Windows Modules Installer Worker - high CPU usage

Anonymous

Windows Module installer worker is constantly running with very high CPU usage.

My PC has suddenly ground to a halt.

All the latest updates are installed as well.

I'm running Windows 8.1 Pro 64 + update.

Thanks.

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Anonymous

In Windows 8 or 8.1 laptop, sometimes CPU fan run very fast and make noise because Windows Module Installer Worker occupies CPU more than 50%.

In this case, you can solve the problem by changing windows update into manual mode.

How to do it:

Open services.msc (In Windows 8, WindowsKey+R and enter services.msc)
Search "Windows module installer".
Double click the "Windows module installer", and make it manual. It is usually set Automatic.
Search "Windows update".
Double click the "Windows update", and make it manual.
Open Control panel(click the right button of your mouse at the lower left of you display monitor or LCD, e.g., at the Windows logo. and then you can see control panel menu)
Click "Windows update"
In left you can see "Change settings"
Change the setting into "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them". It is usually set automatic.
Reboot

The Windows module installer workers cannot bother you anymore.

Important:

Because Windows update is set manual, you MUST check regularly (weekly or monthly) windows update by yourself.

Also, cleaning up your disk may help to reduce CPU usage by windows module installer worker

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Anonymous

Hey Trek178 you should check if the PC is under schedule maintainance and try to troubleshoot the windows update to check if there was any problems. I've just got a same problem and troubleshoot it. Now it's over

Hope this may help you

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Anonymous

Hi Louise,

Follow the steps given below.

Press and hold the “Windows” button and the “W” button on the keyboard.
In the search box situated in the upper right corner we need to write “Troubleshooting”
Click(left click) on the “Troublesh o oting” icon.
On the upper left corner of the Troubleshooting window we need to click(left click) on “View All”
Click (left click) on “System Maintenance”
Click (left click) on “Next” and follow the steps presented on the screen.

Check for the issue and move to next method if you still face this issue.

Press and hold the “Window” button and the “X” button on the keyboard.
After the “Control Panel” is opened click (left click) on “Windows Updates”
Select from the “View” menu in the upper right of the window “Large icons”.
In the left side of the window click (left click) on “Check for updates”
After this is finished restart the Windows 8 PC and see if you still have this issue.

Let us know the status of the issue.

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208 additional answers

Anonymous

2015-06-22T23:18:55+00:00

To the people on this thread: Most of those moronic replies are done by bots that copy paste predefined messages so that is why they seem so illogical.

To Microsoft: This is ridiulous, A LOT fof people have this issue with a different NEW COMPUTERS for over a FEW YEARS! Get Your act together and make a darn fix already. This is ridiculous beyond measure that we have new computers and we cannot use them because of a stupid memmory leak ! How are we supposed to use win 8 or 8.1 (I can't even update to 8.1 due to some unknown error that it does not show me in updates history even!), with such a horrific bug that slows down our computers to a crawl!

After gathering a lot of different threads on this issue from a lot of years back as proof, I am strongly thinking about filing for class action suit agains MS, with quiet a few people already backing me up.

PS: I apologise for all the typing errors but for some reason the type checker is not working on this reply window (heh what a surprise.
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Anonymous

2015-06-23T01:45:49+00:00

After conducting my own investigations, after myself being concerned about high CPU and memory usage from windows update helper process, I managed to find out what the process is actually doing. The windows update helper process is involved in making sure windows updates are installed correctly and up to date and also looking for corruption. This helper process is also involved in processing the 'delete windows update back up files' part of clean up manager to free up drive space, which is run automatically with automatic system maintenance. The windows update installer process uses windows update to download and install updates that need installing , replacing or updating to recent versions etc.

Because after you install or upgrade windows and have a lot of windows updates to install the backlog of so many updates that need to be double checked makes the windows update helper process have a big task to do. What I did to prevent this is manually run 'disk clean up manager' with admin rights and tick the box 'windows update backup files', which can safely be deleted and then click ok etc and wait for the whole thing to finish. On my desktop gaming pc it took 2 hours to complete and on my laptop it took 6 hours but after that when 'automatic routine maintenance' ran, the process was only ever running for a short time, hence no back log of updates to process or double check. My opinion is that Microsoft want to make sure this process is doing its job correctly because it involves important security updates etc hence the long length of time it takes to get everything right before they are deleted or replaced.
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