Fix: High CPU usage by Settings app search on Windows Server

If you are on Windows Server 2016 and facing high CPU usage while searching via Settings app, this article is for you. We all know that Microsoft has imported many system settings from Control Panel to the new Settings app. If Settings app is not working, it becomes very difficult for you to manage the system. Although, in Windows Server, you mostly have to manage server settings via Server Manager. But still if you want to configure something at system level, you need to use Settings app. Recently, we faced high CPU usage by Settings app search on Windows Server 2016 machine in our lab.

In this case, when we searched for something in Settings app, it was showing loading animation. The search result was thrown after a big delay. In the meantime, we observed that CPU usage increased to very high level. As soon as we quit Settings app, CPU usage was lowered down. In these series of events, we concluded that whenever we used search inside Settings app, CPU usage increases significantly. If you are also facing this problem on your server, here’s how to fix.

Fix: High CPU usage by Settings app search on Windows Server

Actually, this has been a known issue on Windows Server 2016 only. If you are on Windows Server 2019, you may not face this problem. So what it is actually which causes this problem on Windows Server 2016? Well, it is Windows Search service, the reason behind this problem. According to Microsoft, Windows Search Service is disabled on Server 2016, by default. When you search via Settings app, the app submits query to disabled service. This results in scanning all the content inside Settings app locale folder. Eventually, this results in high CPU usage on system.

To resolve it, you can try these fixes:

FIX 1 – Enable Windows Search service

1. Open Services snap-in by running services.msc command.

2. In Services window, scroll down and locate Windows Search service and right click on it, select Properties.

3. In the property sheet, set the Startup type to Automatic. Then click on Start to run the service. Click Apply, OK.

Close Services snap-in. Now if you search inside the Settings app, you will no longer face high CPU usage issue again.

FIX 2 – Using Group Policy

1. Open Group Policy Editor.

2. Go to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Search.

3. In the right pane, locate Default excluded paths. Double click on it and set it to Enabled. Under Options, click Show next to Default Excluded Paths. Under Show Contents, type C:\Users. Since C:\Users is always indexed, we can exclude it resolve high CPU usage problem.

4. Next, locate Default indexed paths policy settings at same location. Enable that policy as well and configure it to index this path essentially:

C:\Users\*\AppData\Local\Packages\windows.immersivecontrolpanel_cw5n1h2txyewy

Once done, close GP Editor and reboot the system to make changes effective.

Hope this helps!

Read next: Configure LDAP Signing In Windows Server.