Fix for High Utilisation of SVCHOST.EXE

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS newsfeed so you don't miss out on all the information, news, tips and tricks.
Thanks for visiting!

At various times over the last couple of years there have been reports of instances when the service host control process (SVCHOST.EXE) ramps up and stays at 100% utilisation. During these periods, the system performance could be crippled with a noticeable slowing down and sluggishness of response from the computer.

One of the main causes of this was the Windows/Microsoft automatic update process, but no one, including Microsoft, was able to narrow it down any further than that. All throughout this time there have been many numerous fixes and workarounds, the most common and successful of which are shown below.

SOLUTION
Turn off automatic updates and do things manually!

SOLUTION
Only use Windows and Office update. The former could be set-up to run automatically, but the later had to be checked manually.

SOLUTION
1. Open the properties of the “Automatic Updates’ service.

2.In the tab “Log On”, make sure the option “Local System account” is selected and the option “Allow service to interact with desktop” is unchecked.

3. Repeat the above steps with Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) service

4. Re-register Windows Update components by opening a command prompt and typing the following commands (or put them in a batch file and execute it):

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

5. Stop the Update service (from a command prompt):

net stop wuauserv

6. Delete or rename the Update folder “SoftwareDistribution”, normally found under “C:\Windows”

7. Re-start the Update service (from a command prompt):

net start wuauserv

8. Manually start Microsoft Update & follow the usual prompts (eg install ActiveX Control), etc.

THE FINEST SOLUTION & THE ONE TO USE
The WSUS Product Team believes this solves all three svchost problems that Windows users have been experiencing.

1. Download, save and then install the KB927891 update.

2. Download, save and install the recently released ’standalone’ version of Windows Update Agent 3.0 for 32 bit machines (*not* Vista or any x64 version of Windows).

This fix has just been successfully used on a Dell Inspiron 6000 notebook that was locking up when running Microsoft Update.

We know there will be many happy Microsoft customers out there now that this fix is finally available. The SVCHOST issues has been a scourge for too long!