as that’s used for a lot of services.

Lilliput says:

Its stupendous bro…. great tips. kinda love your awesome site.

Cheers man**
(Lilliput – Singapore)

ganesh says:

its not work 4 me….help me….

Claude says:

Hi,
There are definetely guys on the Web that are worse tha the worst viruses!!!
How can’t big guys like you just see that those “experts” are just playing “the professor” with you, whatever the consequences.
They do not know a damned shit more than you, but they have fun , for sure!
If you do all the garbage listed here, for sure SVCHOST will not bother you anymore :)
Your PC will be dead until format and reinstall.

Aladdin Marzouk says:

Dear Bryce Whitty,

The Article is Great, I just done it and fixed the problem. I hope your in a good health and wish you a happy day =).

Arun Mishra says:

Thanks I am try it now my pc working fine and svchost using normol cpu and memory.

KCMike says:

I just installed a new HP network printer as well (see post #33). Using this info corrected my resources.

My question now is – will printing on the network still work correctly?

mrawesome says:

I have an HP printer (4380) and the same svchost problem. However, I did not detect a problem until I installed my nvidia geforce 8800gs video card. I thought it was either windows or nvidia but could just be HP not agreeing with certain hardware vendor video cards as well I guess…. Anyway, I have read this whole page and have taken into consideration all of the above posts in order to solve my problem. I have not started on it yet, but plan on it tonight. However, due to my experience with HP prducts sucking in the past, I plan on starting there. Even though the problem started when I put in my video card (which usually would indicate the problem is the video card) I really don’t think it is. Anyway, I will let you all know what fixes my computer. I am running the same HP software on Vista with no problems as well as a mac (of course mac is a totally different ballgame). ANyway, wish me luck!!

tony says:

Thanks a lot. The problem is solved.

mark says:

I tried to install the second program, windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe and I received a message stating that it was not a valid win32 application

@maral says:

my problem happened to me everytime i started my pc and now the process is restarting even when i end process

i dont recommend deleting the svchost if you dont know what it is
i had 2 svchost.exe and one of them was the problem

@ powerslave’s resolution
dns cache? had the same problem, just go to admin tools/services and then go to dns client and activate it, be shure that auto starts and that restarts if theres a failure (maybe that made my svchost restart xD)

now im trying to instal the fix

Muhammed Al-Nooh says:

thank you very much for this subject

olivier says:

Hi Bryce,

Unfortunately when I try to download and save the file “fix_svchost.bat”, what I download is not a bat file but a text file…which I can’t obviously run.

Can you let me know what I am doing wrong and/or where/how I can get the correct .bat file?

Thank

Dave says:

<>

Olivier – just rename the file to fix_svchost.bat and it will work fine

new webkinz says:

Dave, how you could rename it if windows doesn’t give you a possibility?

Haider says:

i do these things whish u write but when i do the last step to execute window xp-kb……..exe then my computer said that it is not compatible with my system…now wht should i do …

thts my id..haiderraza72@yahoo.com…

wait of ur reply..

zac caldwell says:

I have a very similar problem. SVChost using all my CPU and ram… so much so that i can’t boot up far enough to start the task manager and end the process. my toshiba satellite, my baby for the last two years, took half an hour to get to my desktop, and couldn’t open a single program for an hour. would installing a new OS help, what do i do?

Beanpole says:

well Ithink I fixed my problem. I removed all of the hp printer drivers and programs on my computer and reinstalled only what was required and then removed hp center solutions and the digital imaging drivers for the printer. I left the all in one drivers on my computer and all of the problems that I’ve been haveing are gone.

the first thing that I did was remove all the hp stuff to see if that was causeing the problems. after I restarted the computer all of the problems were gone. I first suspected that the hp stuff was causeing problems when I took a look at what the svchost were doing with process explorer and found that the scvhost that was running hp drivers was causeing the problem.

I think the problem is a software conflict with one or more programs in which problems only occur with, at least on my machine, hp drivers installed.

just for your information I have norton 360 and have all the available updates for windows XP.

Kerry says:

Fixed my svchost.exe with no problems.
Thanks!!!!

JustinYo says:

I have come across this problem for the longest time. I have downloaded all the files listen above and followed every direction. I reboot my laptop and it did not solve my svchost.exe problem. I disabled Automatic Updates and in the Services.msc , I have diabled and stopped the Automatic Updates. I do, however, have a HP PSC 1510xi All-in-one printer that I connect with a USB cord. I have looked for “HP network device support” in the services (services.msc) but I could not find it. I have unistalled my HP PSC 1510xi printer but as soon as I restarted my laptop, no success.
I have been looking around websites for quite awhile. I have read that it isn’t one specific software that makes svchost.exe like this. For example, I have read that it was Automatic Updates causing the problem, HP Printers, JavaTime(?). Also, I forgot to mention that the command flush/dns and putting HPSLPSVC32.DLL in firewall exceptions did not work either.
Please help. :[
If you need any specifications of my laptop or any other information, please ask.
I am in great need of fixing this problem.
Thank you.
-Justin

ahmed says:

i followed it but i still have the problem and i have Hp laserjet 1005 drive. could it be the cause of my problem?
i don;t have anything about Hp in my services

simon says:

Hi I have this problem with my cpu that it jumps up to 100% and is very slow I have just come accross your Article lovely but I am not even able to find those Files that you mentioned in your Article. Please advise as I am a complete Novice in computers.

Dex Luther says:

Some explanations as to what everything you explain does would be appreciated. I may not know how to fix the problem myself, but I know enough to know that blindly installing .bat files (or even the .exe’s) can be very dangerous.

What does your .bat file do exactly? What is the update agent? What’s the hotfix for?

Rain says:

The easy way i found out to stop and reactivate the svchost memory eating problem along with cpu, was to download Process Explorer.

When you get into the program, select the svchost that uses alot of memmory and cpu.

