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
    2022-01-23T09:00:36+00:00

    Same problem. I killed the process, and it stopped. I had indeed opened the Photos app a few times... I closed it, and this shell infrastructure host bug ran wild.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-05-07T04:38:29+00:00

    Wow, I can't believe this garbage bug is still around. It has been freaking months, people are complaining about it, it's reproducible every single time yet it hasn't been fixed yet. Tons of other photo viewers from Microsoft Store are even bigger garbage and native Windows apps like IrfanView (that doesn't cause this dumb bug!) are a bit clumsy with gestures like pinch to zoom, making whole experience of watching photos on Windows 11 a horrible experience. And I didn't have this issue on Windows 10 so what the F is going on here Microsoft?!

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-06-07T14:22:13+00:00

    Hello.

    You will not find this through the settings in the app itself. You must go to Settings>Apps>Apps & features, then from the list find Microsoft Photos and click the 3 dots on the righthand side.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-01-11T15:01:54+00:00

    that is mine too

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-03-01T17:52:04+00:00

    Same problem here when viewing images using Windows Photos, even from an internal or not-SSD disk in my case.
    I have noted this issue only after upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11, but cannot be 100% sure that it did not happen before.
    The process can be terminated from task manager but it causes explorer to crash, which is annoying.
    Another "workaround" is not using Windows Photos, but some other application to view photos.
    Being a common issue reported by so many users, I think it should be fixed.

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