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
    2014-03-12T07:30:13+00:00

    Just a quick thought before I hit the sack....  

    Is anybody else with this problem using two-step verification with their Microsoft account?  I was just thinking that this started with me around the same time as I started using two-step verification.  I'm too lazy to turn it off, undo the registry hack and restart the store right now.... but I'll try it tomorrow.  

    Probably nothing.... but I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel about now. :)

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-03-12T07:07:07+00:00

    Well....  I was hoping there might have been a fix in the Patch Tuesday updates.  No such luck.  

    The time and location changes don't seem like they could have caused my problem.  I've never changed either and I had the problem long before the daylight savings time change.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-03-12T01:22:21+00:00

    Hi Madeni,

    I think I solved my problem. I used the System restore, to restore my system to a time point 5 days ago. Actually, the System restore said that the restoration failed because my antivirus (Avast), but actually did 2 things.

    First, undo the Daylight saving time change: when my computer waked up was 2 hours ahead.

    Second, uninstalled a program that I installed 5 days ago: TrueCrypt. I only used TrueCrypt once, to encrypt a USB drive, and then I turned it off (so was not active). I didn't notice nothing weird after I installed this program.

    So, I changed manually the time in my computer, and so far I was able to use windows store and I didn't had any problem with Store broker.

    I hope this could help to find the problem.

    Best,

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-03-11T22:18:08+00:00

    Hello again everybody with similar problems and the same pertinent questions,

    I.E. update, microsoft, solution, problem, Store broker, no apps, no 'fun Windows 8'.

    Let he who is without fear cast the first solution...

    No idea what is happening. Still have half a computer. I heard somewhere that if you want Microsoft to help you, you must approach them directly. Is this true? Is this community page not the right place to ask these questions?

    Also heard that sometimes these kind of problems take years to get a solution. Please tell me this is not true? 

    I have, like most people here, searched high and low for a solution to this problem and have seen that runtime broker or store broker has been a problem since Windup 8 was launched.

    Honestly I like Whynot 8. Not the tiles but the rest of it. What works, seems to work well. What doesn't work, which is discovered each and every day, is minor.

    But for the sake of all things holy, where the cluck do I go to get an answer to this problem?

    A simple, "We don't know but we're on it" will suffice.

    Yours descriptively and desperately

    Larry

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