Bu finding the right one,

start->run->tastlist /svc (and look for the ID)

Then you go into Prosess Explorer, Rightclick the svchost.exe and press restart.

The svchost.exe file stopped and returned to normal, atleast for me is has.

JustinYo says:

I’ve gotten this fixed now.
All I did was disable the Windows Automatic Updates and that seemed to fix the problem. Although you get the bubble warning to enable Automatic updates every startup, clicking the X will make it go away. The only downside effect to it. :P
Also, I have reinstalled my HP Printer with the CD. That may have fixed the solution as well.

Apps says:

Thank you for this!! I am really hoping this will solve the nagging problem I have been having with my laptop. My laptop had become literally unusable most probably because of this problem. It just wouldn’t respond and wouldn’t even start in safe mode. I had to do a complete rebuild of the OS and the applications. The problem disappeared but has started resurfacing again now, though it is not as severe as before. Can’t wait to go home and try this out!! Fingers crossed. Wish I had come across this post before rebuilding my system :o(

hood dood says:

done it..wont work..bullshit..

Raju says:

Those were my early days of blogging, i feel extremely embarrassed now. I did mention your site name below, but at that time i didn’t know about linking back. Sorry again, corrected myself.

Ryke says:

Hi Bryce, thank you for this site.

I couldn’t go to safe mode (it just stopped after running some lines…). I then tried to only use the Microsoft patch, which didn’t fix the problem. Next I tried to use your fix in normal mode (like Hank in post #5). I changed the .txt to .bat and let it run. When I executed the Microsoft patch -x86.exe again it told me it was already installed. Finally I tried to execute your KB927891.exe which stopped, telling me that “the language installed on my system is different from the update language”. Which is probably true as my system is in German. So I’m left in the middle of the fixing process after executing the files in the wrong order. Funny thing: it solved the problem. Thanks a lot! Do you think it’s safe to leave it like this?

Last note: SVCHOST problem might have started after installing HP printer driver for HP L7680

May says:

hello i have the same problem. I recently installed an HP printer (c4390) and ever since i got this annoying svchost.exe exploding cpu. sad. I thought i could solve the problem by eliminating hp printer from startup programs with no success.

I have downloaded the files, and tried to solve the problem.
Only hick is that the fix_svchost.bat appears in txt form ! i have tried to rename it, nothing happens. Can you tell me please how can i do it?

Urgent plz, i’m desesperated.

Thanks in advance !

Pepe says:

will this work on ASUS EEE with nlite xp

Josh B says:

I was wondering if this fix will also work for svchost.exe under the user name: NETWORK SERVICE, instead of the user name: SYSTEM. I just have a memory usage problem. svchost.exe doesn’t affect CPU usage at all, it just starts at about 4,000 KB mem usage when i start my computer and will constantly rise while it is left on. Earlier today before I restarted, svchost.exe was at over 900,000 KB mem usage.

Jerry G says:

Is this fix included with Microsoft Updates for XP or does it have to be downloaded separately?

JohnC says:

There are many different variables that can cause this, however something that has worked on different systems I have worked on is opening task manager, finding the svchost.exe that is causing the problem, right clicking and setting the priority to low. This seems to work best on systems where svchost.exe is utilizing 50% to 70% cpu utilization.

Greg says:

I have had this problem as well, your solution did not work for me but i was able to isolate the problem to my an hp.dll file i think came with my printer, i disabled it with winpatrol.
it is HPSLPSVC32.DLL.

hope this helps

Highlander says:

This fix did NOT work for me.
I’m using WinXP Pro SP2.

SHARAD TOLWALA says:

Cain.Exe file is also using 95-100% CPU,Any Solutions ? Pls. Reply and Email me sharadtolwala@gmail.com

Noah says:

I just went through a svchost ordeal, where it would take up 50% of my processing power (one of the dual cores?) and would not let me connect to the internet for 15-30 minutes. After that time, everything worked as it should. Finally, it occurred to me that it was the ultimate fault of the host file I downloaded, with about 80,000 domains/sites on it. The host file may have offered greater protection, but made my laptop a pain in the butt. I restored to the windows default host file, and now all is well.

Don says:

Tried on and off for the past few months to correct svchost.exe running at 80% to 100% consistently upon bootup. Usually, just dealt with it by highlighting the svchost.exe process that was using 100% of the processor and click “End Process” from within the Windows Task Manager Processes Tab.

Even XP SP3 didn’t correct the issue.

Finally found something that worked.

Using the Process Explorer Utility that people have recommended, I clicked on the svchost.exe process utilizing 100% of CPU. Right click and select Properties yielded the culprit.
I then clicked Start, Run and typed in MSCONFIG. I clicked the Services tab and found a service that was close to what I found in the svchost.exe:PID Properties box, Services Tab from the prior step. I unchecked the box, clicked apply and rebooted the PC.

In my particular case, it was a Hewlitt Packard service that was performing scanning for HP printers on my home network. As long as I don’t change the IP address of my printer, all will be wonderful.

john says:

I’m somewhat incredulous because for both the update files it said I had it already or the one I had was newer. The notepad file was just that. I couldn’t tell that it was executing anything. However, I keep checking my processes and SVCHOST.exe isn’t going over 29MB. It’s pretty cool, thank you.

Chrs says:

I’ve being fighting with and fixing this issue on a lot of our systems for years. After all my normal “fixes” failed on one of our server. I trying yours and it worked like a charm. Thanks!

Big Ken says:

The svchost problem I’m having causes my mouse and keyboard to not respond after booting into Windows. How can I Alt+Ctrl+Del if this happens?

What If I start in Safe Mode?

