PhoneExperienceHost.exe high CPU usage when pc idle

Anonymous
2022-11-12T15:18:33+00:00

Hi,

When I come back to my laptop and it's gone into idle mode (screen off) I can hear the fans running fast, but as soon as I move the mouse the fans die off. I tried to figure out for a while what was happening and eventually set up perfmon to record what processes were running. I discovered that runs at 50% CPU continuously while the machine is in idle which is ridiculous for something that shouldn't be doing anything much (I'd upload a screenshot but there doesn't seem to be an option anywhere). Looking at details in Task Manager the PhoneExperienceHost.exe process has used twice as much CPU in total than any other app, even though I haven't used it in the foreground.

I do use Phone link to connect to my phone, but it's in the background (system tray icon only) and shouldn't be doing anything most of the time.

There's nothing related in Event viewer and I can't see anything in Scheduler which might trigger it.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Phone Link software.

The machine says it is up to date for patching.

I've searched for anything related to this issue and found nothing helpful so either it's only my machine, or other people don't realise it's happening as it only happens when they can't look at it!

Any ideas on how to fix this so it stops using my power (obviously uninstalling is not an option)? (TBH though, I expect it's something built into the software and can only be fixed by MS)

Thanks,

Jon W

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Connect Phone and PC

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-12-15T14:23:47+00:00

    I solved creating a scheduled task, planned at "workstation lock", that kills (force) the "PhoneExperienceHost.exe" process. now all is working. I know this isn't a solution... but is a good work-around... now my cpu can finally rest during pc inactivity...

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-11-15T21:00:30+00:00

    I too am seeing this exact behavior for the last few months i believe. CPU start to work hard once windows machine goes idle, fan kicks in loud. Totally unacceptable.

    Windows 10 Home

    22H2

    19045.2251

    Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz 2.80 GHz

    RAM: 16.0 GB (15.9 GB usable)

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-01-16T17:34:02+00:00

    Just weighing in as another person to have this issue.

    • Windows 10 21H2
    • Phone Link 1.22112.142.0
    • Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with Samsung's January 2023 Update

    I'll add that it's not just high usage at idle, it's 100% usage of one of the CPU cores at idle. With today's multi-core CPUs with hyperthreading, the usage percentage to Windows via Task Manager "doesn't look that bad," but the reason for the fan noise is that one of the cores is at a constant 100% load, and with just that one core "working," modern CPUs are able to boost that single core very aggressively. I have a 16-core/32-thread CPU, and this behavior results in "only" 3.125% CPU usage (1/32 at 100%) usage despite the CPU fan spinning at its full speed.

    Anyway, hopeful for a fix.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-12-29T15:06:43+00:00

    To follow up, because I considered this to be an unacceptable problem, I uninstalled Phone Link on Windows using PowerShell (search on web for details) and Link to Windows on my Android phone.

    After looking at potential replacements, I found the best free and practically full replacement is MyPhoneExplorer. But since I really just wanted the messaging part, I landed on using messages.google.com/web - which is an online replica of the Google Messages app on Android.

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-12-23T16:45:13+00:00

    I can also confirm this is happening - specifically watched for the "Last 60 seconds of CPU usage" after the PC was idle and it was PhoneExperienceHost. Not great when I am dealing with CPU cooling issues due to a bad cooler, though of course it shouldn't be happening at all.

    I have created a post in the Feedback Hub about Phone Link regarding this issue as well:

    https://aka.ms/AAj1lcl

    If you're able to go there and upvote/confirm the issue it might help get more specific Phone Link eyes on it.

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