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

Anonymous
2014-01-24T23:58:25+00:00

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!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2014-03-19T01:17:01+00:00

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

PS

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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  1. Anonymous
    2014-03-13T04:15:48+00:00

    J#$#@ F#$&*%^ C%^#@&!!!

    So... a half hour after posting the above, I'm sitting here watching a movie, secure in the fact that my OS is running like a well oiled machine.... when the thought strikes me that there was something I'd forgotten to check.  I'd shut off automatic updates to the metro apps at some point while trying to fix this.

    I open the Store apprehensively and try to update manually... and  BAM! ... the Store Broker immediately starts and begins to gobble my CPU.

    I give up.  I'm turning off the Store... and I may never turn it on again. :)

    Sorry if I gave anybody false hope.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-03-13T03:16:01+00:00

    Okay.... as I thought, two-step verification had nothing to do with it... but I had to give it a try.  Installing the Patch Tuesday updates also didn't help.  Today, I received another update, kb2919442.  It didn't fix it.  Rebooted.  Store Broker still started up and began eating CPU cycles. 

    Then I got to thinking about the location/time/date fix people have been talking about.  It didn't work for me when I changed time zones and switched back.... but.... this time I decided to re-register the store immediately after switching time zones.

    I switched time zones from Pacific to Mountain.  Applied and ok-ed myself out of the dialogue box.  Re-opened time and date settings and changed it back to Pacific time.  Then I immediately re-registered the store.  To do this, from an elevated command prompt run...   

    powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $Env:SystemRoot\WinStore\AppxManifest.XML

    So far, through 3 reboots and 6 hours, in and out of hibernation, opening, closing and using the Store app and most of my other apps... the Store Broker has not reared its ugly head.  

    I hope this did the trick.  Give it a try and see if it works for you. I'll let ya'll know how it pans out for me.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-03-13T02:46:44+00:00

    Disabling Windows Store via registry is the only thing that has worked.  Mar 12 updates did not resolve the issue.  BTW, I also see 100% Disk Activity along with Store Broker high CPU.  Moreover, Store does not work and image tiles of Apps to the right of the Store start screen remain blank.  I think it is because of computer is bogged down by Broker.

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