Dan says:

I was plagued with this on both my home and work PC’s. My company IT replaced memory, re-imaged, and replaced hard drive. I took the laptop to HP for warranty repair. They replaced the motherboard as well as charging $150.00 to find nothing wrong. IT wanted me to run over my laptop so they could replace it. I installed the patches and fixed both of my PC’s. This has been the greatest fix ever. I have since repaired 4 other computers with this issue. My IT dept. was amazed and asked me for the fix. They were able to repair numerous other PC’s. Thank you so much for the fix. What a lifesaver. My only question is why does it happen and why is it not noted on the MS site? I have since used auto-updating for MS and have not had any issues since. This update feature is activated on all my PC’s with no issues.

monkey magic says:

thank you..i got this problem and will try this solution maggot.happy!!monkey magic

Stevo says:

I had the problem solved by installing Norton 2009. The problem was a bunch of Trojans which were causing svchost.exe to run at about 65% and winlogin at about 35%.(all of my resources were shared by these two programs) I gave it a couple of days to do a scan in the background and it solved every problem I had. I am 99% idle now. (I am not a salesman for Norton, fyi.)

Sharon says:

Maybe I missed this in the forum questions and answers. My problem is I have seven ‘svchost.exe’ which use a total of 264,032k, but when I check the cpu is 0; but the System Idle Process is 96-99% when I check. The performance tab shows spikes of CPU history from 50-100%. Will the fix by Bryce Whitty on Sunday, June 3rd, 2007 at 11:35 pm fix this problem being the ‘svchost.exe’ is not all in one place? (3x System; 2x Network Service; 2x Local Service)

Gentian says:

The WindowsXP-KB927891.exe said the WindowsXP-KB927891.exe isuncompatible with my operatin system
What to do?

Sally says:

I was having this exact problem for the longest time (svchost.exe CPU running 100%), but your tip complete fixed it! Bless you for using your talents to improve the world rather than messing it up, as so many seem to enjoy doing. I appreciate the way you use language that anyone can understand. Even I was able to follow your instructions. I finally have my computer back! Yeah!!!!!!

Stuart says:

Hi all, I have this problem with Vista, anybody know what the fix is ? cheers – Stuart.

Gornot says:

I noticed this problem right after I started using SP3 for my 32-bit WinXP. In the beginning svchost is “silent” so to speak, but after I install SP3 and all recent updates to the system and some other software (like Office 2007, for example), my computer becomes much slower… It takes ages to start all the services (I carefully manage them through StartupCPL) and I find that when using my browser (Google Chrome) I cannot open up a single webpage unless the browser automatically opens the homepage. Searhing from the address bar doen’t work at all, the new link appears but the page doesn’t load…

Anyway, I downloaded all three files, but for some reason intentionally didn’t boot up in Safe Mode, because I already have all the offered updates from Windows Update… I suspected that I already have the WindowsUpdateAgent v3 installed, and I was right…

Although I followed your steps. I downloaded the bat file and applied it, tried to install the rest of the files. For the Update Agent is said that I already have it, and for the hotfix said something about having a newer version installed already because of the SP3… So I just restarted the computer… AND IT WORKS LIKE A CHARM! The svchost doesn’t hog my CPU anymore and I noticed that my computer is A LOT more fastar than before, not just internet but ALL the other daily tasks I perform…

So thanks a lot, I shall keep this .bat fix for future refferences :)

Todd P says:

I was having this same problem.. Normally I leave automatic updates turned off on my computer and all computers that I service — I suddenly realized while reading this article, that I had automatic updates set to the highest level of … automaticness. I disabled automatic updates, set XP to not pester me about the fact that it was disabled.. And problem solved. So, try that first before you go through all of this!

RoaldP says:

I think someone should take the trouble to tell HP about the irritating behaviour of their software. I tried, but gave up in their jungle of search for an appropriate address.
A printer driver is supposed to be a small and easy application, making no nuisance until it is needed. HP’s software is a huge installation with lots of irritating, memory-consuming gadgets all geared to persuade me to buy their ink cartridges and other gadgets.
I bought an identical printer for a friend because he is always asking me for help, and on his computer HP’s software behaves even worse.
When you have to change an ink cartridge, you should set off at least one hour to trouble-shooting. First, a built-in mechanism prints out a test page and wants you to scan it. If you have installed their “Solution Centre”, that application also starts and makes more trouble. At best, you risk to restart your computer to make it work.
And in the Task Manager, there are several memory-consuming HP processes that are difficult to get rid of, without any possible benefit for me.
Because of this, I will buy a different make next time.

Eugene Calvert says:

Great Results, and easy to follow.

Hi Bryce,
I have had this situation many times in the past. Tried a lot of different fixes, always resorted to rebuilding as those fixes never worked.
FOllowed your article and advice, Had success First time. CPU utilization back to normal, and svchost not hogging the CPU at all.
Thanks. Great results achieved, first time.

Eugene

Shane says:

Bryce,

I just did your fix and now my computer gets a BLUE SCREEN at startup. Please HELP!!!

Paul S says:

The Windows Update issues are old and did not work for me either (my system said they were both already installed by 2009 Windows XP SP3.) It is the #*()%@#! HP printer software that is DEFINATELY the issue (I have an HP Photosmart 7200 model). During install, I thought I had unchecked nearly all of HP’s crapware, but they put some almost essential functionality outside of the actual driver, so even diligent people will get caught on this. Many people i this thread speak of a specific hpxxxxxx service, but the service is running with the svchost so will won’t see it in the TAsk Manager. Even if you go go to Control Panel>Administrative Tools> Services (which shows svchost “sub-tasks” you still won’t see hpxxxxxx service but rather “HP Network Devices Support”. You need to DISABLE this bugger because it will automatically re-start even if you switch to manual (as some people have posted and HP service recommended). While HP makes great hardware, their software is HORRENDOUS (why do I need a 100MB+ install for a friggin’ printer driver?!) I’m going to buy the new EPSON line printers as I’ve had WAY too many problems with HP printer software.

Also, just to help others search for this solution, in addition to svchost.exe pushing the CPU to 100% I also had services.exe, spoolsv.exe, ASFAgent.exe and rundll32.exe topping the list.

