Desktop Windows Manager (DWM) memory leakage in Windows 10 (Version 2004).

Anonymous
2020-09-06T11:24:54+00:00

The infamous dwm.exe hogging lots of memory. FYI this is not a specific program issue. It just happens with any programs, activities randomly.

I'm getting really tired of killing dwm.exe every so often so that it will release the occupied memory. When is this going to be fixed? Is this ever going to be fixed even?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments No comments

156 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
  1. Anonymous
    2021-03-17T02:25:30+00:00

    Yes the issue has been ongoing for long, apparently build 9316 did had some reduced occurrences but it's still happening when my laptop goes to sleep.

    Interessting! I actually was doing some work, checked task manager, DWM.exe was at around 140MB. I then went to the post office, the laptop was sleeping during that time, I got back, checked task manager, and DWM.exe was now at 640MB. So maybe sleep has something to do with it too.

    It totally has something to do with chrome. When I open lots of tabs and lots of videos, then also opening a lot of videos in VLC. DWM.exe starts to rise and rise. So I think the issue is connected to video or 3d acceleration, mostly Chrome uses a lot and triggers it.

    It may also just be related to Intel iGPUs only, so mostly laptops. Because I actually saw this in my logs the other day and I also have lots of DWM.exe crashes in the past:

    https://i.imgur.com/xnZbAxa.png

    https://i.imgur.com/HrCD20u.png thats the intel driver which causes dwm to crash

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  2. Anonymous
    2021-03-17T02:05:29+00:00

    I believe it has nothing to do with Chromium-based Edge/Chrome, since the issue persists outside of that app as well. Based on your build number I presume you're on Release Preview channel for Insider, same as mine.

    How about trying full shutdown when you power down the system? (Windows -> Shift + Shut down)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  3. Anonymous
    2021-03-17T02:02:10+00:00

    Yes the issue has been ongoing for long, apparently build 9316 did had some reduced occurrences but it's still happening when my laptop goes to sleep.

    My only way to prevent or minimize this as much as possible is to do a full shutdown (Windows -> Shift + Shut down), which effectively purges the hybrid sleep mode.

    I've also read about the Insider preview of them attempting to fix the DWM issue, though we might not get it that soon...I hope this would be cross-compatible for early release if it's confirmed to be working fine.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  4. Anonymous
    2021-03-17T01:41:10+00:00

    And it is starting again right now :

    https://i.imgur.com/3USGr2v.png

    I am NOT on fast or slow ring! My winver is 20H2 19042.867

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments
  5. Anonymous
    2021-02-23T15:37:50+00:00

    Actually, in my experience, the bloat happens when using the computer normally. The only thing that resolves for now is downgrading the Intel driver.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments No comments