Windows Driver Foundation using 50% of CPU when Windows Media Player running

[lishaohua]

I just noticed in the Task Manager a while ago that "Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework Host Process" under "Background Processes" was running at about 50% of CPU constantly. I did some research and found out that this only seems to happen when Windows Media Player is running. It seems to happen even when Windows Media Player is not doing anything, when it's not even scanning for new media. When I close Windows Media Player, the "Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework Host Process" CPU usage drops immediately to 0%. I have looked for a solution to this, but could not find anything that worked. If anyone here knows about this problem and how to solve it, I would be greatly appreciative.

Dell Inspiron 580
Intel Core i3 CPU 550 @ 3.20GHz, 8.0GB RAM
Windows 10 Home 64-bit

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SOLUTION: Let it run its course. It might take several hours or even a day, but eventually it will stop. The reason it's using CPU is that the RealTek driver had just been updated, so the Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework Host Process "optimizes and compresses drivers after installation", as someone noted in this thread on another board that I found while researching this issue - http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/mobile-devices/f/4586/t/19615499.

(Since I can't select one of my own answers as the "solution", I decided I should edit my original post and put the solution there, so that people could see it immediately. Because I always get e-mail reminders to select a solution if I don't do so after a month or two - and because this thread should appear to be an "answered question" and not an "unanswered question" - I'll go ahead and select one of Ralston18's replies as the "solution", since he was so detailed and considerate in his responses, and what he wrote would be helpful to others in this general type of situation where you need to figure out why a process is using up so much CPU. Thanks again, Ralston18.)

 

[Ralston18]

As I understand it Windows 10 no longer supports Windows Media Center.

I have seen some workarounds and other ways of making Windows Media Center work but that is probably a lost cause over the long run.

And tinkering various "fixes", "patches", "hacks", etc. is probably going to create more of a problem sooner than later.

Probably best to move on to another application.

 

[lishaohua]

As I understand it Windows 10 no longer supports Windows Media Center.

I have seen some workarounds and other ways of making Windows Media Center work but that is probably a lost cause over the long run.

And tinkering various "fixes", "patches", "hacks", etc. is probably going to create more of a problem sooner than later.

Probably best to move on to another application.

The problem I referred to was with Windows Media Player, not Windows Media Center. I used to have both Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center when I had Windows 7, so I am aware that they are two different things. It's true that I no longer see Windows Media Center in Windows 10 now - just as you mentioned - but I do still have Windows Media Player. Thank you for replying though.

 

[Ralston18]

Apologies - not sure how and why I went down that path.....

Any way, in Task Manager, can you right click that process, (i.e., Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework Host Process) and see any other related processes and services?

What I am trying to do is identify dependencies with respect to processes that require the problem process - and then determine what and why those processes were started.

Event Viewer may also indicate when media player or a related process was launched. Right click such entries for more details.

 

[lishaohua]

Apologies - not sure how and why I went down that path.....

Any way, in Task Manager, can you right click that process, (i.e., Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework Host Process) and see any other related processes and services?

What I am trying to do is identify dependencies with respect to processes that require the problem process - and then determine what and why those processes were started.

Event Viewer may also indicate when media player or a related process was launched. Right click such entries for more details.

No problem, Ralston18. I appreciate the response and attempt to assist.

I don't see anything upon right-clicking... nothing that you're referring to. In fact, there is nothing under "Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework Host Process", like under "Antimalware Service Executable" there is "Windows Defender Service", for example:

I'm not sure what you're getting at or asking me to do with Event Viewer. I opened it, but didn't see anything there that looked useful.

Thanks for responding again.

 

[Ralston18]

In that drop down menu the presented selections just take you to other screens that offer additional details about that process.

Works in some of the other tabs as well.

Event Viewer is rather overwhelming in the sense of all the information being provided.

Go Event Viewer > Windows Logs (drop down) > System

You should see quite a long list of informational events, errors, and warnings.

Right clicking one of those entries will open another screen with additonal details about the entry. Under the General tab you will be able to read additional detail about the log entry.

But at the top is Event Viewer (Local) click that and will lead to quite a bit of information.