Randy says:

Found another fix for HPSLPSVC32.DLL using 100% CPU. I had unchecked “Use simple file sharing” in “Explorer/Tools/Folder Options/View/Advanced settings.” I went back an re-checked “Use simple” and the problem went away.

Isaac L. Hoskins says:

Just thought I would write a quick note and say “Thanks a Million!” This fix definitely worked for me!!! I followed your instructions precisely and everything worked as advertised!!

Thanks!

mastuhhan says:

For some reason the .bat file doesn’t open in a cmd prompt and it just opens in a notepad .txt file.. can you help me with this?

mohan says:

hi..it works for me…recently sp3 got updated into my laptop and it started giving 100% utilization issue.by following your instructions,running the batch file fixed the issue…
Thanks a ton….

Roy Suryo KDRT says:

doesnt work on SP3

car2tw says:

It works! Thanks a lot!

peter says:

Do you have an HP printer?

In my case (running xp home), I discovered that the application causing the problem was an HP printer monitor. I uninstalled it just to see if it will work. I was surprised to see that green bar go down from around 98% constantly to almost 0% at idle. I don’t know what the printer monitor is doing exactly, but I am not going to install it again as I can still access the printer from a vista computer on the network. I would think that you can install HP’s printer driver without the printer monitor.

Sameer Tuladhar says:

After weeks of searching for an answer to this problem… and trying out everything on this page … Just wanted to let you know #27 worked ! Thank you !!

PS3 says:

I’ve been looking for this fix for ages Bryce and it was right in front of my nose. I did also try 27 but that made some funny stuff happen. Fortunately, I had backed up the registry first!

diegomaton says:

Go to Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Services and then highlight the DNS Client – Right Click and “Disable” this service.

Bruce says:

I tried to install the two hot fixes, however, Windows responded that one was already installed, and the other one had a newer service pack, so this old one wasn’t required. I ran the batch file, but it made no difference either, so back to looking for a solution again. Thanks anyway, it was worth a try.

Bruce says:

Well, next day now, and after setting Automatic Updates to notify me again, I haven’t had any further problems with svchost.exe running the CPU flat out. It seems that just turning off Automatic Updates and re-booting the computer has fixed the problem, whatever it was that was causing it. If the problem recurs again, I’ll just turn off Automatic Updates again. Hope this will help others. Thanks for your site.

Dave says:

Is there a solution to this same issue if the process is Services.exe instead of Svchost? My problem is Services, but it does the same thing; the loop to maximum memory on start-up.. How do I fix it?

Dan says:

I have 8 svchost.exe running on my processes. One of them currently uses 30k of memory, wheras all the other 7 combined don’t even add up to that much usage. Is there reason for me to be concerned there?
That svchost.exe process often uses less than 1% of my cpu as the task manager shows it at any given time though.

rc says:

my monitor appears ‘ select r start to repair n i dont how to fix it, help me please

kumara says:

brilliant…

Its Working successful…

Thanks lot…

Edselm says:

I have encountered problem with svchost. My Mcaffe Enterprise recognized it as a TROJAN and a Buffer Overflow Error but mcafee cant clean it. I used the fix published here and it worked fine. I am currently using Cacheman XP..it can lower memory processes like SVCHOST.
Thank you!

PICS says:

Maaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnyyyyyyyyyyy Thhaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It did work for me.

JotaPe says:

Result:

System is a diferent version.

Conclusion:

Proposed solution is obsolete.
Problem remains.

J. Hobson says:

I FOUND A SOLUTION!

I’ve tested it on many computers. and so far all have been fixed of the SVCHOST problem.
Here’s how:

1)Install Microsoft Update. This might require upgrading from Windows Update. Make sure you can get to the screen that lists the available updates to ensure that you have the latest MS Update version.
2) Reboot your computer.
3) Open Control Panel and click on Windows Update. Make sure that updates are set to being downloaded & installed automatically.
4) Restart your computer.
5) Open Control Panel again and click on Windows Update. This time make updates completely DISABLED.
6) Restart your computer, and you’re done!

Works every time! I believe the reasoning behind it is that changing around the auto Updating Settings somehow clears away ‘junk’ commands in the OS’s kernel.

Bace says:

just like to say thanks same and others in this fourm it been a problem i have had for months and not being able to put a finger on it. its been a menace for my pc Format after format will work sweet for a few months and it will just crap out. it seems to crap out when the computer is under it most load when booting up or even playing games online. seems to set it off but for now i think the problem has been fixed.

John says:

these instructions don’t work on my thinkpad t42 running xp. I went through every step successfully, and svchost.exe is still killing me at startup.

Speaker Kevin says:

Thank you soooo much for helping me fix this problem. My Dell Latitude was running hot with the fan on all the time. I knew something was not right so i went into task manager and found svchost was gobbling up 99-100% of my cpu. I Googled svhost.exe and stumbled upon your site. After following your steps and rebooting my computer twice, the problem dissapeared. Thanks again and if you need any advice on loudspeakers, feel free to contact me, Speaker Kevin.

BIG PROBLEM says:

or whether the operation can be performed without the need to go into Safe Mode

William P. Ratigan says:

I had many errors due to the out of control nature of scvhost. Your fix of the .bat file returned my system to its original excellent performance mode.The system registry not having enough resources error went away completely. This also fixed the behavior of not being able to access folders with large sizes also. Nice piece of work. I think the fact that so many peole are getting this error at this time tells me it was a plant or a mistake in one of the last updates from Microsoft. What better way to convince you to migrate to Vista and or Win7. Both of those programs have been absolutely awesome during my testing of both systems. I think Microsoft was trying to nudge us over before we are ready. Shame on MS if my conspiracy theory is true. If its not then please disregard. Hey isn’t that in keeping with our cultures asking for forgivness and not for permission?

