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

2014-02-25T02:16:53+00:00

Same thing going on with me... and a heck of a lot of other people. Let's get this thing fixed MS. It's really a nuisance.

In my case, if I stay on a local account, the Store Broker service doesn't start up and eat cycles... if that helps anybody out. Kinda defeats the purpose of the whole metro thingee though.
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Anonymous

2014-02-24T11:26:54+00:00

My case is even worse. When the process "Store Broker" is active, the hard disk starts to read and write 100%. I can do nothing but kill the "Store Broker" process. After doing that, I cannot download apps from the Store anymore.
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Anonymous

2014-02-24T00:57:02+00:00

Thanks TerMoe, I've been following this thread for a couple/three weeks now,and other treads all over. I've tried refreshes, reg edits, store account refreshes etc. etc. etc. My machines a big dell desktop and when it takes -off during this problem it sounds like a jet. I'm no engineer so microsofts going to have to come up with something. My only savior right now is an old box I put a linux system on and it works fine for everything I do. Come on Microsoft, if your watching this Get something done. Peace.
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Anonymous

2014-02-23T17:31:13+00:00

I searched Windows for wshost.exe and found three versions in the Windows\WinSxs directory. One of those was updated January 17, 2014. (See screenshot). I'm guessing that this update started the problem, since I've only noticed it on my notebook over the last month or so.

If so hopefully Microsoft will patch this problem soon.
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