However:

Likewise in Task Manager click the "Services" tab. Select a service and right click it. Select Open Services and you should be at a screen "Services (Local). Note that the upper left title "Event Viewer (Local)

Select a service, right click and select properties. Then you will have a another window with four tabs: General, Log On, Recovery, Dependencies.

The value in Event Viewer, overall, is that it provides a great deal of information. The flip side is that it takes some time to get a sense of the logs: what information is being presented, how to drill down, how to navigate about, and how to use that information.

I find the logs to be very valuable with respect to erors and warnings - especially error code information. Plus if some service is starting or stopping or not doing so when it should - the dependency information can point to a another process that may be a contributing factor. Sometimes through multiple dependencies.....

Best way is to just peek around get a sense of it all and make sure that you do not unduly start, stop, or change the service status.

In your case you are looking for anything (processes/services) relating to Windows Media Player. What they are, why they are or are not running.

Maybe one of them is supposed to stop when something else stops. But actually does not stop because another process keeps it going. Or it got configuredto run all of the time. Could be a bug, a leftover from some other application, or malware launching a bunch of things...

You could for example, find something running that seems out of norm. If you stop it and the Driver Framework Host Process ends then you have found the culprit. Then you look at why or what starts (started) Driver Framework Host Process via the dependencies.

Fair warning: you can go in circles sometimes so the little things make count with respect to getting out of that loop. Keep track of the navigation path, the clicks/right clicks etc. so you can revisit something of interest if and as necessary.

Sort of need to stick with it for awhile to become comfortable using the tools.

Plus you will learn more about your system and what all is really going on at any given time.

Will look forward to an update

 

[lishaohua]

Wow, thanks for the lengthy tutorial on how to use Event Viewer. Unfortunately, I don't think I have the expertise (or perhaps it's the patience) to do what you've suggested, so I went and tried searching on-line for possible solutions... as I remember in my previous search that this was a fairly commonly searched-for problem. I found this thread - http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/mobile-devices/f/4586/t/19615499 - where one of the "Verified Answers" said: "... You need to let this process run. It optimizes and compresses drivers after installation. It took a day or two of use with my Surface Pro 3 (i5 8GB) to finish. It took a little longer on the Dell Venue 8 Pro. Trust me it WILL finish and then your computer will be ready to use, and should be working properly."

The poster of the original question of that thread (similar to my question) also mentioned something about Realtek Sound Service being the culprit and that disabling it fixed the problem with no apparent ill effects. I remember now that I just ran a driver update program which updated the Realtek driver. The thing is, I have Realtek disabled on start-up (which I have just confirmed, just to make sure), and I could find nothing that says "Realtek" in "Services" after opening System Configuration, nor is there any such entry present in "Processes" or "Services" in Task Manager. (Of course, if it's under a different name that doesn't start with "Realtek" or something similar, then I wouldn't see it.) However, I will take the suggestion of the aforementioned poster's "Verified Answer" and let it run, and hopefully it will stop at some point - as he said it would.

I will update this thread after letting it run for a while, so people will know whether this worked or not. If you don't hear back from me in a few days, you'll know the "Verified Answer" probably backfired on me and caused my computer to overheat and die.

UPDATE: It's been several hours and it's down to about 25% now, so perhaps the aforementioned answer was correct after all. Now let's see if it keeps going down and eventually stops.

 

[lishaohua]

What do you know - it really worked - just letting it run. I peeked over in Task Manager just now, and Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework Host Process is holding steady at 0%. Thanks for trying to help, Ralston18, I appreciate your effort.

 

[Ralston18]

You are welcome. Good that you found a solution that worked.

Still, if you have the time and inclination to do so, keep an eye on the Event Viewer logs, Performance Monitor, and Resources Monitor.

Between the three you can determine what processes/services are running or not running. And the dependencies of the various services involved.

That knowledge could come in handy again sometime in the future.

 

[lishaohua]

Yes, I did learn something from your suggestions/instructions. It seems a bit convoluted and difficult to understand all that's going on in the Event Viewer and so on, but I'll keep it in mind if I have other problems in the future.