Why does Store Broker (wshost.exe) keep killing my CPU?

Anonymous

I've got a new Windows 8 machine and, for some reason, the Store Broker keeps pegging my CPU. It seems to pop up every time I do anything with the Windows Store (makes sense) or use some Metro apps (also makes sense). However, for some reason, this process takes up 33% of my CPU and never lets go of it once it starts. This causes the machine to get hot which causes the fan to come on and the combination drastically reduces my battery life (from 11hrs to 3).

Aside from frequently checking for and killing this app, is there anything else I can do about this? Is anyone else having this problem? Is it a misconfiguration on my end? I'm running this on a new Surface Pro 2.

Thanks!

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Anonymous

I SOLVED this. At least for myself. It's been a 3-day journey. Argh!

The upshot is this:

Kill Store and Store Broker from task list.

Rename the Cache folder to CacheOld at:

C:\Users(Your User Account)\AppData\Local\Packages\WinStore_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState

(Your WinStore_gobblygook might be a different bunch of gobbblygook)

Create an empty folder called Cache.

Solved! For me anyway.

Enjoy,

Ron

I have been at this for days. I've read every article and post everywhere. I have updated graphics drivers, set date and time, run wsreset, sfc /scannnow, created new user account (store did work for new account), app troubleshooter, etc, etc, etc...

Today I just started digging around and looking at dates. I don't have log files to back this up but I believe I broke Store with CCleaner. I'm not sure exactly when the Store broke so this is a best guess but it makes some sense since Ccleaner does clean Store cache.

I also recently installed Tor Browser but my gut is that that was totally unrelated.

I might create a sandbox user and try to break Store with Ccleaner to confirm. But honestly I am tired of this little adventure.

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220 additional answers

Anonymous

2014-01-30T12:42:02+00:00

Hello,

from a few days i have the same issue, just after PC starts Store Broker gets 30% CPU ussage. In my opinion Microsoft should release some patch, it is really strange.
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Anonymous

2014-01-29T13:50:22+00:00

I just ran a clean boot, opened the desktop and then the Task Manager. I stepped away for a moment and came back to find that wshost is at 30+%. I tried again, popped open the Task Manager as soon as I could and it seems that the Store process climbed up to about 55% and then the Store Broker process appeared. When the Store Broker appeared, the Store dropped back down to less than 1 but the Store Broker stayed at about 33%.

I do not see any reason for this to have happened because, as I stated, this was on a clean boot as you recommended.

Are there any log files that might shed light on the situation? Why is this happening? I don't have any particularly exciting software installed...
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Anonymous

2014-01-29T09:44:32+00:00

Hi,

To verify which app is causing high CPU usage, I would suggest you to open app one by one and after opening each app please have a look on the CPU usage. Get back with the information.
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Anonymous

2014-01-28T11:39:06+00:00

OK, I just performed a clean boot and when it came back up, my system fan immediately turned back on and I am attaching a screenshot showing Store Broker at around 30% CPU. What is going on? What does Store Broker think it needs to do? I didn't even start any Store apps!

Micah
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