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

2014-01-28T11:39:06+00:00

OK, I just performed a clean boot and when it came back up, my system fan immediately turned back on and I am attaching a screenshot showing Store Broker at around 30% CPU. What is going on? What does Store Broker think it needs to do? I didn't even start any Store apps!

Micah
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Anonymous

2014-01-26T15:34:15+00:00

I haven't yet done the clean boot thing, but the safety scanner showed nothing.

Micah
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Anonymous

2014-01-25T23:14:18+00:00

Troubleshooter found nothing.

I'm downloading the Safety Scanner now and I'll try the clean boot when I get home.

Screenshot attached. I'd love to get some advice on this so that I can actually use Metro (Windows Store) apps. Right now, I must avoid them like the plague.

Micah
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Anonymous

2014-01-25T13:03:54+00:00

Hi Micah,

When you say "Store Broker keeps pegging my CPU" can you provide us a screen shot of Window?

How to include a screenshot in your post

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wiki/windows\_other-windows\_programs/how-to-include-a-screenshot-in-your-post/2594b08e-32a3-476a-85a6-b021181be7e4

Store Broker (wshost.exe) is basically in charge of metro permissions. If you have a bunch of metro apps running it will get larger. You can’t kill the process because that would kill the metro apps.

You can perform these steps and check if that works.

Method 1:

Run the system maintenance troubleshooter.

Follow these steps:

a) Press the ‘Windows + W’ key on the keyboard.

b) Type troubleshooter in the search box and then press enter.

c) Click system and security and run the System maintenance troubleshooter.

Method 2:

Let's perform clean boot and check:

Clean boot helps in eliminating software conflicts.

How to troubleshoot problem by performing clean boot in Windows:**http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135**

****Note: Once you are done with the troubleshooting, perform the steps from Step 3: to reset computer as usual.

Method 3:

I would also suggest you to download and run the latest Microsoft Safety Scanner on your computer and check if it helps:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx

Note: Any data files that are infected may only be cleaned by deleting the file entirely, which means there is a potential for data loss.

Please get back with the issue status.
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