Svchost.exe using 100% of CPU after installing MS Office 2010 SP2 Update

[Joadix100]

I reinstalled Windows Twice and office too since i switched to an SSD, and after installing SP2 for microsoft office 2010 the cpu goes to 100% usage and windows update is stuck at searching for updates, system restore works and solves the problem but i would like to have the SP2 installed.

it happens like this, the update is installed and seconds after the CPU goes to 100% and stays there forever, after 2 hours it is still at 100% and it does not go down to 99% or less never, after restarting the machine it works normally for a minute or so and then it goes to 100% CPU usage, i noticed this only happens if both IE9 and MS Office SP2 are installed at the same time, if i have the SP2 installed but IE8 for example, the problem does not happen.

I tried installing the SP2 manually using the executable provided by microsoft in their website but i got the same results, i am actually running Vista SP2 with Server 2008 Updates but WITHOUT the Extended Kernel (by now).

Restarting the WUAUSERV Service only restarts the process and after 1 minute of it restarting, Svchost.exe takes off.

I need both Office 2010 and IE9 so uninstalling one of them is not an option, i can use office without the SP2 but as i said, i would rather not to without it.

Forgive my grammar, i´m a spanish speaker.

 

[lmacri]

Hi Joadix100:

Did you activate your Vista OS and patch your Vista SP2 OS to end of support (11-Apr-2017) before you started applying Win Server 2008 updates? Microsoft deactivated the Windows Update servers in August on 03-Aug-2020 but see my 18-Feb-2022 post # 9 in skeezix's WinVista HomePremium-X86 (SP1) Reinstallation Question about SIW2's instructions for using the DISM++ utility to patch a clean Vista SP2 reinstall back to end of support.

If svchost.exe is consuming high amounts of CPU then disable automatic Windows Updates [Windows Update | Change settings | Important updates | Never check for updates (not recommended)] and re-boot to terminate any Windows Update sessions currently running in the background on your system. If that stops your high CPU consumption see my 20-May-2016 images in post # 6 of Kayla77's Processes in Task Manager During Updates about how I used Process Explorer to show that Windows Update service (wuauserv) that runs under the svchost.exe process was saturating an entire CPU core (i.e., 100% CPU activity for a single core CPU, 50% CPU activity for a dual-core CPU) during the during the "Checking for updates..." phase on my Vista SP2 machine before it was fully patched to 11-Apr-2017. I assumed that this high CPU consumption would stop on unpatched Vista SP2 machines once Microsoft deactivated the Windows Update servers on 03-Aug-2020 (i.e., once Windows Update checks began terminating with error messages like the ones shown in the Aug 2020 Microsoft support article Windows Update SHA-1 Based Endpoints Discontinued for Older Windows Devices) but perhaps that problem has returned on your machine.
----------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 256 GB WD SATA HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
-----------
Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1766 * Firefox v102.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2205.7-1.1.19300.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.10.200-1.0.1709

 

[Joadix100]

Hi Joadix100:

Did you activate your Vista OS and patch your Vista SP2 OS to end of support (11-Apr-2017) before you started applying Win Server 2008 updates? Microsoft deactivated the Windows Update servers in August on 03-Aug-2020 but see my 18-Feb-2022 post # 9 in skeezix's WinVista HomePremium-X86 (SP1) Reinstallation Question about SIW2's instructions for using the DISM++ utility to patch a clean Vista SP2 reinstall back to end of support.

If svchost.exe is consuming high amounts of CPU then disable automatic Windows Updates [Windows Update | Change settings | Important updates | Never check for updates (not recommended)] and re-boot to terminate any Windows Update sessions currently running in the background on your system. If that stops your high CPU consumption see my 20-May-2016 images in post # 6 of Kayla77's Processes in Task Manager During Updates about how I used Process Explorer to show that Windows Update service (wuauserv) that runs under the svchost.exe process was saturating an entire CPU core (i.e., 100% CPU activity for a single core CPU, 50% CPU activity for a dual-core CPU) during the during the "Checking for updates..." phase on my Vista SP2 machine before it was fully patched to 11-Apr-2017. I assumed that this high CPU consumption would stop on unpatched Vista SP2 machines once Microsoft deactivated the Windows Update servers on 03-Aug-2020 (i.e., once Windows Update checks began terminating with error messages like the ones shown in the Aug 2020 Microsoft support article Windows Update SHA-1 Based Endpoints Discontinued for Older Windows Devices) but perhaps that problem has returned on your machine.
----------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 256 GB WD SATA HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
-----------
Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1766 * Firefox v102.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2205.7-1.1.19300.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.10.200-1.0.1709

i have the i430vx patch thtat makes windows update work again, i fully patched Vista untill 2017 and office 2010 updates also installed with those updates, after i install SP2 for office svchost.exe goes to 100% CPU usage, i know i can disable windows update but i would rather find a fix because my previous installation had office 2010 and the problem was not there, but now that i reinstalled Windows Vista 3 times, got the same problem all 3 times.

