Windows 10: Taskhostw.exe using high amounts of Hard Disk

Hello,

I've begun to have an issue with my PC that I can't seem to find a fix for. Back on the 16th I updated from Windows 10 1909 to Windows 10 20H2 after having some minor issues with the Microsoft Store app, these have since been fully resolved.

However after installing Windows 10 20H2 I have encountered another issue however this one seems specifically related to Windows 10 20H2 as its not an issue I had previously encountered on W10 1909. I noticed that my HDD 2TB Disk 0 C: was running at 100% usage all the time under the performance tab. I have since bought 2 new hard drives, one M.2 SSD 250GB and one SSD 2TB migrating my W10 20H2 OS to the the smaller 250GB SSD.

Prior to migrating the OS I suffered the following issues;
- the Settings app was slow to load edge tab System, Apps, Devices etc
- the Windows 10 Search bar didn't work being stuck forever loading
- the screenshot tool became iffy to use sometimes not loading or taking a long time to load
- when I opened the original images from Discord onto Google Chrome they took an age to load

Now on the M.2 SSD 250GB, which is now my C:, my PC is much faster and however the issue still persists as my C: sees a near constant 35+MB/s write speed despite having minimal, if at all any, usage. I have isolated the issue to seemingly be the taskhostw.exe as when I open up the Resource Manager from Task Manager it sits at the top using about 37,000,000B/s, 37x more then the next highest command/app which is System.

To try and fix the issue I have done the following and gotten nowhere;
- Run a sfc/scannow on both the HDD and SSD: Nothing was detected as wrong
- Run a DISM check on both the HDD and SSD: Nothing was detected as wrong
- Run the Windows Media Creation tool: Still had the issue afterwards
- Tried rolling back to the previous installed version: This just rolled back to 20H2 as I did so after using the WMC tool
- Run a full antivirus test with the Windows Security app: 1 file was detected and action was taken. After restarting the issue still persisted however after the initial full scan the the amount of data being written on the C: had dropped to almost 0KB/s on Task Manager
- Updated my PCs bios drivers: No change
- Updated my GPUs driver: No change
- Bought and installed 2 new hard drives migrating the W10 OS to the faster M.2 SSD as mentioned prior: Disk is no longer at 100% usage in the performance tab however as repeated there is still 35+MB/s write speed occurring
- Terminated the taskhostw.exe in Resource Manager: Another .exe pops up using just as much disk, dllhost.exe I think was one that jumped up
- Perform a clean boot: I have removed almost all the apps and turned off all the non Microsoft/Windows start up apps and I still have this issue
- Made sure and kept up to date on my Windows 10 20H2: Still no fix

I can't think of anything else I can do to fix and mitigate this problem short of somehow reverting back to either W10 1909 or downgrading to W10 20H1 I have no idea how to fix this issue. The slow speeds are almost all cured by the faster M.2 SSD I purchased however now the Screenshot tool only works for the first 5 minutes or so that my PC is on and the Search bar still doesn't work.

For those wondering here are my PC specs:
- Intel i7-7700k Unleashed
- NVidia Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070
- MSI B250 PC Mate
- Seagate 2TB HDD
- Samsung 2TB SSD
- Samsung 250GB M.2 SSD
- 32 GB Ram 4x 8GB

If anyone is able to help fix this issue of mine I would be greatly appreciative. I've tried almost everything I can possibly think of and researched a bunch of similar but not quite the same threads/questions but they all seem to offer the same vague "run sfc/scannow then DISM" advice that repeatedly hasn't worked in my case.

*Also bizarre side note, as of writing this post my C: usage has dropped to almost 0% despite doing absolutely nothing. I'm sure though after restarting my PC is will jump up to the normal rate is was at previously

:)

 

System and compressed memory high disk usage

Hi Robert,

As you are facing issues with high system and compressed memory on your device we will help you with this issue.

Provide us additional information to assist you better with this issue:

• What is the make and model of your device?
• What is the complete error message with respect to the memory when you are trying to access games?

This issue might have occurred due to applications or services running at the startup on the computer. Bad sectors on the hard drive or outdated and incompatible drivers might also cause such issues.

I suggest you to refer to the below post check if your issue matches with the same.

If so, I recommend you to try the troubleshooting steps suggested by Amarjeet Paul
and check if it helps.

System and compressed memory high disk usage during file
copy

Hope it helps. Get back to us with an updated status of this issue for further assistance.

 

taskhostw tying to access your WebCam?!

I did a search for taskhostw exe and found the following:





That's a lot of 'em!

 

External Hard disk contents are not visible.

Hi Pranoti,

For us to narrow down your concern with your external hard disk, we would like to know the following:

• Were there any changes made on your computer prior to the issue (e.g., updates, software installation)?
• To make sure that we have not missed on anything, what troubleshooting steps have you done so far?
• Do you hear any clicking sound when connecting your hard disk?

In the meantime, we suggest that you update all your device driver.

We look forward to your response.