Windows 10: HD over 98% active - culprit: Modern Setup Host?

For the past couple of days my laptop (ASUS X750JA with Intel Core i7 4700HQ @ 2.40 GHz + 6GB RAM, running 64-bit Windows 10) has been very sluggish, with newly opened windows often showing the 'Not Responding' message. On the Task Manager 'Performance' tab, I see my main hard drive (C partition with Windows 10 + program files; D partition with data) almost continually showing 98-100% active time - even though I'm doing little to nothing and only Google Chrome is running with a few open tabs.

On the 'Processes' tab, I see Dism Host Servicing Process and Modern Setup Host, which I don't normally see. When I manually end Modern Setup Host, hard disk activity immediately drops to, and stays at, the normal 'idling' level of 0-20%, and is mostly at 0%.

Why are these two processes running? I'm not installing anything. My laptop is effectively crippled when Modern Setup Host is doing whatever it's doing.

Please help to restore my laptop and its user to sanity. ;-)

:)

 

modern setup host

What is modern setup host? My hard drive has been running 100% active for over a half half hour and it is because of Modern Setup Host.

<Moved from Windows Insider Program / Windows Insider Preview / Install, upgrade, and activate / PC>

 

Modern Setup Host causing 98-100% disk activity

For the past couple of days my laptop (ASUS X750JA with Intel Core i7 4700HQ @ 2.40 GHz + 6GB RAM, running 64-bit Windows 10) has been very sluggish, with newly opened windows often showing the 'Not
Responding' message. On the Task Manager 'Performance' tab, I see my main hard drive (C partition with Windows 10 + program files; D partition with data) almost continually showing 98-100% active time - even though I'm doing little to nothing and only Google
Chrome is running with a few open tabs.

On the 'Processes' tab, I see Dism Host Servicing Process and Modern Setup Host,
which I don't normally see. When I manually end Modern Setup Host, hard disk activity immediately drops to, and stays at, the normal 'idling' level of 0-20%, and is mostly at 0%.

Why are these two processes running? I'm not installing anything. My laptop is effectively crippled when Modern Setup Host is
doing whatever it's doing.

Please help to restore my laptop and me to sanity. ;-)

 

What Version of Windows 10 Home are you running? If you don't have the Fall Creators Update yet, and Windows Update is set to Automatic, then we may have the cause.

 

I'm running 64-bit Windows 10 Home, version 1703 (OS Build 15063.726). Are you saying that Dism Host Servicing Process and Modern Setup Host are running in the background to prepare my laptop for the Fall Creators Update? If so, why would these processes need to take DAYS and hobble my laptop to such an extreme extent? And why doesn't M$ think of informing the user (me) in advance that this is going to happen and have such an impact on my workflow? This is what I find incredible about M$: the utter lack of notification to the user about what his/her computer is actually churning away at in the background while he/she is trying to do something useful in the foreground. *Devil
Have I caused problems by manually ending these processes a couple of times? Can I avoid this whole hassle by manually downloading and installing the Fall Creators Update? (I know I won't benefit from it in any way; it'll be a complete waste of time and disk space like the previous Creator's Update.) Also, what is the $WINDOWS.~BT folder doing on my C partition? I've noticed that it contains recently created/modified files. Is this related to the update?
Thanks for your time and consideration. *Smile

 

Yes - it was the Fall Creators Update. As expected, there was nothing interesting or useful in it, except the currency converter added to Calculator. Some of the features don't even work. What a waste of time and effort!

 

Welcome to the New World Order! Bwahaahaahaa!

I'm still on 1607, waiting for the red carpet to be rolled out.

 

You should've stopped Windows Update from the services. It's too late now. My laptop which is significantly slower than yours is running fine with 1607.

 

Well, I'm on version 1709 now - and despite the useless extra features, my laptop seems to be running fine. ;-)

 

Hi, Rob,
I am having the same problem with my ASUS computer.
What were the steps you took to solve this problem?
Thank you in advance,

 

@ All,

I agree with most that it is a waste to update to creators. I'm also running 1607. I made an image of 1607 with some programs I like for my system and if windows updates I have something to go back to and change as I see fit. Of course as soon as you're not looking Windows will try and update yet again.

What I do is install Private firewall 7.0 and enable process notification and notifications in general. Then wait for the windows update and/or Windows Update assistant to try and run a process and when the notification pops up tick permanently block and tick for all processes and the problem is solved. You can even allow all traffic if you don't like firewalls and the process is still blocked so it will not run. I also additionally set notifications for outgoing traffic and any communication going out to Microsoft is cut off.

My system is running like a top with 1607 and I will be the one that decides if I want an update not Microsoft!