What is WMI Provider Host?
It is a Windows Host Management Process that is used by developers in order to monitor hardware. It has been observed that upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 may lead to severe spike in CPU usage by this process.
How to fix the issues?
Fix 1
Restart the Windows Management Instrumentation Service
- Open a Run windows via the Start menu or Windows key+R
- In the Services window locate the Windows Management Instrumentation Service.
- Select the service and right-click on it. Select Restart from the context menu.
Fix 2
Use Command Prompt to restart other potentially malfunctioning services
- Open Command Prompt by either entering cmd.exe into a Run window or search for it in the Start menu. Right click on it and select Run as administrator.
- After it opens, type the following lines and press Enter after each one:
- net stop iphlpsvc
- net stop wscsvc
- net stop winmgmt
- net start winmgmt
- net start wscsvc
- net start iphlpsvc
Reboot your PC and check if CPU usage is now normal
Fix 3
Track don malfunctioning programs and remove them
Some programs may become corrupt in time without any visible signs. In order to identify if any programs may be blamed for CPU over usage we will use a program named Event Viewer
- Open Event Viewer. From Windows 8 upwards, press the Windows key and X to open the WinX menu and click on Event Viewer. For Windows 7 ,search event Viewer in the start menu and click it from the list
- In the Event Viewer windows click on View and on Show Analytic and Debug Logs
- GO to the left panel of the same window and navigate to Applications and Logs/Microsoft/WMI-Activity/ Operation. Look for any errors
- In the general tabs where details are depicted look for the ClientProcessID and write down the numbers.
- Open Task Manager via the Start Menu or Ctrl-Shift-Escape. Click on the services tab and search for services that have the same Process Id as those you noted in the previous step.
- Disable the guilty process and uninstall the associated program via Programs and feature from either the Control Panel or the Start menu. CPU usage should return to normal.
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