Vicentiu says:

I had the same problem, but that was because a couple of malwares. But when I got rid of those, the problems disappeared.
And I notice that not only svchost.exe could reach at 100%, but other executables too, like cmd.exe. Of course, the reason is the same: malwares. So, scan the computer first (using Malwarebytes or other software like that) and then see if the problem persists.

Макс says:

О да детка, тащи)

Peter says:

I had the same problem – svchost.exe was running at 100% of CPU. I solved it with superantispyware. This software had found trojanbackdoor siszy32.exe. After deleting this piece of crap no problem with svchost.

Hope it will help

Biraj Bastola says:

Thanks a lot, It helped me to get the cpu usage to very low. svchost is now not consuming 99 percent cpu. Gretat job, continue Bryce.

Chris says:

Sorry……..same problem happened again and the processor goes to 100% usage……WHY????? Any other Solution?

ProblemSolver says:

this problem can be created by a multitude of programs and aplications. those who didn’t solve the problem by fixing svchost.exe or by turning HP blablabla to manual have to find the source of the problem and kill it. you can do that by installing a program which shows exactly what particular application in svchost uses so much memory. i personally recomend Process Explorer (you find it here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx ).
To solve your problem you must follow these steps:
1. download and install Process Explorer
2. open the program
3. when you open it will appear a list of all the processes taking place in that moment on your PC. look on that list and find svchost (there will probably be more than 1 svchost. the one that interests you is the one that shows in the column “CPU” a very high value (100 or 99 or 98 etc). when you found it
4. right click on it and then click properties
5. a new window will pop-up with a list of all processes hosted by it. like you did before, look for the one with a very high value in the CPU column (the second column, the one with an arrow pointing down). when you find it,
6. click on that process and finally press the “Kill” button on the bottom of the window and… the problem is gone.
it’s magic, isn’t it? ;):)

Michael says:

Hi, thanks for another great tip. Worked a treat.

Michael
Leeds
UK

Chris says:

Hi problemsolver, Michael
what i’m doing is to suspend that bug program everytime i use the pc using process explorer, but i’m not sure if it suspends other system features, and that bug working only when i connect to internet, i hope i can remove it not just suspend it or kill it,
Regards

Phil says:

Followed your instructions to the t. It did not solve my problem with svchost.exe. Still sucking up 70% of all memory all day all the time.

It gave me an error message saying that the two update modules had already been installed.

Any further suggestions?

This any help?
[KB927891.log]
0.718: ================================================================================
0.718: 2009/12/29 23:34:30.468 (local)
0.718: d:\927046956a3a761ed12233\update\update.exe (version 6.2.29.0)
0.718: Hotfix started with following command line:
0.796: CheckSystem: ServicePack version Mismatch
0.796: DoInstallation: CheckSystem Failed: 0xf06b
0.843: Setup has detected that the Service Pack version of this system
is newer than the update you are applying.

There is no need to install this update.
13.484: Message displayed to the user: Setup has detected that the Service Pack version of this system
is newer than the update you are applying.

There is no need to install this update.
13.484: User Input: OK
13.484: Update.exe extended error code = 0xf06b
13.484: Update.exe return code was masked to 0x643 for MSI custom action compliance.

Melcom B Smit says:

Hey,

Thank you for this post! You have assisted my in repairing approx. 50 PC with this on our company network. You are a great person for releasing this data without any payment and this has made me add a link onto my website to this post!

Bye,
MBS

Rob says:

My computer (Windows XP, Service pack 3) starts up and runs fine until such time as I open explorer and start browsing. Within the first minute, svchost.exe absorbs CPU useage at 99% the machine runs very slowly.

I’ve run Process Explorer and identified the specific svchost.exe as related to Generic Host Process for Win32 Services.

If this is “Killed”, an error message comes up advising “DCOM Server Process Launcher Terminated Unexpectedly… and gives me 60 secs before the machine shuts down.

Any thoughts on what is causing this please? Have cheked numerous web sites for advice on this including running Regcure and AVG virus scanning to no avail.

many thanks

Mostafa Mokhtari says:

Thanks.

My Problem Fixed.

JDiesel says:

Problem fixed. Thanks.

Many may not notice 100% consumption cause of they have core 2 duo or similar, on which 50% is noticeable.

Rik Harder says:

Entry 296 was the one! Thanks Nenad, I was struggling for more than a week already!

Nenad Markovic says:

For 300 from 296
You can see where the file is located if you look COMMAND BOX in the startup line for “siszy32.exe”
=
=
=
6. Look where is LOCATED in COMMAND BOX. I had mine in “C:document and seatings/Nenad/start menu/programs/startup/siszy32.exe
7. Go to that location
8. Select “siszy32.exe” unlock with unlocker (free program)and delete or kill process in Windows Task Manager and in 60sec. Delete this file.

Tyson says:

THANK YOU… It was driving me nuts… THANK YOU.

Lars-G. says:

Have been suffering from a slow and freezing machine for a time. Using Windows XP serv pack 2. Tried all tricks and advices but to no avail.

But when I disconnected my Anti Virus program, F-secure, the machine behaves as like a F1 Ferrari.
The F-secure is known to be a very heavy program,eating sometimes all of the computer resources.

robin says:

I had this problem on my computer and I tried everything here with no success. I honestly believe it is a trojan or some sort of virus running in the backround that is hidden by a rootkit.

It would only occur when I got on the internet that the svchost would take up 100% of my cpu. When I tried to kill it my computer would shut down. I found a solution but I do not know if it is a permenant one as it may come back when I turn the computer off and back on.

1.) What you do is open the run option on your start menu and type in services.msc

2.) You find the service DCOM SERVICES and click it. Here you will get another list of options. You hit the recovery option. Here you will see a list of what to do if the service is interrupted.Currently it should say to shut down computer or restart.

3.) You want to select for all three to TAKE NO ACTION then click apply and okay.

