Desktop Window Manager (dwm.exe) high RAM usage

Anonymous
2020-11-27T12:01:04+00:00

Recently I felt a big performance decrease on my pc.

My configuration:

i3-8100

GTX1660Ti

8Gb RAM

I have 2 screens:

  1. 1680x1050
  2. 1920x1080

When I start Task Manager I often see 94% RAM usage and the first reason is Desktop Window Manager. It uses nearly 5Gb of memory.

If I kill this process it starts to use about 300Mb and then slowly rises to previous values.

I use Wallpaper Engine and tried to disable it, but got no result.

I also see dwm using more than 10-15% of CPU and GPU. I've done almost everythnig I found on web such as updating drivers or something but nothing's changed.

PLEASE don't write about scanning for viruses, buying new memory and etc. I need real help and want to improve performance of my pc.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2022-04-10T04:52:41+00:00

Here is how I fixed the issue.

My system specs:

CPU - Intel Core i3-10110U

OS - Microsoft Windows 11 Pro for Workstations

Display Adapter Description: Intel UHD Graphics

RAM - 12GB DDR4

I was facing similar issue wherein Desktop windows Manager process was consistently going beyond 1GB. When I went to Device Manager and tried updating my driver under Display Adapter, I got a message that I already have the latest version of driver installed. (had 30.0.100.9XXX version)

I went to Intel Asia Pacific site (link below) and searched for my processor. Under the downloads section, there was this driver version 30.0.101.1660 released on 3/31/2022. Name - Intel® Graphics – Windows* DCH Drivers.  

Intel® Core™ i3-10110U Processor

Even though the list of OS indicated in this section did not cover Windows 11 Pro version that I am using ,I still downloaded it and installed it. It was a very slow upgrade and my system froze with a full black screen after seemingly completion of installation.

I manually powered off the system and when I turned it back ON, it was very smooth. I went to device manager and found that the new driver version has got installed successfully.

Also now under Task Manager, I see that the Desktop Window Manager process is hovering around 75MB to 120 MB and not going beyond 1GB like it used to before.

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Sumit 44,416 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2021-12-01T14:38:52+00:00

The issue seems to be resolved with the Beta driver(Version 101.1121) from Intel. Keep in mind that if the OEM has made customizations to the chip, you need to ask them for updated driver as the installation would fail.

https://community.intel.com/t5/Graphics/BUG-dwm-exe-uses-memory-leakage-with-Intel-HD-Graphics-630/m-p/1338417#M103298

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-11-01T04:26:19+00:00

    Yep. I've noticed the MoUsoCoreWorker process too, recently. But honestly, the DWM issue has been worse, for me.

    Like you, I find terminating the process works, but it's temporary and then I do it again the next time I hear my fans and computer start to work really hard for no reason.

    Driver rollback (for my intel 630) is the only thing that gave me lasting peace. Then there was an automated update I didn't notice and now I'm back to 8G usage again for DWM...

    If you hear anything about fixes to either problem, please let us know!

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-11-01T04:22:22+00:00

    The only solution that ever worked for me, since this problem started a year ago, was to set my Intel graphics drivers back by as far as I could.

    There is clearly a problem caused by the interaction between the newer Intel graphics drivers (especially the 630) and Windows 10. I was really, really hoping that Windows 11 would get rid of the problem... haven't tested it myself, but apparently it doesn't.

    Anyway, if I roll back my graphics drivers as far as possible (and will still work with Win10) the problem stops and my computer is much, much happier. But then some automated update comes along and updates me to new Intel drivers and bam! Back to having 5G and 8G RAM usage suddenly start up for no apparent reason.

    Still going to install Win11 and hope for the best...

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-09-17T10:32:10+00:00

    This problem, which happens because of MS, persists even in Win 11.

    In one of the test builds they reported that the problem has been solved, which unfortunately is a lie.

    I have found several solutions to the problem:

    1. Restart the PC every time after "clean" start*;
    2. Use any utility like Mem Reduct;
    3. Update the Intel UHD driver every time;
    4. Switch to AMD processors.

    Unfortunately, all methods work only until the first "clean" start*

    *after 2-3 hours as the computer was turned off

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