100% Disk Usage on Windows 10

Anonymous
2021-03-08T05:29:40+00:00

I'm running Windows 10 and have been seeing 100% disk utilization in task manager even though nothing is running on the machine, how do I isolate and fix this ?  This is causing my PC to run slow.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2021-03-08T06:04:08+00:00

Hi SandeepRaichura -

I'm Kevin B. Independent advisor and a Windows user like you. I do apologize for the inconvenience that you experiencing right now, let me help you sort things out.

Are there any recent changes made on the computer before the issue started?

Kindly follow the steps below and check if it will resolve the issue

Run a system file checker to verify the integrity of windows system files on your computer making sure that there are no corrupted files on your windows.

Perform SFC Scan and Repair Windows Image

-This process will perform scan for any corrupted system files or integrity violation and will attempt to repair it along with the Windows Image.

  1. Open command prompt with administrator access
  2. Type each command below and wait until scan is completed.

SFC /scannow

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Quick note: While the command is running, it's expected to see the process stuck at 20 or 40 percent. After a few minutes, the process will complete successfully.

Once you complete the steps, the Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool will connect to the Windows Update servers to download and replace any damaged files in the local image for Windows 10 as necessary.

  1. Close the command prompt.

After the scan completes, kindly check for available updates on your computer

Press windows key + I

Click on Updates and Security

Click on Check for Updates

Wait until windows fetches all available updates and install them on your computer.

After the updates completes, restart the computer for the changes to take effect.

After restart, kindly perform cleanboot on your computer

Perform Clean Boot

  • This process will eliminate 3rd party application running in the background of your computer along with services that are not needed to run windows. If there's any conflicting 3rd party application that causes the issue on your computer, this process will stop it.
  1. Open the run box by pressing the Windows Key + R and type msconfig
  2. System Configuration Utility box will open and by default you are on general tab.
  3. On the General tab, click the selective startup and make sure that load system service and load startup items both have checked mark.
  4. Click on services tab
  5. Put a check mark on Hide All Microsoft Services > This is a very important part as if you miss to click on this, computer might not boot properly or permanently and will end up on clean installation.
  6. Once Hide all Microsoft Services have checked mark on it, click on Disable All
  7. Click on the Startup Tab and click open task manager. This will open another window which contains all your startup applications on the administrator account.
  8. Disable all application that you're not using. You can simply just click on them and select disable.
  9. Click OK , Apply and close the configuration utility

Restart the computer again and check if the same issue appears

Hope this will help and have a bless day!

Thanks.

Kevin B.

Independent advisor

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Answer accepted by question author
Kapil Arya 38,466 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2021-03-08T12:20:54+00:00

I'm running Windows 10 and have been seeing 100% disk utilization in task manager even though nothing is running on the machine, how do I isolate and fix this ?  This is causing my PC to run slow.

Hello,

See if this fix helps you:

https://www.kapilarya.com/fix-windows-10-100-percent-disk-usage-problem

Let us know if this helps!

Note: Included link in this reply refers to blog post by a trusted Microsoft MVP.

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86 additional answers

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-12-26T11:56:49+00:00

    Your thoughts confirm my thoughts, I am running two HP devices and find that they both suffer to some extent, one in particular very badly, I often find that when I can get into task manager that system interupts is running flat out.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-01-01T02:50:45+00:00

    A Dell Inspiron laptop I bought 3 years ago with 1TB SATA hard drive, i7 processor and 8GB RAM was always slower than expected - became virtually useable a few months ago. Checked task manager and had this 100% disc problem. This was not solved even with reinstalling windows to factory settings.

    Now solved (fingers crossed) by:

    1. Doing all the windows updates (it was previously turned off).
    2. Run Dell support assist which found 6 updated drivers.
    3. Download intel driver support assistant. The UHD graphics card driver was out of date - which was not picked up by Dell support assist app. There is a warning that if Dell has a different driver you should not use it - ignore that and just let the driver install. I actually had to run that twice. The first one made a slight improvement. The second time the computer started running smoothly.

    The hard disc still shows 100% on startup but it settles down once fully booted up.

    Hope this works for you too.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-01-05T00:55:24+00:00

    An update to my initial post on May 6, 2021. In a nutshell, I had tried all various solutions and had defaulted to watching disk usage on task manager. When it hit 100%, I would end Runtime Broker which would usually relieve the situation.

    After several weeks of 100% disk usage combined with rebooting issues where windows would not always launch properly, I finally decided to do a reinstall. The version that left all my files intact but removed all programs that did not come with my initial set-up. Much to my chagrin, the 100% disk usage did not go away. I then did the following. Since I have an SSD drive, I implemented this solution: [FIX] Windows 10 100 Percent Disk Usage Problem (kapilarya.com). I installed the latest Windows 10 Updates to version 21H2. I also removed OneDrive from launching during start-up (after my re-install, OneDrive got stuck on updating files). I did a reinstall of Office 365 apps but am not using Outlook (trying Windows Mail instead). It's been a week now and 100% disk usage has not reappeared. My fingers remain crossed.

    Ah, to finally have my computer back....

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