Windows 10 100 Percent Disk Usage Problem

Xbox live uninstall, has been the issue on two of the recent system refurbs I have done in last week.

As millions of Windows 10 users, I am experiencing the 100% disk usage every day dozens of times a day. As far as I can make it, this is caused by how Windows handles disk access operations as a process with such high priority that it does not leave any room for any other process, and as such, the whole system is almost unresponsive, to the point that you can't even play music, let alone videos, as the playing is frequently interrupted because the media player is not allowed to read from the disk before the end of the media buffer is reached.

The slow down of the disk can be repro'd consistently when you copy or worse, move files. Copying them between partitions of the same internal hard drive is much worse than copying them to an external drive. Having only dozens of gigabytes free on the system or data partition also seems to slow down the computer's disk operations. Windows does not seem to keep up with automatic partitioning either, especially if you download files directly from file servers or by fragments from torrents, and these downloads by themselves also can bring down the computer on its knees if it had any.

It's great that Windows uses the disk or the network bandwidth to its full capacity, but it seems to do a poor job at balancing the priorities between application, at least a much worse job than when I had Windows 7 on the same machine with the same type of usage. I bought a Windows 10 license and installed it from scratch, I didn't upgrade from my Windows 7 installation, but it feels so much like a regression from the user's perspective. File Explorer is plainly unusable, between the incredibly slow file copy operations, the constant refresh of the folder view, the folder view never memorizing the last view used, like Detailed view, but doing whatever it thinks is good for me, having to switch the toolbar constantly between Computer and View because the most used tool icons are on 2 different toolbars because File Explorer now has huge tool icons that won't fit on a single line and a single toolbar, file copy operations that stay stuck at 99% and never complete, etc. This is just madness.

I don't mind the "modern" user interface even though I never ever use it, but this is no reason to penalize users with features as basic as disk access operations that don't work. I also wonder what computers do the Microsoft employees and managers use, that they don't experience or react to these constant bugs...

Hi all.

I had this problem too, on several of my company PCs.

I noticed Windows 10 keep using 100% of disk when Windows Update service is running.

Despite the fact "active hours" of all our PCs configuration is set to 8am to 20pm, Windows Update downloads and installs updates in background (maybe it's normal, I don't know -- but it's exaclty the reason that made our disks get stuck...).

Moreover, in august Microsoft released a cumulative update (2018-08) that blocked on 100% disk usage all PCs.

It installs it in background, BUT it needs a MANUAL reboot to complete the installation, and no notifications are showed since our set up of "active hours".

So, the only solution for me was:

• keep waiting Windows Update dowloads and installs everything it needs OR go to settings and force Windows Update to search for updates,
• reboot the PC manually.

These steps magically restore disk usage to about 1- 2%...

Another known problem is that sometimes Windows 10 does not retrieve correct drivers, when the OS installation is made from a previous disk image (with backup/restore programs...)

Hope this helps.

I also have this problem, it happens every day or two, and I keep doing the recommended solutions that will fix the problem for a day or two. I would like a real solution, something that would explain the reason for the disk space going to 97-100% I have run malware programs, security scans, used all of the "solutions on the internet" and done a full hardware scan. 

Microsoft, it is Windows 10, something is not right. Please tell me what you need I will send you my computer specs, if you would please give me a solution that doesn't involve sending my computer to the dump and buying a mac. 

I am willing to work at this if you have something to try I have not already done.

V/r

A customer in need.

To isolate your concern, we recommend that you check this article on how to perform a clean boot in Windows 10. This helps eliminate software conflicts that occur when you install a program or an update. You may also determine what conflict is causing the issue by performing this method.

Note: Please go through the section: How to reset the computer to start normally after clean boot troubleshooting to boot the computer in normal startup after fixing the issue.

Give us an update with the outcome.