4.) Restart your computer and when you notice the slowness again simply open the processor tab and kill the svchost that is causing it.

It should not shut down the computer this time and your speed should be back to normal. Hope this helps. In the meantime if the problem comes back after shutting off and restarting you can apply it again.

In the meantime try to search for the backround program that may be causing it because norton antivirus is not detecting anything for me. But I am certain it is a malware or other infectious problem.

Lizzy says:

Thanks for your advice, but didn’t help me. This article did, though: http://www.fileinspect.com/fileinfo/svchost-exe/

Desoporp says:

Here’s a simple solution I found earlier too…

http://www.proposedsolution.com/solutions/svchostexe-99-cpu/

Wow this is a mega thread isn’t it…

Deso

popi1955 says:

i cant open fix_svchost.bat, idk why it opens as a text (.txt) so im kind of stuck in the middle of the proces

mani says:

you rule man.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.thanks.
it was killing me

Pete says:

Rob (293) You don’t kill the svchost you right click on it then click on the Threads Tab, identify which process in that tab (2nd column with arrow pointing down) is sucking all the CPU – kill that process.

Deano says:

almost solved???
somehow even set to manual
HP network device support
can turn itself on.
I disabled it, hope this helps and doesn’t cause more problems cause the HP printer is a network printer that seems to communicate with this computer or else its those damn gremlins,
AMC of course! Deano out!!

Virginia Rounding says:

If this is happening to anybody now, it is very likely to be the nasty piece of malware netuza32.exe.

Frank says:

post 283 solved my problem! thank you very much!

marios says:

man of the match…..post 283

Adelino says:

I have the same problem. I am certain it happened after installing my new HP Printer Wide 7000. I tried uninstalling and my memory utilization went down. Now I need the printer working so I have to deal with this. Any solution is Welcome

Pclaptech says:

Anyone know any good software to update hardware driver automatically.

Thank you

Samarth says:

Hey could you please tell me the corresponding to download for a Service Pack 3 ?

anil says:

thx

tash says:

it didn’t work for me. Maybe I am doing something wrong.system is XP sp3,bat file worked,the Agent was already installed so didn’t need that & the KB file.have since then rebooted the system at least 5 times & its of no use. still sitting @ 96-99%. & system is tooo slow. any ideas ??

Zeljko says:

I agree with you Avatar. Avast!5.0 also worked for me. I don’t know how antivirus program can fix such problem, but now it’s gone! Unbelievable!

oasis51 says:

Wow!!! It works perfectly…

Million thanks for the tip.

Boka says:

I had tried everythung, nothing worked. Full scan with Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware fixed the problem. I strongly recommended everyone to try this.

sik says:

Post 283 worked. :-)

Doug says:

Ran the fix_svchost.bat file which fixed the problem. Thank you very much. The other files were included in the SP3 so were out dated and not necessary.

Steve says:

Bryce
I was wondering if you had any insights for me regarding “a program slowdown”. I have Photoshop CS4 and it’s fine when I’m running off a fresh boot but if I go back several hours later to use it, it is a lot slower and I have to reboot to get it back to good again. I have defragged, cleared memory, and ran Spybot to catch any problems. I’m now looking into Memory leaks and how to detect and fix it. Do you have anything you can add. Thanks, Steve Ferrerio

COASTAL CONTACTS says:

I have the same problem and your workaround solution works perfect with me.

Thanks with best regards.

geekgirl says:

the fix described in comment #27 worked. didn’t even try the fix outlined in this guide. thanks Charles :)

Bholanath Odiya says:

can any one tell me the process of resolving the svchost.exe and win32 service problem.

macweto01 says:

guys by mistake i have deleted svhost.exe so now i dont have it btw i have formated my pc before 3days what should i do? format the pc again or i can fix it? pls replay

KAMAL says:

all the above procedure are applied, but its not working. its still shows me 99% cpu used. plz help.

MSwift says:

I was having this problem, and a problem with Windows Update/Defender, and Microsoft Support had me download the following file that seems to have worked to fix it:

http://support.kaspersky.com/downloads/utils/tdsskiller.zip

Good Luck.

na says:

fix did not work for me…… :-(

Jerome Christopher says:

Thank you for the information on the 3 files and instructions to fix the svchost problem.
Jerome.

Jackson says:

This post is excellent with many solutions. I’ve been working on a PC for (only) 2 days and have just now fixed the issue. It was the “HP network device support”. Once this was disabled the svchost.exe issue was resolved.

Thanks for all posts highlighting this as the problem.

FYI I was using a HP multi-function device which was causing the problem. All working perfectly now.

Kind regards to all. Jack

Bruce says:

Oops. I jumped the gun with my praise. Within a short period of time the cpu usage started to climb back up to the 99% level.

Too bad. I guess I’ll just have to keep digging. :(

Nomannic says:

I have 18 svchost.exe’s in my processes on Task Manager. Should I delete them all? Or which ones should I delete?

saanjones says:

Hats down,very impressed.Just to thank i have registered.

tom says:

i cant download it

Teh Cza says:

Praise to Charles in post #27. That’s the fix if your running WindowsXP like I am.

Micol Valsky says:

Hello.
I have a problem by installing the WindowsXP-KB927891.exe . It says that I don’t have enough STORAGE place to open it. Could you help me please?
Thank you!

Shanmugam says:

It is abnormal if any process takes even above 5% of CPU. Sometimes, an antivirus scan or a back up operation may spike the CPU usage from 50 – 100%, but that usually losts only for a few seconds. Also, during the start up of the computer or the start up of a program, it is normal if there is 100% CPU utilization for a few seconds.

