What is wsappx and why is it causing high cpu load?
When I launched the most recent version of Windows 10 today I noticed high cpu load almost immediately.
I opened the Windows Task Manager with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Shift-Esc, clicked on the more details link and found the Windows process wsappx to be the cause (Note: the process may display as wsappx (2) or wsappx (3) as well).
Cpu use would go as high as 30% and while it went down at times, it did go up almost immediately again in the same moment.
If you expand the selection, one, two or even three Windows services are listed: Windows Store Service (WSService), Client License Service (ClipSVC) and AppX Deployment Service (AppXSVC).
AppX Deployment Service (AppXSVC)
Provides infrastructure support for deploying Store applications. This service is started on demand and if disabled Store applications will not be deployed to the system, and may not function properly.
Client License Service (ClipSVC)
Provides infrastructure support for the Microsoft Store. This service is started on demand and if disabled applications bought using Windows Store will not behave correctly.
Windows Store Service (WSService)
Provides infrastructure support for Windows Store. This service is started on demand and if disabled applications bought using Windows Store will not behave correctly.
Attempts to stop one of the services, for instance by right-clicking on it in the Task Manager or the stop button in the Services manager may throw an error message that the service can not be stopped.
Windows could not stop the [...] service on Local Computer. The service did not return an error. This could be an internal Windows error or an internal service error. If the problem persists, contact your system administrator.
This is however not always the case and if you wait some time and try again, you may be able to stop all of the services from running eventually. This worked on our test system once the cpu load reached 0.
The main issue with this approach is however that they may start up at any time again, and the core reason for that is the following.
All three services provide no option to change the startup type when accessed on a local computer system. The only startup type that is available is manual while automatic and disabled are grayed out.
What happens if you disable Windows Store in the Local Group Policy?
One would assume that disabling Windows Store would have an effect on the wsappx process but that is not the case.
To disable Windows Store in Windows 10, do the following:
- Tap on the Windows-key, type gpedit.msc and hit enter.
- Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Store.
- Double-click on Turn off the Store application and switch the policy to enabled.
- Restart the computer.
You will notice that the process is still up and running after you have disabled the Store on the system.
What happens if you end the wsappx task instead?
The wsappx task can be terminated in Windows Task Manager. If you select it and then end task it is killed.
Since this does not affect startup types it may appear again at any time though which means that it is more of a temporary solution than something that works permanently.
Closing Words
Wsappx is a process that Microsoft introduced in Windows 8.1. While it is clear that it is Store related, it is unclear why the process was not stopped after the Store was disabled on the system.
For now, it appears as if there is no solution to resolve high cpu usage of the wsappx process in Windows.
As far as high cpu usage goes, it is unclear why it is driving cpu up by that much at times.
I have this issue as well. Its quite erratic. But I do come across a pattern every so often. This thing, seems to start acting up for me most often when my PC system goes into idle mode after a period of inactivity.
There is also another process named, utcsvc (Diagnostics Tracking Service), this thing seems to not only hog the CPU (though not too much) but it seems to hog the network bandwidth as well. It seems to be uploading something and brings the internet to a screeching halt for me(i am not on a high bandwidth net so that might be making it worse).
Hope MS fixes these before RTM
In my case, I noticed it most right after system start or updates. The utcsvc service does not misbehave on my system but I may not notice it that much because it is connected to a relatively fast Internet line.
It seems to collect data on the system and report that back to Microsoft. I have disabled it right now and will monitor if that causes any issues. If I had to guess, it wont.
Is it possible to disable the wsappx task in the Task Scheduler?
Not sure if this helps, but WindowSVC has this BB entry:
How to disable this service.
Open a command prompt. (Run a command prompt as Administrator in Windows vista/7/8)
Copy red command line [ie, the lines below] and Paste.
sc stop “AppXSvc”
sc config “AppXSvc” start= disabled
How to delete this service.
sc delete “AppXSvc”
I’d try it, but my only Win partition is Win 7, as I run mostly Linux and Mac. Maybe some brave soul can give it a shot and post back.
Tried with an elevated command prompt, but permissions denied :(
This service is a real parasite!
3yrs later and MS decided to ignore everyone. They think the computer is their’s. MS is still a leech.
