There are numerous reports on Rediit and other Windows forms about ntoskrnl.exe high cpu usage. These extensive RAM and CPU processes often lead them to have experienced BSODs or Blue Screen of Death issue.
If you are dealing with the high CPU usage brought up by ntoskrnl.exe and related file and/or experiencing ntoskrnl.exe BSOD error, this article is for you. It gives you some reasons why the .exe file is consuming a lot of memory space and provides possible remedies of this.
Brief discussion on Ntoskrnl.exe
Ntoskrnl.exe or Windows NT operating system kernel or kernel image is a system application file within Windows responsible that provides kernel and executable layers of the Widows IT kernel space. It associates with various system services such as hardware virtualization, process and memory management.
When certain task is loaded to RAM (the memory) along with the program that execute this task, the CPU decodes it and executes the task and records the results which are later on recorded by the loader program. The execution file has the access to several devices that involve there that include the GPU, CPU, Disk Space, Network devices and so on.
Condition when you receive ntoskrnl.exe bsod error
The obvious question here arises that if ntoskrnl.exe file is there to manage the memory, why there often a case of high memory and a whole lot of CPU consumption? Here are the possible reasons why this occurs:
New compressed memory on Windows 10 – if you read the Microsoft statement on the release of Windows 10 build 10525, the company says, we have added a new concept in the memory manager called a compression store which is actually an in-memory collection of compressed pages.
With that, the memory manager feels more pressure. It will then compress the unusual pages instead of writing them onto the disk as a result of this the amount of memory uses per process would reduce. This allows Windows 10 to maintain more applications in the physical memory at a time.
Thus, the more pages you open, the memory will be used. This in turn leads to the CPU usage high. The large memory usage can be mistaken as a memory leak, which could be a case with ntoskrnl.exe high cpu usage and ntoskrnl.exe bsod error as a result.
Bad or outdated device drivers – ntoskrnl.exe requires communicating to and from devices like network cards, keyboards and graphic cards to send and receive the data from device drivers. Those received data are then written to the RAM and await execution.
If the drivers are faulty, this continuous process would get affected that might result in memory leak. The bad drivers might also writing up the data in the memory space and filling the RAM. This issue is common with the users who have recently upgrade their Windows as in this case often the drivers are not compatible with the updated versions .
Malware and viruses – Another reason for ntoskrnl.exe high cpu usage or ntoskrnl.exe bsod error is system infection with malware. Various freeware or shareware distributions might embed with the ntoskrnl.exe system file or disturb its functionality.
They might even alter the registry of the executable and thus the exe file will no longer work as expected. Since it is continually causing harm, due to which streaming in out to the RAM is possible but not outing. The virus may also be actively writing into the memory space owned by ntoskrnl.exe resulting lot of CPU usage and ntoskrnl.exe bsod error.
Corrupt ntoskrnl.exe system file – Ntoskrnl.exe is a well-protected system file and does not corrupt in usual case. However, when it gets corrupt, it will start mal-function – just do not understand what to and when to write into the RAM and when to out-free the memory space. This might lead up into pilling up of unnecessary memory data leaving the CPU usage high.
Possible fixes for ntoskrnl.exe high cpu usage
Automatic PC fixes
Download and install automatic PC Repair Tool that will check the system for corrupt and missing files and provide their automatic repair. This tool is also helpful when if any system based issues such as BSODs, exe errors, DLLs errors, registry errors and virus infections are causing the problematic. Here is its direct downloading link.
Fix 1: update the drivers
It is noteworthy that Windows update often results in certain device drivers’ incompatibility and many problems as a result of this. If you did a recent Windows upgrade, must ensure if you have updated device drivers. Outdated drivers could be the reason for ntoskrnl.exe bsod error you are facing:
- Press Win+ R, type in hdwwiz.cpl and hit Enter,
- Go to the Drivers tab and select Update Drivers option therein,
- Select the automatic option to find and install updated drivers from the internet,
- Restart the device when done and check then to ensure if the problem is fixed.
You can use automatic driver updating tool to download/ install the update device drivers within your system. There are many driver updating tools you can download from the internet. Here is the link for one such tool is provided for you just for reference.
Fix 2: Run system scan using powerful antivirus
It is good practice to have malware-free system. If any malware installed inside is causing the ntoskrnl.exe high cpu usage, you will get a direct fix for the issue with that. Choose a reliable antivirus tool for the purpose to get the best result.
Fix 3: Disable Runtime Broker
Many Reddit users dealing with ntoskrnl.exe bsod error suggest that Runtime Broker is one system process that often consumes the large amount of CPU cycles because of poor memory optimization. You can disable the Runtime Broker with the below steps:
- Go to the Start menu and open Settings,
- Click on System and select Notifications and Actions,
- De-select the option Show me tips about Windows or Get tips tricks and suggestions as you use Windows,
- Finally, restart the device
Alternatively;
- Open Notepad and copy and paste the below keys into it:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\TimeBroker] “Start”=dword:00000003
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\SysMain] “DisplayName”=”Superfetch” “Start”=dword:00000003
- Now, go to the file and click on Save as,
- Save it as whatever_name_you_want.reg,
- Run the file the then as administrator and accept/confirm the registry changes,
- Restart the PC and check if this makes any changes.
Fix 4: Change the Registry Settings
Here are certain changes in the registry settings that you should perform when receiving ntoskrnl.exe high cpu usage issue and want to get a better performance from your PC:
- Press Win+ R, type in regedit and hit Enter,
- Navigate to the below address:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SYSTEM>CurrentControlSet>Control>Session Manager>Memory Management
- Double-click on Clear Page File Shutdown registry and change the Value data to 1,
- Click OK to confirm and restart the device so as the changes took place.
Conclusion
That’s all! This article provides you every possible details why you are seeing the constant raise of your ntoskrnl.exe CPU usage and receiving ntoskrnl.exe bsod error. It also deals with various possible solutions that you should try with in this case to get the matter solved. Hopefully, these methods help you in getting the fix.
