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

2014-03-20T02:37:58+00:00

I'm also having the Store Broker problem, with 49.5% CPU usage , rapid battery drain and fan coming on. I killed Store Broker in Process Explorer and things seem normal for now, but it sounds from this thread like that fix is temporary so I may need to try TypoII's approach involving AppData\Local\Packages\WinStore.
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Anonymous

2014-03-19T23:17:45+00:00

Instead of mapping a network drive, you can also rename the folder to CacheOld as Ron suggested, then cut and paste the CacheOld folder to the root of your C: drive. Windows will then let you delete the CacheOld folder.

I had a similar problem building projects in Installshield, where moving the Build folder to C:\Build was the solution to workaround this Windows folder depth limitation.
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Anonymous

2014-03-19T18:19:29+00:00

Thanks Ron!

That solve my problem.

Microsoft must be shame.....
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Anonymous

2014-03-19T17:38:49+00:00

I do not have CCleaner installed, but had the CPU issue as I reported earlier. I performed the reported fix and so far, I'm not smelling my laptop overheat. Though on a side note, the the Mrs. actually enjoyed the extra heat...kept her warm (don't go there people). Two thumbs up to Ron on finding a solution. Two thumbs down and a **** slap to Microsoft Support. You would think they would have commented by now on the solution. Then again, we are talking about Microsoft. Thanks again Ron.
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