High CPU usage for vmmem

Steve Lo 110

Hi,

I have experienced high CPU usage for Vmmem frequently (~every 2days) and the only solution at the moment is simply restart my machine.

It is understood that is related to WSL and I do have a Docker image running on Ubuntu on Windows. However it is not really responding for Ubuntu and Docker (see below) and CPU usage is still that high even I manually close Docker Desktop and run cmd wsl --shutdown.

It's really disruptive for me and any opinion would be appreciated.

Cheers

Steve

User's image

Kesims 45 Reputation points

2023-05-10T15:20:48.76+00:00

Hello, I can confirm the issue! Also running WSL2 with Docker, exactly the same issue. Sometimes the WSL just bugs and uses 100% of my cpu, making the computer basically unusable. Only restart of the whole system helps, I have not figured out a way to restart just the vmmem thing... I have a limit on memory for WSL, but while putting a limit on processors could treat the symptoms, it is definitely not going to fix the root issue.

Also from my experience, when this bug occures, things using WSL (Docker) stop working. It is really annoying and if programs such as Adobe or Fusion 360 did not held me on Windows, I would already happily move to Linux full time - now I am running dual boot and crying every time I have to use Windows...
Jiri Hajek 20 Reputation points

2023-05-26T14:34:51.1166667+00:00

The very same issue here. I also use WSL2, but the issue happens sometimes even if I haven't used WSL since reboot! The closest to WSL I have used is VSCode with WSL Extension, but this one was only loaded by VSCode, not actively used.

CPU usage spikes to 100% for no apparent reason, the last time when browsing in Chrome.
M$_Sucks 30 Reputation points

2023-05-30T13:41:18.4466667+00:00

Same here. What really helps is to reinstall wsl, which can be a very painful solution. Especially, if you have carefully tuned up your setups on your wsl.
Jasso Miroslav 10 Reputation points

2023-06-26T09:17:20.2166667+00:00

Same issue here. It stared after some of the last Windows updates. About 2 weeks ago. The only one solution is to restart my computer. It is really annoying, because it happens every 2-3 days.
Tim W 35 Reputation points

2023-06-28T09:56:58.1+00:00

I have this problem as well, having installed Docker and WSL2 a few days ago to test some docker containers, I now find my CPU usage for vmmem stuck on 49%, dragging down laptop performance, even though I have no containers running. Stopping all the services for linux processes seems to clear this, but is not an ideal solution.
Mike G 0 Reputation points

2023-06-28T21:42:25.8866667+00:00

In trying to resolve this issue the wsl --shutdown command never completed. I had to reboot to temporarily resolve it. I have experienced this a couple times before and atm expect to have to reboot to resolve. Please help.

Windows 11; WSL2; Docker for Windows with WSL integration for use with VS Code
Daniel 11 Reputation points

2023-07-12T19:17:08.38+00:00

I have also been having this problem for weeks now. I also use Docker and WSL2. Everything everyone says here is exactly what I'm experiencing, and it only started fairly recently (last month or two, not exactly sure when but it's recent).

I've also been rebooting to resolve this, but I just tried to "End Task" the Windows Subsystem for Linux process as someone WFarmer suggested int he answers section, and it dropped the CPU from 100% down to about 5%, so I can at least confirm that workaround works without having to completely reboot. It's still very disruptive though since I regularly use WSL2 for development and this has caused some issues there more than once, including loss of active work.

Please fix this, Microsoft!
1gor 0 Reputation points

2023-11-04T08:49:57.1333333+00:00

Hi there!

Guys, all of you have Intel CPU or Ryzen?
Please link your CPU in comments to understand is this CPU problem.
I have hybrid CPU intel 12500H.
PLEUN SAARLOOS 0 Reputation points

2024-02-16T10:05:56.57+00:00

I had the exact same problem on my laptop.
I solved it by removing the charger and now I can run wsl and docker as normal. I hope someone smarter finds a better solution.
Alex Herlan 0 Reputation points

2024-03-27T03:08:43.76+00:00

I am having the same issue. AMD Ryzen 5900 series CPU, 32gbs DDR4, Windows 11 64bit. Running Docker. Only started occuring after this most recent Windows Update. :-. Anything to do with WSL, virtualization, etc. Has been a huge pain to deal with on Windows 11. I am not a happy customer at all.
Myles Prather 5 Reputation points