I did windows key+r, open msconfig, went to the services tab and was able to disable AppX there if that helps anybody
I’d agree with that *mf this is a state sponsored trojan origin: SE ASIA (sx VC x)
For me, I see the Host Process for Setting Synchronization (SettingSyncHost.exe), at certain times use lot of system resources. I just wonder what it used for. I am thinking it syncs system settings with onedrive.
umm I just got rid of it.
how to get rid of it !?? it’s really annoyingg
wsappx also pounds the disk. I don’t know what the heck it is doing, but it is stealing from me, since whatever it is doing is something I don’t want. My system becomes unusable. Network and disk are maxed out, as is cpu. I can’t open a simple browser window without waiting five minutes to load the page. One more reason I am advising people to not upgrade. It is free for a reason!
Once my Laptop began to vibrate and do weird noises. I quickly opened Task Manager and my CPU and Disk were 100%. I closed any program running and I waited for it to end. It did end, but it took a while. Then my CPU was 8% and my Disk 3%. It seems to me like it’s only happening after startups.
[SC] ChangeServiceConfig FAILED 5:
Access is denied.
even as admin…
The hard disk of my computer is very noisy. Every morning, when I switch it on, I hear the wsappx application hammering it for several minutes and it makes me crazy. I have to kill it ten times before it stops, and it comes back during the day, exploring my drive for who knows what reason.
Something has to be done ! We live in a word where everybody is crying “my security !”, and this Windows application can run services like Appxsvc and ClipSvc, even when these services are disable ! What do they do with the data that they collect ?
Did you try disabling it in safe mode?
While in Windows 10 execute in the console: bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy
Restart and enter in safe mode with F8/F10/F2 whatever is your motherboard function. And then try and disable this little shit.
I tried to do what anonimouse said and I had the message “operation successful” when I entered “bcdedit /set {default} bootmenupolicy legacy” in the console, but… I still do not have the legacy boot menu when I restart Windows 10
Gaston open “msconfig” and see some options in the boot section. Check safe boot maybe if there is the option in W10.
I have installed “Windows 10 Firewall Control”, and my hard disk is is less solicited. wsappx seems to have calmed down…
http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/
tried to turn off store per:
Navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Store.
but not Store, nor Windows Store, nor anything with Store in the name, is not listed. closest thing i found was under Windows Components -> App runtime, an entry called Block launching Windows Store apps with Windows Runtime API access from hosted content, doesn’t appear to be what I would want.
nick
Which version and edition of Windows are you running?
Not sure how permanent this is as I have just made the change, but if you change the registry keys below it appears to disable the service(s) after a reboot.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet00x\Services\AppXSVC
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet00x\Services\ClipSVC
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet00x\Services\WSService
Change the “Start” REG_DWORD value from:
0x00000003 (3)
to
0x00000004 (4)
on each of those, then reboot.
I’m running Windows 10 Pro x64
Source:
http://www.herongyang.com/Windows/Service-System-Registry-Entry-regedit.html
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/165748
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/259003
Thanks for posting this, it solved my problem straight away! After upgrading to Windows 10 my machine was unusable until I did this.
Thank you! Just upgraded a 8 year old laptop to Windows 10, it runs perfect except for the slowdowns caused by these processes. Now it runs much better :)
I have been trying to disable this service (AppXSVC) for more than two years now and to see such a simple solution; it really hurts though I’m really happy.
And seriously, Thank you.
Gotta migrate to Linux. This shit is unacceptable.
Be very careful to back your registry up so you can roll this action back if needs be!
I tried it to get rid of these services, and although the setting worked perfectly in stopping them, it did have the side effect of completely killing my Windows 10 Pro x64. Every 24 hrs or so, after logging on, Windows froze so completely only a hard reboot could solve the issue. It is probably related to some recurring daily task involving these services.
After I reverted the registry settings, all was fine again.
I confirm – It is working. Now the CPU and Disk usage is almost always 0% while my Surface Pro 3 is idle. However its juts half an hour after the changes so I don’t now how it will behave further. I must say I am very disappointed about Microsoft. I mean when somebody releases a tablet device and produces an OS for it and lets such services/processes to drain your device battery power all the time, then this is bull shit. Really it has been a while since first version of Surface and Win10. I trusted Microsoft for being really Pro on some topics but I judged the whole thing badly. I think I could have been happier with strong Android tablet with RDP connection to my desktop PC with good Internet service for Upload. Windows is just not good OS for mobile/tablet devices. And it probably will remain like that. Bull shit Microsoft.
After my Windows 8 reformatted, wsappx was running crazily. Nothing can stop it until I found this registry hack. It works for me.
Thanks
This fix has always worked for me and stopped all the endless disk activity of these horrible services. NOTE however that I discovered today that some Windows update reset those values to 3! I just changed them back, with the exception of WSService. That service no longer even exists for me…not clue what that’s above.
