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
    2022-12-18T21:30:52+00:00

    I've been experiencing the exact same problem with Phone Link on Windows 10 Home Version 22H2 Build 19045.2364.

    I was working with security cam software on my late-2000s Dell Intel-based laptop when I noticed that my CPU fan was relatively loud when the system went idle. I know the system well enough to know it wasn't a problem with the fan or thermal paste or what-not. The system easily gets back to being very quiet. But when it goes idle and the screen blanks, but isn't in sleep mode, the CPU usage jacked up and the fan got relatively loud.

    I quickly ruled out the security cam software, Windows background maintenance and Defender on-idle work. By process of elimination of shutting down other apps, it was only after quitting the Phone Link background process in the system tray that the idle fan loudness stopped.

    To further confirm this, I set up a "% Processor Time" counter in PerfMon for the PhoneExperienceHost process, and the graph showed this process eating up CPU like there's no tomorrow while the system is idle, and as it comes out of idle, the process goes back to seemingly normal CPU consumption and the fan gets quiet again after a short time.

    This is all so inexplicable as what on earth could Phone Link be needing to do during my system idle that required commanding all of that CPU? This to me is clearly a problem with the Phone Link background process.

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  2. 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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  3. Anonymous
    2022-12-29T14:36:07+00:00

    For a company that tries to optimize their Windows updates, so that it less of an environmental impact... You'd think this would be a top priority to fix. Having a computer use 10-15% while idle for no discernible reason is ridiculous.

    This problem has been around for almost a year now and it's not been addressed. Come on, Microsoft. This isn't ok.

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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
    2023-01-01T03:35:14+00:00

    I set up phone link then found high idle issue after monitor goes into power save. Process Explorer CPU graph showed PhoneExperienceHost constant 10% CPU usage whilst PC was idle. Went to uninstall phone link but won't allow me to, had to use powershell commands. Using Windows 11 21H2

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