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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.
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.
I can confirm this precise thing is happening to my machine; however I'm on windows 10. Tried uninstalling the "Photos.DLC.MediaEngine" addon to no effect. (That module seems to just reinstall itself)... Best work around was to just install 3rd party photo viewer. It's a shame really, because microsoft photos was a perfectly adequate piece of software for my workflow needs; but I cannot tolerate a run-away process eating up so much CPU and causing so much heat.
Exactly same problem here. Microsoft, if you want customers to use your products, please fix them first.
I have the same issue, clearly related to using the Photos app, no external drive needed.
Watch some photos with the Photos app.
When the photos app is closed sihost.exe starts to use CPU time.
Killing the sihost.exe solves the problem.
Easy to reproduce on my system.
I didn't have this addon installed at all when I was already experiencing this dumb high CPU usage bug. This addon only got installed after I was searching for it as you have mentioned and I was looking in Photos app settings to find this addon when it popped up that it has auto installed it. So, if it was only auto installed at this point, then it's not the reason.
This damn bug nearly scorched my laptop. It's a passive cooled netbook so fan noise isn't a dead giveaway and shell host infrastructure process was hammering it through entire night because I was viewing photos in the evening. Normally it runs idle at 35°C, but was running at 65°C. Trough entire night! Its chassis was so hot I could hardly hold it since it's metal. Ridiculous.
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.
