Pretty much since the beginning I've noticed wmiprvse.exe hogging one of two cores in my test machine.

Seaching elsewhere I saw a suggestion to see what file handles were open by the process.  I don't think this tells us very much:

C:\Windows\System32>handle c:|find "4160"
WmiPrvSE.exe       pid: 4160      8: C:\Windows\System32
WmiPrvSE.exe       pid: 4160     7C: C:\Windows\System32\en-US\user32.dll.mui
WmiPrvSE.exe       pid: 4160    288: C:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.9200.16384_none_418c2a697189c07f

I can kill the wmiprvse.exe process from Task Manager, but it tends to re-appear an hour later (+/- 30 min.).

I haven't tricked out Windows 8 very much... but due to the lack of any matches in these forums when searching for "wmiprvse.exe cpu" I am guessing my situation is not common.   First thing I did was remove antivirus, but the problem continues.

I'm sure I can start a brand new clean install of Windows 8, and slowly add things back until the problem recurs but that's not exactly optimized troubleshooting.

Found a blog post about using netmon to diagnose this kind of problem, but the winmgmt svchost process has 0 network traffic during the time that wmiprvse.exe is consuming a core.

Suggestions?

• Edited by Carl Houseman Monday, October 15, 2012 11:25 PM

Testing has been on domain joined Windows 8 clean install.  No software installed.

Seems to be linked to Folder redirection.  When user GPO setting folder redirection is set the issues occurs.  Does not seem to occur when no folder redirection GPO is applied.

• Marked as answer by Leo HuangMicrosoft contingent staff, Moderator Monday, November 05, 2012 9:28 AM
• Unmarked as answer by Carl Houseman Thursday, January 17, 2013 4:15 PM

I want to thank you, stadler17, for your effort to determine a causative factor for this bug.   However, a moderator tried to mark your explanation as the answer, and I unmarked it, because it does not solve the problem.   Not using folder redirection to avoid this bug is not an acceptable workaround nor solution.   When someone writes that a hotfix has fixed the problem, I'll mark that as the answer.

• Edited by Carl Houseman Thursday, January 17, 2013 4:25 PM

I don't require a hot fix created especially for me, I expect a hotfix to be created for everybody because this is an obvious flaw that will hamper deployment in businesses and elsewhere that use folder redirection.

By posting here I expect that someone at Microsoft has become aware of the problem, assuming they have any interest whatsoever in keeping track of what's been newly broken that needs fixing.

If that isn't good enough, I can offer contract terms for helping Microsoft fix their product so that it gains greater acceptance.

• Edited by Carl Houseman Thursday, January 17, 2013 8:25 PM

Excuse me for playing fast and loose with terminology.  Then I don't want a hotfix.  I want a KB article with downloadable update that resolves the problem.

Or, if you consider a KB article with downloadable update and a hotfix the same thing, then I guess this bug will continue and product acceptance will stagnate until either Microsoft recognizes that it can fix problems on its own, or somebody else contacts Support about it.   As I've said, I've done my duty by calling attention the problem.   My clients and I can keep using Windows 7 for quite some time, and I will certainly warn clients against using Windows 8 until such time that easily reproduced issues such as this are fixed.

• Edited by Carl Houseman Thursday, January 17, 2013 9:36 PM

Looks like they finally got around to this... downloading now, fingers crossed!

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2810203/en-us?sd=rss&spid=16796

1 hour later - no pegged CPU.  I like this answer.

• Edited by Carl Houseman Thursday, March 14, 2013 10:38 PM
• Marked as answer by Carl Houseman Thursday, March 14, 2013 10:39 PM

I tried downloading the hotfix on my Windows 8 machine, and says the update is not applicable to this computer.

It says it's only applicable to Windows 8 RTM? What the hell?

• Edited by demetri90 Tuesday, May 21, 2013 3:40 PM

I'm running Windows 8, and wmprvse.exe has suddenly started consuming 20-30% CPU.  Looked in Program and Features and found Conduit Search Protect has been installed without me noticing it (I believe it came with a VLC installation).  Removed it and now back to less than  1%.  Needless to say I hate these sneaky add-on programs installing themselves...

• Proposed as answer by Vikingvid Thursday, May 23, 2013 12:44 AM
• Edited by Vikingvid Thursday, May 23, 2013 12:46 AM
• Unproposed as answer by Carl Houseman Thursday, May 23, 2013 12:53 AM

Conduit Search is a very involved process to clean out, but the good news it can be done. Simply uninstalling the program will not work.

The process includes using JRT tool made to remove hijack browser malware.

I have had success following these instructions - http://bit.ly/conduitremoval