Thank God that, outside of my job, I use nothing by Gentoo Linux. This shit is intolerable.
Thanks for the post. Problem solved!! Kudos!!
Thanks that worked for me too
Wsappx was eating up CPU usage for no reason and I’ve been looking forever to try and end this from different places and this is the only one that worked. Thank you so much!
I followed the directions: Tap on the Windows-key, type gpedit.msc and hit enter. But it only brought up search results from Cortana. I couldn’t access the Local Computer Policy settings or anything of the sort. Am I typing it in the wrong bar? With Windows 7 when you hit the windows key it did give you a bar to type things like that into but it’s not the same with Windows 10. Please help, I’m frustrated :(
Are you using a Home or Pro version of Windows 8.x / 10?
Oh and I wonder how much Power/Current humanity and resources planet Earth wasted because of Microsoft. That CPU and Disk usage costs real money and resources. Some organization should sue them.
I have a solution that worked for me.today.
1. Open up the Windows Store Application
2. Upgrade all Windows Store Apps, it bombed once, had to do this twice.
3. After a few minutes wsappx dissapears from the task manager – no reboot required.
Take it back: wsappx turned itself back on about 30 minutes after the upgrades.
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/turn-off-windows-store-application
This is now working: turn off windows store and disable all windows store apps.
My system says that gpedit.msc does not exist.
If a Home version is installed on your device, then this is unfortunately the case.
run you system on a different operating system that would solve the problem
this is non sense ,Microsoft allows this app to download gigabytes of info into your system ,if you are not killing it. which sounds to me like Microsoft letting unknown entities to download (government).Block it in the firewall at least it won’t be able download all that nonsense into your computer. If you don’t use office I would block it too. Also a program that does what it wants with no benefit to your computer.
Try this- go Settings -> Windows Update and Security -> Advanced Options -> Chose how Updates are delivered and toggle the setting to OFF. If its ON you allow your computer to service the Local or Internet as a source for Updates and Apps. Leave it off unless you are closed networked to your own personal local Net. In that case you can open it up using the radial button to Local Net and toggle it ON to deliver to your peeps. If so examine this setting on the other puters in your Net. Think of the Bandwidth if all in the Local are opened up like this…
I see this service using 100MB/s 99% Disk usage – what a piece of crap –> no issues with High CPU usage – brand new Dell 5050 Optiplex PC
It wont let me close down the program…
Just go to SECURITY TAB (Right mouse button on the required DLL/SYS WHAT#EVER ANY file of your Windows
And press ADVANCED
And Change File Owner from THE FUCKED UP MICROSOFT TRUSTEDINSTALLER to YOUR USER
THEN SIMPLY PRESS OK
AND FUCKING DELETE THIS SHIT
WATCH OUT – WINDOWS 10 STEALS / THIEFS 100% OF YOUR MOVEMENTS IN THIS OS
FUCK MICROSOFT
FUCK BILL GATES PERSONALLY
FUCK THE USA GOVERMENT AND FBI, WHO ARE PERSONALLY STANDING BESIDES THIS STEALING
https://fdossena.com/index.php?p=w10debotnet/index_1703.frag
USE THIS GUIDE, GUYS TO FUCK MICROSOFT COMPANY AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT HAHAH
AT LEAST SOMETHING
BUT KEEP IN MIND – THIS DOES NOT REALLY HELP
THIS OS HAS A LOT OF COMPONENTS INSIDE
NOBODY CAN DO ANYTHING, BUT GO BACK TO WINDOWS 7 PRO OLD GOOD
Vladimir
I am most grateful for everyone’s efforts here. Truly frustrated like many of you. After update 12/27/17 of Windows 10, my CPU was running at 99% in idle, and I could not even browse the web or load Task Manager. Finally, after it calmed down a bit I saw that wsappx was causing 30% of it and all kinds of other processes were going up and down in CPU usage. Before upgrade had noticed my Hard Disk “ratcheting” (something trying to access it) frequently, however. Now constant. Although I have considerable computer expertise, I am not a geek or programmer, so some of the explanations here escape me. I did own a computer company once and I am familiar with modifying the registry (regedit) and a few other recondite procedures. For now, I want to try the more conservative experiments, before I try to modify the registry. (Say, when you say “backup registry” are you simply talking about creating a restore point?) I like to spell things out and sometimes feel helpless when others don’t. I realize using some terms here is just attempting to be precise and not simply attempting to impress by being cryptic, but without some further definition at times users like me will still be left in the dark. Even saying “block it at the firewall” is elusive unless you explain what to do to block it– in other words, how? I realize there is neither time nor means to provide screenshots, etc. (I am not that needy), but please do not assume everyone listening will know exactly what you are talking about, even if they have a good guess at what you mean. (For example, what is the “it” when you say block it? wsappx? Please reiterate antecedents.) I realize many of you will not have time for much detail and will expect others to have prior knowledge, but paradoxically I am observing that attempts at brevity will often lead to prolixity because others will not “get it” and chime in with their own suggestions. Thanks again for everyone’s effort to help. BTW: “ratcheting” has ceased (unless I switch windows in browser) and wsappx no longer appears in my Task Manager, just in the time of writing this note… Only thing I have done is attempt to turn off as many auto-updates as possible. (Sorry, can’t remember all I did now.) CPU usage now around 30% BTW: After update all my hotmail emails missing in explorer, unless I go to a different computer or different browser (Chrome) on this computer. Apparently must change proxy settings in IE browser after update: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/oaccount-omyinfo/hotmail-wont-load-on-my-computer-but-works-on/875cf9e8-8b38-4772-be2a-834c4c42fd2d?auth=1
Useless. fix: disable it.
