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
    2014-03-28T22:39:45+00:00

    i have an old hp (from 2007). 8.1. ~all updates

    after my laptop wake up from hibernate (low batery) same problem like here, cpu at 30%, a lot of noise, cpu fan at max. the only program that runs was utorrent. BUT i saw that my son acount was also signed in. he also runs utorrent and he played minecraft (closed. and i use some old graphics drivers to play that game). 

    i signed him out and everything was ok again. no reboot.

    hope this help someone.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-04-01T17:23:03+00:00

    %HOMEDRIVE%

    cd %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages

    for /D %%F in (winstore*.*) do cd %%F

    cd LocalState

    ren Cache CacheOld

    md Cache

    I've tried to help users in other forums that have trouble with this fix and some are just not getting it.

    Copy and paste the block above to notepad and save to the Desktop as FixMe.bat.

    Double-Click the Desktop file and it should fix things.

    (Note: You must End Task in Task Manager on both Store and Store Broker for this to work.)

    (Note: This has no error-checking and makes no accommodation for being run a second time. If you reuse this then you must get rid of the OldCache folder 1st.)

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-04-03T14:21:22+00:00

    Thanks, you are the man!

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-04-06T04:52:00+00:00

    This worked for me. This clears your Windows Store cache and I think that's the problem:

    http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/13133-store-cache-clear-windows-8-a.html

    1. Press the Windows+R keys on your keyboard to open the Run dialog. 

    2. Type WSReset.exe, and click/tap on OK.

    **3.**In Windows 8 and Windows RT, the Store will now open, and state the following: The cache for the store was cleared. You can now browse the store for apps.

    **4.**In Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1, the Store will now open without any message. You can now browse the store for apps.

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