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
    2014-04-06T12:13:40+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.

    Yes. This clears the cache ONLY if you don't have the problem in this thread. The actual problem is a filename in the cache folder which is TOO LONG to delete so WSReset.exe fails without an error.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-04-08T17:35:04+00:00

    I can confirm that as a user of Ccleaner I had this issue too very recently. THe fix above seemed to work!

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-04-21T07:36:13+00:00

    This doesn't work for me, there is something corrupted in the Microsoft data structures.

    powershell -ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register $Env:SystemRoot\WinStore\AppxManifest.xml

    Add-AppxPackage : Deployment failed with HRESULT: 0x80073CF9, Install failed. Please contact your software vendor.

    (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80073CF9)

    error 0x80070003 : AppX Deployment operation failed. The specific error text for this failure is:

    RDSAppXNotifyRecoveryTrigger

    NOTE: For additional information, look for [ActivityId] 4b178dff-5d2c-0001-0090-174b2c5dcf01 in the Event Log or use

    the command line Get-AppxLog -ActivityID 4b178dff-5d2c-0001-0090-174b2c5dcf01

    At line:1 char:1

    • Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register C:\WINDOWS\WinStore\AppxManife ... 
    •

        + CategoryInfo          : WriteError: (C:\WINDOWS\WinStore\AppxManifest.xml:String) [Add-AppxPackage], IOException

        + FullyQualifiedErrorId : DeploymentError,Microsoft.Windows.Appx.PackageManager.Commands.AddAppxPackageCommand

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-04-24T17:05:34+00:00

    Hi Ron,

    Thank you thank you thank you. This issue with the windows store has been bugging me for weeks. It solved the infamous windows store spalsh screen issue. I too, tried all the other items you mentioned.

    Again many thanks.

    Ron

    ps maybe this issue should become part of the KB for windows 8.1?

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