I just had this issue on a new Lenovo laptop I just was setting up. I disabled the store and I was not happy with doing so I then reinstalled the machine. After I reinstalled I monitored the machine as I installed the applications. Once I installed Chocolatey package manager I saw the CPU jump up. I removed Chocolatey and the CPU dropped down again
Anyone else using Chocolatey package manager that is seeing this high CPU? Try and remove it and see if that works.https://chocolatey.org/docs/uninstallation
Worked for me, at least partially. I am trying to solve a combination of problems: Windows loads forever (like 10 minutes of black screen after loging in) and the start button does not work. The first issue – black screen was resolved by changing the registry entries. Thanks a lot! Now I only have one problem left, the start button still does not work :-)
The real problem is to identify which program/service (let us call it the “bastard one”) is calling back wsappx everytime our pcs are in idle mode. If we found it, maybe we can disable that “bastard one” to prevent wsappx to run and ruin our sanity ;-)
I found the solution AND the cause for AppXSVC high usage.
This is the Windows 10 Store updater updating your Win10 store apps/games. If you want to disable this service from automatically updating your apps or games then you do this.
Go to the Microsoft Store App, click on the the 3 dots on your top right corner of the app store “…” , Go to Settings, toggle the “Update Apps Automatically” under “APP UDATES” to off.
This is why you see high disk usage and sometimes you’ll see 1 of your threads on your cpu being pinged to 100%, it’s just updating your apps for you. Once you disable the automatic updates you’ll have to manually update them by going to “My Library” and “Get Updates”
OMG YOU ARE A GENIUS!!! I just did this and my disk usage went down immediately! Thank you so much!!! Guys, just disable the automatic Microsoft Store updated and voila! Thank you ‘Windows 10 isn’t that bad’ :)
I just turned off the automatic updates option in Microsoft Store, and like the previous poster said, the cpu usage went down immediately! No need to delete anything, change the registry, etc. Thank you “Windows 10 isn’t that bad”!!
Windows 10 is a virus. Delete it.
gpedit.msc does not exist in my system………… any insight?
Your registry hack is just what I needed – thanks. What a god awful, sneaky, cheating system W10 is. They suppy you with a load of settings and you THINK you turned them off, only to find the damned stuff starting all over again. Some operating system, where you have to hack the registry to get some sanity. I pray the NHS and MOD steer clear of W10, or I can see trouble ahead…
I had this issue recently, ClipsSVC stared behaving abnormally as soon as some licensed offline VOD content expired. I verified a correlation was existing since I was unable to delete such contents while ClipSVC was suspended (since killing that service makes it respawn after a while I opted for suspending it via procexp). Disabling the store and app updates was not an option for me. This was quite annoying for me since it made my tablet go into thermal throttling, being very hot and damn slow. I captured some events for that process from procmon and I saw there were continuous attempts to read from \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\ClipSVC\tokens.dat
I rebooted into safe mode and moved that file away from that directory. It was a ~10MB file. It rebuilt that file upon the next normal reboot, and I have no more this issue. The new tokens.dat file is just 1MB big, all apps are still working just fine. Apps updates are now installed normally during maintenance, they were somewhat stuck before.
Just turn windows update service off, the windows store requires it. i turned it off and it went away instantly….