In Windows 11 "shell infrastructure host" process using a lot of CPU when viewing Photos on external SSD

Anonymous
2021-11-11T17:25:41+00:00

I have two computers on Windows 11 22000.318 and on both of them when I connect my 512GB Samsung SSD "shell infrastructure host" starts to use a lot of CPU and power usage is "very high" in task manager. I understand this may be normal when browsing large folders on the SSD or copying files to/from the SSD but even if I close all the File Explorer windows to the SSD "shell infrastructure host" continues to use a lot of CPU. If I try to eject the SSD it says its in use. So my only option is to log out of Windows and log back in and that stops "shell infrastructure host" and it goes back to normal. Could this problem be part of the Windows 11 memory leak bug with File Explorer I've been hearing about? Or maybe something to do with indexing going on? My external SSD has thousands of photos and I am using the Photos app.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-11-12T03:17:55+00:00

    Hi Tom B Overton

    Welcome to the Microsoft community and thank you for sharing your concern with us today.I understand from your message that you have the high usage of cpu.

    When you have a high load situation, can you take a screenshot of the task manager load situation and provide us with a view of which process has the highest utilization rate so we can analyze it for you.

    And you can also perform a clean boot to see if it works.

    I hope the information provided is useful to you, if you have any further questions please feel free to contact our support.

    Best Regards,

    Derrick Qian | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

    * Beware of scammers posting fake support numbers here.

    * Kindly Mark and Vote this reply if it helps, as it will be beneficial to more community members reading here.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-11-12T21:10:03+00:00

    Thank you for following up. After more research it appears that this problem is not due simply to my external SSD. It has to do with the fact I have thousands of pictures on the SSD and am using the Windows 11 Photos app to view them. From reading other Windows 11 forums, it appears that other users are having problems with the Photos app causing "Shell Infrastructure Host" to use high CPU and not release it. After I stopped using the Windows 11 Photos app , I no longer have the problem. I found a way to instead use the old classic "Windows Photo Viewer" app. I think the problem with the Windows 11 Photos app may only happen when you have thousands of photos and/or these photos are on an external SSD. I would need to do more testing. I may need to open another question about this as it relates to the Photos app.

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  3. Anonymous
    2021-11-13T03:23:03+00:00

    Thank you for following up. After more research it appears that this problem is not due simply to my external SSD. It has to do with the fact I have thousands of pictures on the SSD and am using the Windows 11 Photos app to view them. From reading other Windows 11 forums, it appears that other users are having problems with the Photos app causing "Shell Infrastructure Host" to use high CPU and not release it. After I stopped using the Windows 11 Photos app , I no longer have the problem. I found a way to instead use the old classic "Windows Photo Viewer" app. I think the problem with the Windows 11 Photos app may only happen when you have thousands of photos and/or these photos are on an external SSD. I would need to do more testing. I may need to open another question about this as it relates to the Photos app.

    Hi Tom B Overton

    Thank you for your reply.

    From what you’ve described,it caused by the photo app.

    So the only way to solve this problem is to change the right photo app.

    You can also try pressing Windows + F for feedback questions to Microsoft and wait for the engineers to fix it.

    I hope the information provided is useful to you, if you have any further questions please feel free to contact our support.

    Best Regards,

    Derrick Qian | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

    * Beware of scammers posting fake support numbers here.

    * Kindly Mark and Vote this reply if it helps, as it will be beneficial to more community members reading here.

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-12-16T20:08:56+00:00

    Same problem - Shell In Host started the fan running slowly. (It's an HP Omen 15 gaming laptop with fans which really work when the nvida geforce RTX graphics heats up with 4K video editing / playback but normally it's silent (and a brilliant laptop) until this problem cropped up)

    As per your advice I disconnected a (new) external USB SSD with thousands of pix on it and - the fan stopped! But then kicks in after a while so I suspect photo view apps may be the cause. Watch this space

    Thanks for your post

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  5. Anonymous
    2021-12-16T20:51:00+00:00

    I can confirm the issue is with the Photos app. My wife was browsing the photo archive on my NAS using the Photos app and that's when it started. I suspect it kicks of a process to index the photos or something similar and that process hogs the CPU and continues even after the app is closed.

    Logging out stops the process.

    This is a serious defect as it runs down the battery and heats up the CPU.

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