What is WMI Provider Host (WmiPrvSE.exe) and why is it using too much CPU?

WMI Provider Host is an important process of Windows and usually works in the background. It allows other applications on the computer to request information about the system. This process usually does not use a lot of system resources, but it can use a lot of CPU if another process on the system has problems.

What is WMI Provider Host ?

"WMI" stands for "Windows Management Instrumentation", which is a Windows feature that provides a standard way for software and scripts to request information about the status of the Windows operating system and data on it. "WMI Providers" provides this information when requested. For example, software or commands can find information about BitLocker disk encryption status, view entries from event logs or request data from installed applications. Microsoft has a list of WMI providers on its website.

This is a particularly useful feature for businesses that manage personal computers, especially information that can be requested through scripts and displayed in standard ways in console tables. However, even if a PC is used at home, some installed user software may require information about the system via the WMI interface.

WMI is also used to find many other useful information, often not displayed in the Windows interface on personal computers. For example, the WMI Command Line tool (WMIC) is used to get the serial number computer , find the motherboard model number , or just to see the SMART health status of a hard drive .

Why WMI Provider Host uses too much CPU?

WMI Provider Host usually does not use much CPU, because it does not do anything. Sometimes, it uses some CPU when a software or script on the computer requests information via WMI and that is normal. Using multiple CPUs may be just a sign that another application is requesting data through WMI. However, prolonged use of CPUs is a sign that problems occur.

Restarting the Windows Management Instrumentation service can fix the problem. Users should also restart the computer but there is a way to restart the service without restarting the computer. To do this, open the Start menu, type " Services.msc ", and press Enter to launch the Services tool.

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Locate the "Windows Management Instrumentation service" in the list, right-click it and select " Restart ".

If you see a high CPU usage, there may be another process on the system that is having problems. If a continuous process requires a large amount of information from WMI providers, this will make the WMI Provider Host process use a lot of CPU.

To determine the specific process that is causing the problem with WMI, use Event Viewer. On Windows 10 or 8, you can right-click on the Start button and select " Event Viewer " to open it. On Windows 7, open the Start menu, type "Eventvwr.msc", and press Enter to launch.

In the left pane of the Event Viewer window, navigate to Applications and Service Logs> Microsoft> Windows> WMI-Activity> Operational.

Scroll through the list and find recent "Error" events. Click on each event and search the number to the right of "ClientProcessId" in the bottom frame. This number is the ID number of the process that caused the WMI error. There may be some errors here, errors can be caused by some IDs of the same process or multiple processes. Click on each error and see ClientProcessId.

Now you can pin a process that can cause problems. First, open the Task Manager window by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Escape or by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting " Task Manager ".

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Click on the " Details " tab, then click the " PID " column to sort the processes running by ID and determine the process that matches the ID number that appears in the Event Viewer event logs. For example, here, the "HPWMISVC.exe" process causes errors on this computer.

If the process is closed, you will not see it in the list here. In addition, when a program closes and reopens, it will have some other process ID. That is why it is necessary to search for recent events.

With this information, now users know the process can cause problems. Search for its name on the web to find the associated software or can right-click the process in the list and click " Open File Location " to open its location on the system, then update the section. Soft or remove it.

Can v WMI Provider Host calibration ?

Technically, it is possible to disable the "Windows Management Instrumentation" service on the computer. However, this will cause problems for the computer, which is an important part of the Windows operating system.

If this service is stopped, most Windows-based software will not work properly. So do not disable this service. If there is a problem with it, you need to determine which process on the computer causes the CPU-intensive WMI Provider WMI problem and update, remove or disable the process.

See more:

1. Learn about the conhost.exe process in Windows
2. Learn about the SearchIndexer.exe process and why it works