But an exe file constantly showing up in the task manager with 100% CPU and thus claiming the entire CPU as its own is totally frustrating. This happens a lot with common processes like svchost.exe, firefox.exe, iexplore.exe, spoolsv.exe etc

Read more here:

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/328432_100-cpu-how-to-fit-it-a-complete-troubleshooting-guide

Glue_ru says:

I tried all the above. Finally what worked was creating a new user account, then deleting the old. Don’t create a new one and switch to it, it will be corrupted too, reboot into it and delete your account.

BE SURE TO BACK UP YOUR PICS, FILES, MUSIC, etc as deleting auser acct deletes their files, optional but recommended

Grand Theft Walrus says:

its done..n im using vista ..applause to post 27..

benawhile says:

Well I think the problem is solved for me now.
Any solution posted involving removing or disabling wuauclt did not work on it’s own because as soon as I reboot or do various other things the process is restarted, but thanks to posts 91, 108, 180 I think the problem is solved by switching from microsoft to windows update.

Riz says:

This is not working.
Tried all steps.

Mina says:

thank for you .i did’t

Chintan Kotadia says:

It worked for me. I fix it out, I was having lot of problem with it and you solved it.

Thanks for sharing it.
Regards,
Chintan

manish kumar upadhyay says:

its very helpful for .

thanks

michelle says:

the bat file is actually a notepad file and will not “run”!!!!!! ?What the hell? HELLP

Daniel Lagerwaard says:

Hi Michelle,

as far as your ‘NotePad file is concerned, it really is as simple as changing the extension to .bat and saving it like that. Now it is a bat-file.

As far as the install is concerned, you do need to have Administrator rights. Did you log in as Administrator?

benny says:

i forgot mention i am admin on this computer…i tried downloading on both firefox and ie but i get a connection error even when googling it, but if i google windows update itll show up just fine, however if i try to download it through another website i get the error again…

could it be that i have automatic updates off?

jerboa says:

I was right to be sceptical, this fix does not work

William says:

Try this, go to start, run, type in services.msc than hit enter. Look for dns client. Disable it. This seems to be caused by a host file that is larger than normal, which is caused by anti-spyware software like Spybot Search and Destroy and others that use HOST entries to block harmful sights. At least that is what I have found to be the problem in every XP machine that has a large host file and is running the DNS client service.

Mark Huntington says:

397 – In order to save the .text file as a .bat file try the following:
open it in notepad
then SAVE AS “fix svchost.bat” with the quotes and make sure the file type is changed to ALL FILES
that should do it.

Suresh Babu says:

I am using Win XP. I tried this fix and it worked for me. Thanks for the fix.

Regards
Suresh

Chad says:

When I tried to install the final file (WindowsXP-KB927891.exe) I got an error “not enough storage is available to process this command”. Any suggestions??

Microserf says:

I tried everything above, and in my case I’ve fixed definitevely the problem installing and running this tool (it’s free for the basic features): http://www.keep-pc-clean.com/

Thanks for the hints and Good luck!
Microserf
PS: Fortunately I’ve a double partition with Windows & Linux and these “terrible” weeks for Windows,Linux helps!

Tai says:

So what can we do with Vista? I think a KB…had something to do with this as 3 months ago I never had this problem. Now it is non-stop!

George says:

Hello, I had this problem with Windows XP SP3, although this article seems nice it has too many unneeded steps.

Comment #27 has the quick solution:

Erase the value “NetworkService = DnsCache” in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WinNT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost

Thank you Charles Rippert! ;)

Jake says:

Hey, I followed #406’s example and just downloaded fix_svchost as a .bat file and ran it after rebooting in safe mode. My computer has been running flawlessly for the past 10 minutes and there is no sign of trouble. This machine has been acting up all week; trust me, I’m watching my task manager like a hawk now. Thank you Mr. Whitty and good luck everybody!

Eyes Drinker says:

I have HP dv6000, windows xp pack2, and it worked perfectly for me.

Thanks technibble.

Neeraj says:

Suggestion from Charles Rippert worked liked charm, but now sure what will be other impact of removing that value.

Hi,
the procedure describe above didn’t help on my computers.
Deleting the Value “NetworkService = DnsCache” in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\WinNT\CurrentVersion\SvcHost
did the trick for me on a lot of systems.
Cheers!
Charles
(SME-Admin of 50+ PCs/NBs)

Garrett Brumit says:

Ok, about 2 weeks ago I followed these directions and it seemed to have cleared it up for about 2 days, the svchost.exe came back sucking my cpu down, I was about to just give up and use this dell laptop as target practice until I was so upset I decied, heck I am a software engineer, surely I can whoop this issue.
So, what I did was open up my task manager to make sure it was still high usage, adjusted the priority to low, then click on my other svchost.exe programs and made them high priority. Don’t know if that really help, but what I did next was the kicker fixer upper.
I did a search on svchost.exe, 3 files showed up, one of the files happened to have a date on about the time this problem started, it will be the svchost.exe microsoft file that has uninstall worded in it. You’ll know it when you see it cause it doesn’t look the same as the other files. I did a right click on it and my defenderpro virus protector line ask me if I wanted to permanently wanted to remove this from my hard drive, I thought what the heck it can’t be any worse right? I clicked yes, odd thing is, the file never went away but it did disappear once I rebooted it must have fixed it because after I rebooted my laptop has been running like the day I bought it. Even on the task mgr it shows cpu usage neing use high, the priority set to low, it doesn’t seem to be effecting my operation anymore.
it has worked like a champ for the past 4 days and finally the problem is resolved !!

BW-UK says:

I have struggled many a week throughout 2010 with the problem of SVCHOST.EXE taking over a processor (both pc’s are dual). I had this from McAfee for more than 3 months and all year from HP Printer software. I have replace McAfee with AVG9! As I have a HP MFD, I am stuck with it.

The HP Printer software I have re-installed (at least 3/4 times on each pc) but on the final install 3 months back, I did not let it install the MONITOR, PHOTO & SHOP options – ie used the Custom install. This solved it for months then it suddenly started again a few weeks back.

