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
    2014-02-26T16:35:19+00:00

    Hi Madeni K N, I also have a log file ready.  Store app still stays in continuous boot loop.  Thanks for your work on this.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-02-26T12:52:07+00:00

    Thanks for the quick follow up, Micah.

    Could you please let us know what exactly does the installation say when it exits? I would suggest you to go through the Windows Update history in that computer once to make sure if this update is listed or not.

    And regarding the other set of instructions I posted earlier, let us know once you have followed them and the log file is ready. We will collect the information via a private message.

    Have a good day.

    Regards-

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-02-26T12:48:21+00:00

    Madeni,

    I installed the optional update but the problem is still happening.

    I ran wsreset.exe and nothing changed.

    My problem is:

    A minute after I restart the PC the process WSHost.exe is launched and takes 50% of the CPU. It doesn't stop by itself, even after many hours running, so I have to kill the process with the task manager.

    The Window Store doesn't work. When I launch it the green screen from the start never goes out. If I go to the Task Manager, the process WSHost.exe was launched by the Windows Store and again is taking 50% of the CPU.

    I downloaded ProcMon following your indications and I have a log.

    To get the log I restarted the PC and waited a couple of minutes.

    I ran the task manager to check if the WSHost.exe was there, It was.

    Closed the Task Manager.

    I ran ProcMon, waited for 10 seconds and then I just closed it.

    I have a file TestLogs.pml in c:\Logs.

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-02-26T12:15:44+00:00

    OK, I guess it was already installed and I missed it because the standalone wouldn't let me install, but it doesn't seem to be helping if that's the case. This weekend I'll give the recently posted instructions a shot...

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