windows 10 100% disk usage

[emosun]

One of the reasons I opted out of upgrading to windows 10 was the sheer amount of system usage the os has while seemingly doing absolutely nothing.

I have an offline machine I'm using for testing out some hardware and when the machine first boots and gets to the desktop the system disk goes to 100% usage and stays there for around 10 minutes. The computer couldn't possibly be doing anything as it isn't connected to the internet. It can't be scanning for anything as that would be pretty silly for it to be scanning the system disk every restart. So what is it doing? The processes using the disk cannot be ended as windows forbids it without turning off the machine. it's just , so odd. None of my other OS's do this (windows 7 ,  xp , 9x) especially when there is no internet access.

I do remember once walking through a bestbuy looking at windows 10 laptops just so I could at least try windows 10 as up to that point I'd never bothered to even look at it , and also found a laptop that had 100% disk usage and over 50% cpu usage at all times while seemingly just sitting on the desktop. I'm assuming the system is using so many resources to attempt to torrent updates to other machines or attempting to send file system and telemetry data?

also an unrelated issue but I figure i'd add it , I set cortana to be off as the system isn't using internet access anyway , however it's still running in the task manager and ending it simply just restarts itself.

[GanstaKingofSA]

I have seen this issue before on mine. Either it's the system trying to read some type of file or multiple or it may be that the drive might be dying. I had a WD Black Laptop drive and I thought what the heck is windows doing to it until I noticed on CrystalDisk that it was failing.

[vanished]

I can't explain what it's doing but I can tell you that that is in no way the normal state for a Windows 10 machine.  Mine idles just fine, same as every other version.  If this was common, literally no one would use it since obviously giving up half or more of your system resources to mystery processes would not be acceptable in any environment.

[WkdPaul]

Common 100% disk usage problems are either Windows Update, Windows Defender or Windows 10 notifications (I know, weird).

 

To disable the notifications (if it's not the culprit, then it's a start at least) :

In the Settings app,

System > Notifications and Actions

 

Then disable "Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows"

Edited September 19, 2017 by wkdpaul

[Sage_Masters]

Mine laptop an hp recently updated to windows 10 for work purposes I seen sometimes the disk hits 100% however it just does it when the computer starts up, so when something at startup is causing the problem you can try going into safe mode and see if the disk hits 100%

[emosun]

2 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

I can't explain what it's doing but I can tell you that that is in no way the normal state for a Windows 10 machine.  Mine idles just fine, same as every other version.  If this was common, literally no one would use it since obviously giving up half or more of your system resources to mystery processes would not be acceptable in any environment.

I agree that's just one reason why I (and the world) opted out. But it would still be fun to track down what's it's attempting to do. I imagine most people don't have offline machine they are able to test with.

[emosun]

1 minute ago, Sage_Masters said:

Mine laptop an hp recently updated to windows 10 for work purposes I seen sometimes the disk hits 100% however it just does it when the computer starts up, so when something at startup is causing the problem you can try going into safe mode and see if the disk hits 100%

I'd love to but microsoft thought it would be funny if some machine simply didnt have a manual option to enter safe mode on startup. Apparently it can only be done via 3 failed startup attempts which is just horrible. 

[Daniel644]

I had this on my desktop till I switched to an SSD drive

[WkdPaul]

1 minute ago, emosun said:

I'd love to but microsoft thought it would be funny if some machine simply didnt have a manual option to enter safe mode on startup. Apparently it can only be done via 3 failed startup attempts which is just horrible. 

Wrong, simply use the advance restart startup functions, it's all there.

 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026206/windows-get-to-safe-mode-and-other-startup-settings-in-windows-10

Edited September 19, 2017 by wkdpaul

[Sage_Masters]

1 minute ago, wkdpaul said:

Wrong, simply use the advance restart functions, it's all there.

Yes correct lol was going to say same thing

[Sage_Masters]

4 minutes ago, Daniel644 said:

I had this on my desktop till I switched to an SSD drive

Mybe windows 10 has problems with older hdd?? 

[emosun]

1 minute ago, wkdpaul said:

Wrong, simply use the advance restart functions, it's all there.

 

3 minutes ago, emosun said:

if some machine simply didnt have a manual option

again , some machines don't have that option and cannot access that menu at all. I'm aware on older windows version you can simply tap the f keys to get safe mode options. 

[emosun]

6 minutes ago, Daniel644 said:

I had this on my desktop till I switched to an SSD drive

well I'd agree however 10 uses no more ram than 8 or 7 so as soon as the ram is loaded then the disk shouldnt need 100% access. 7 loads and idles on the drive just fine. 

[Froody129]

On my PC i found Command Center to nearly max out my SSD, perhaps it's that?

[WkdPaul]

41 minutes ago, emosun said:

again , some machines don't have that option and cannot access that menu at all. I'm aware on older windows version you can simply tap the f keys to get safe mode options. 

what??

 

I edited my reply to add a link, FYI, ALL Windows have a safe boot option, for Windows 8 & 10 it's simply not at boot time, it's now in the settings and is activated through a restart.

 

You said getting into safe mode with Windows 10 could only be done with 3 failed boot attempt, which isn't true;

47 minutes ago, emosun said:

Apparently it can only be done via 3 failed startup attempts which is just horrible. 

 

Again, check the link in my previous reply (I edited it but not before you quoted me). Or you can look at that other link (there's no need for any failed startup) ;

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2294-boot-advanced-startup-options-windows-10-a.html

[emosun]

5 minutes ago, wkdpaul said:

46 minutes ago, emosun said:

again , some machines don't have that option and cannot access that menu at all. I'm aware on older windows version you can simply tap the f keys to get safe mode options. 

what??

 

I edited my reply to add a link, FYI, ALL Windows have a safe boot option, for Windows 8 & 10 it's simply not at boot time, it's now in the settings and is activated through a restart.

 

You said getting into safe mode with Windows 10 could only be done with 3 failed boot attempt, which isn't true;

52 minutes ago, emosun said:

Apparently it can only be done via 3 failed startup attempts which is just horrible. 

 

Again, check the link in my previous reply (I edited it but not before you quoted me). Or you can look at that other link (there's no need for any failed startup) ;

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2294-boot-advanced-startup-options-windows-10-a.html

if you're here to argue about specific wording then don't bother replying.

I said for machines that don't have a manual option. if windows won't boot and you don't have a manual option then yea , 3 failed attempts is how it has to be done.

not that I care becuase it has nothing at all to do with the topic so stop replying if you're just here to argue and start conflict.

[WkdPaul]

27 minutes ago, emosun said:

if you're here to argue about specific wording then don't bother replying.

I said for machines that don't have a manual option. if windows won't boot and you don't have a manual option then yea , 3 failed attempts is how it has to be done.

not that I care becuase it has nothing at all to do with the topic so stop replying if you're just here to argue and start conflict.

No need to get angry, the way you worded your reply was confusing to me. Now that you explained, I totally agree with what you wrote (and BTW, you're the one that brought up the fact that the only way to access safe boot was the failed boots, I only pointed out that it's not the only way).

 

Plus all my replies were to point out that you could try what @Sage_Masters suggested (your reply to him seemed to indicate you couldn't).

 

 

So, TLDR ; simply trying to help, did you try safe mode and disabling the notifications like I suggested?