Both pc’s are XP SP3 with all the latest updates to this week 14 Oct 2010.

From post #33 I have just changed to “Manual” and then “Stopped” the HP Network Device Support in services.msc and the 2nd processor just dropped to 0% usage – though I got a Windows error and dump, but the pc is still running fine.

As previously noted in post #380 there can be any number of reasons for the problem. The big boys like MS, HP, McAfee do all their development in isolation and promise not to recompense anyone if their software causes problems/conflicts with other software.

On the HP support site, there are posts going back to Oct/Nov 2009 reporting the issue with their printer software – that they appear not to care to do anything about it does not surprise me.

I have a HP laptop with approx 100 vertical line failures (not just pixels – WHOLE lines) of various colours which meant I had to buy a 22″ monitor as the UK£300+fitting & vat cost I was quoted (as it is out of warranty) is stupidly high for poor quality kit. There are litterally 100’s of posts on the HP support site about this issue – the panel is LG by the way – across a number of models made in the last 3-7 years. Do they offer a customer caring cost sharing option – no way.

It is cheaper & safer to buy another brand! I will never buy HP again! I tell every one I meet in stores browsing their wares! I tell the store geeks as well – and it is amazing how many have had a similar experience and still sell the kit to unsuspecting joe-public.

Note: I have worked in IT for nearly 40 years and was a MS certified techie in the 1990’s yet I still struggle with all the hidden junk foisted on us by the vendors of all software these days. I will be “certified” again quite soon if MS and rest carry on – the little green van with men in white coats will take me away after I have destroyed £1000’s of kit!

Now I have had my rant, I would say Many thanks to Bryce for starting this post and the additions of #27 & #33 particularly, though a number of others are equally valuable (like the Trojans) to some readers, for some basic sensible help with generally easy to follow instructions.

At the time of writing there are 426 posts and counting and I am sure there will be more valuable input to come. Keep it going please; I have put you in my favourites.

anthony says:

how do i download the fix_svchost.bat, i tried right clicking and saving it as ” save as link” but it saves it as a text

jim says:

my download did the same saved as fix_svchost.bat.txt and will not run, just loads as text file..

Also on mine there does not seem to be an apparent leak, but takes up 50-60% of cpu, it avgs. 50%..

Tried to do restore from a back-up from a partition from my drive. Everything was going good till today when I was reinstalling my extra’s like office suite, players, virus protection , printer, bluetooth…

This lasted me one day..

any help… please email..

Jim

B-Real says:

The fix svchost batch file seems to have done the trick! I did not use either of the other files because my computer told me that updates installed on it were more recent.

I am just curious as to what exactly the batch file did. How did that fix the problem?

James says:

I’ve been having the svchost.exe problem for a while. I’m using Windows XP with SP2, and every time I try to download SP3, I get an “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage” error. In fact, any attempt to update Windows results in the error message, including trying to download Update v3 that you give in your first step of the fix. Why can’t Windows display its own webpage?

Brandon says:

James from Oct 29th… I wish I knew the answer, as I am having the exact same problem. If someone can help, please reply.

Brad says:

Hope you are still monitoring these posts! When I “save as..” the fix svchost.bat the file saves as a text file. What am I doing wrong?

Keith gibson says:

Try this one gentlemen, works a treat!

1. Click Start->Run, type “services.msc” (without quotation marks) in the
open box and click OK.
2. Double click the service “Automatic Updates”.
3. Click on the Log On tab, please ensure the option “Local System account”
is selected and the option “Allow service to interact with desktop” is
unchecked.

4. Check if this service has been enabled on the listed Hardware Profile. If
not, please click the Enable button to enable it.
5. Click on the tab “General “; make sure the “Startup Type” is “Automatic”.
Then please click the button “Start” under “Service Status” to start the
service.
6. Repeat the above steps with the other service: Background Intelligent
Transfer Service (BITS)

Step 4: Re-register Windows Update components and Clear the corrupted
Windows Update temp folder

1. Click on Start and then click Run,
2. In the open field type “REGSVR32 WUAPI.DLL” (without quotation marks) and
press Enter.
3. When you receive the “DllRegisterServer in WUAPI.DLL succeeded” message,
click OK.
4. Please repeat these steps for each of the following commands:

REGSVR32 WUAUENG.DLL
REGSVR32 WUAUENG1.DLL
REGSVR32 ATL.DLL
REGSVR32 WUCLTUI.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS.DLL
REGSVR32 WUPS2.DLL
REGSVR32 WUWEB.DLL

After the above steps are finished. Since temporary folder of Windows Update
may be corrupted. We can refer to the following steps to rename this folder
that

1. Click Start, Run, type: cmd and press Enter. Please run the following
command in the opened window.

net stop WuAuServ
(note, you might need to reboot before the net stop command will work)

2. Click Start, Run, type: %windir% and press Enter.
3. In the opened folder, rename the folder SoftwareDistribution to SDold.
4. Click Start, Run, type: cmd and press Enter. Please run the following
command in the opened window.

net start WuAuServ

Zuh says:

Hi,
i really love this article cuz i have been search for a solution to this problem lately…….but there is only one problem i am having the problem on my windows 7 laptop …is there i safe solution for win7

Crispy says:

Thanks Toon Schilder (post 33). I didn’t notice it was a printer issue that was eating my CPU availibilty. Saved my time with just a few clicks.

Ishan says:

The first link isn’t working for me.

xavierewan says:

svchost usage at 100 for 1min and 32 sec or more

meow says:

I had this same problem. It was due to McAfee virus scan starting soon after system boot everytime. I had to kill the svchost because it took up all the CPU time. I found another solution later. Simply open the McAfee console – Conigure virun scan option – Uncheck the option “Start Activeshield every time system start”. It disables the virus scan , but atleast you can use your system! Who wants a virus scan that prevents you from doing ANYTHING on the computer??

Richard says:

What about for Vista?