2024-05-03T15:48:12.9466667+00:00

I can't use WSL anymore because of this bug. If Windows 11 is the solution (is it?), it won't work for me on my corp laptop (which I can barely install WSL on; long story). I just use Cygwin now. Less than ideal, but the only game in town (my IT won't let us install VirtualBox, etc).
CarlosMiguelGarcaAparici-0194 5 Reputation points

2024-09-26T09:15:11.2633333+00:00

Same problem in 2024. As I dont really need for work, Uninstalling WSL solved my random 100% CPU problem.
Leszek Pietrzak 6 Reputation points

2024-09-26T13:52:09.7333333+00:00

2024/09 and still I can confirm the issue! Also running WSL2 with Docker, exactly the same issue.

17 answers

Stéphane Tremblay 0 Reputation points

2024-04-04T18:43:04.1866667+00:00

I am getting this issue as well where VMmemwsl starts progressively using more and more CPU until it reaches 100% all while doing nothing in my WSL Ubuntu.

However, I noticed this only happens when I am connected to our corporate Citrix Secure Access VPN, in which case I cannot access the internet. As soon as I disconnect from the VPN, CPU usage drops back down to normal.

All of you who had the CPU spike issue, can you all please check if networking or internet access from WSL has anything to do with the spike?

I hope this helps.
Please sign in to rate this answer.
Samia, Michel 0 Reputation points

2024-05-06T09:15:18.1866667+00:00

I disconected from VPN and it didn't help. If I run 'top' in the ubuntu, I see that 100% CPU is taken by the init process. Which is weird as I switched to systemd via a config change. wsl --shutdown helped.
Sign in to comment

Use comments to ask for clarification, additional information, or improvements to the question.
Gagnon, Dominic 0 Reputation points

2024-09-16T19:35:31.3633333+00:00

Hi,

I get this problem a lot; I have some information to share about this to help and I found a workaround: if you put your computer in hibernation and turn it on right after, depending on your root cause, Vmmem will drop near 0% of CPU usage where nothing running was killed in the process.

I've linked the issue (for my part) to VS Code which (and this is documented to be intended this way) will take one core for the autocomplete feature which, when needed, will take 100% usage of this core. The problem is that running VS Code in Windows attached to WSL to work on a project under WSL's Ubuntu (in my case) will take one core in WSL to do its autocomplete job and it seems that WSL will let the related processes go over 100% CPU (wonder how this is possible) blocking all other process from running smoothly and impairing Windows to access WSL in any means. Once back from hibernation, the CPU usage drop, Windows is able to access the Linux subsystem again and everything goes back to normal.

I don't understand why Linux processes can go over 100% (as seen with the top command) but I suspects that, under WSL the PC's cores are used as a single core under Linux and thus used entirely by VS Code's auto-complete processes.

Here is a capture of one of the problematic processes as displayed by top before loosing the connection to the Linux subsystem:

1833 user 20 0 1328476 107192 44936 S 124.7 0.3 214:56.97 /home/user/.vscode-server/bin/fee1edb8d6d72a0ddff41e5f71a671c23ed924b9/node

Where 124.7 is in top's %CPU column.
Please sign in to rate this answer.
Samia, Michel 0 Reputation points

2024-09-17T08:25:30.1+00:00

Thanks for your comment. The >100% is nothing unexpected. 100% means all processor time of one core. So if you fully utilize 8 cores by one process (by using threads), you will see 800% utilization in top. If I have some spare time, I may test your workaround... Ragarding the root cause, I don't use VS Code and I get the issue as well. Simply by enabling systemd and running anything - bash is enough to get the trouble (Ubuntu 22.04).

Note: I have docker service installed (may be a co-factor to cause it?)

WSL version: 2.0.14.0

Kernel version: 5.15.133.1-1

WSLg version: 1.0.59

MSRDC version: 1.2.4677

Direct3D version: 1.611.1-81528511

DXCore version: 10.0.25131.1002-220531-1700.rs-onecore-base2-hyp

Windows version: 10.0.22621.4169
Sign in to comment

Use comments to ask for clarification, additional information, or improvements to the question.

Share via

High CPU usage for vmmem

17 answers

Your answer