 

[lmacri]

Hi joadix100:

My Vista SP2 OS is fully patched to 11-Apr-2017 and I installed the five emergency out-of-band updates described in the MS Answers article More Shadow Brokers Exploits Patched June 2017 for Win XP and Vista, but I've never installed Win 2008 server updates or the extended kernel on my Vista SP2 system so I'm afraid I won't be of much help to you. I've also never tried to upgrade the original 256 GB Western Digital SATA HDD in that machine to a SSD, and I'm not even sure the old BIOS in my machine would fully support an SSDs [see the 2010 PCWorld article How to Upgrade Your Laptop’s Hard Drive to an SSD about installing SSDs in Vista computers and AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) vs IDE mode for BIOS storage access].

I have MS Office 2003 Professional SP3 installed on my old Vista SP2 machine that is patched to end of support, but I recall that MS Office 2007, MS Office 2010 and/or the MS Office Compatibility Pack SP3 (an add-on that allows older MS Office products like MS Office 2000/2003/2007 to work with files with newer Open XML formats like .docx, .xlsx, etc.) would cause the same high CPU consumption until those MS Office products were patched to end of support (see Note 5 in the footnotes of the 16-Jun-2017 post marked as the solution for m#l's Updates not working, it has been searching for updates for hours in the MS Answers Vista board). I don't know the KB numbers for the final Excel 2010 and Word 2010 security updates that were released around the time that MS Office 2010 reached its official end of support in October 2020 but if your MS Office 2010 installation is missing patches then perhaps that's also part of the problem.
----------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365 * MS Office 2003 Professional SP3
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 256 GB WD SATA HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
-----------
Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1766 * Firefox v102.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2205.7-1.1.19300.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.10.200-1.0.1709 * MS Office 2019 Home and Business Version 2205 (Build 15225.20288 Click-to-Run)

 

[Vistaar]

...i noticed this only happens if both IE9 and MS Office SP2 are installed at the same time, if i have the SP2 installed but IE8 for example, the problem does not happen.

After installing both IE9 and Office 2010 SP2 (and restarting if needed), I would try manually installing (with Windows Update still disabled) KB4507434, which is a cumulative update for IE9 from July 2019. That would save Windows Update from having to look at 8 years of IE9 updates. (If you have installed SHA-2 support, then you could use an even newer IE9 patch.) There are probably specific updates for 2010 SP2 that would speed up searching for updates if they were manually installed first, but I do not know which to suggest.

If that doesn’t allow searching for updates to complete within a few hours, then maybe try installing only 2010 SP2, updating it, and installing IE9 only later. However, I think Outlook 2010 relies on Internet Explorer to some extent, so Outlook might not install or update correctly if IE is too primitive.

 

[lmacri]

after i install SP2 for office svchost.exe goes to 100% CPU usage, i know i can disable windows update but i would rather find a fix

Hi Joadix100:

If you don't want to run any tests it will be difficult to diagnose and fix the cause of your high CPU.

If you turn off automatic Windows Updates [Windows Update | Change settings | Important updates | Never check for updates (not recommended)] and re-boot and your high CPU stops then that confirms that Windows Update is the cause of the problem. If you want to turn automatic Windows Updates back on after your test (which I would advise against now that Vista SP2 has reached end of support and Microsoft has deactivated the Windows Update servers for Win XP and Vista) then you can do that, but you can still run manual Windows Update checks [Windows Update | Check for updates] any time you wish even if your background automatic update checks are disabled.

Did you use Process Explorer as instructed in post # 6 of Kayla77's Processes in Task Manager During Updates to try and isolate the thread causing your high CPU? The image below shows high CPU caused by the Windows Update service (wuauserv) running under scvhost.exe (Windows' generic host process for services that run from .DLL dynamic link libraries) but you might find that a different process (.exe executable) or service is causing your high CPU. As long as your high CPU lasts for more than 30 seconds you should be able to use Process Explorer to find the name of the process or service causing your problem. If you aren't familiar with Process Explorer then How-To Geek has posted tutorials for all the Microsoft Sysinternals tools, including Process Explorer (Lessons 2 and 3) at What Are the SysInternals Tools and How Do You Use Them?.



If Windows Update appears to be the cause of your high CPU then check the version number of your Windows Update Agent (WUA) at C:\Windows\system32\wuaueng.dll. My "plain" Vista SP2 OS (patched to end of support on 11-Apr-2017 without any Win Server 2008 updates) has wuaueng.dll v7.6.7600.256 (released June 2012).
----------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365 * MS Office 2003 Professional SP3
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 256 GB WD SATA HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
-----------
Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1766 * Firefox v102.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2205.7-1.1.19300.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.10.200-1.0.1709 * MS Office 2019 Home and Business Version 2205 (Build 15225.20288 Click-to-Run)

 

[Joadix100]

Hi Joadix100:

If you don't want to run any tests it will be difficult to diagnose and fix the cause of your high CPU.

If you turn off automatic Windows Updates [Windows Update | Change settings | Important updates | Never check for updates (not recommended)] and re-boot and your high CPU stops then that confirms that Windows Update is the cause of the problem. If you want to turn automatic Windows Updates back on after your test (which I would advise against now that Vista SP2 has reached end of support and Microsoft has deactivated the Windows Update servers for Win XP and Vista) then you can do that, but you can still run manual Windows Update checks [Windows Update | Check for updates] any time you wish even if your background automatic update checks are disabled.

Did you use Process Explorer as instructed in post # 6 of Kayla77's Processes in Task Manager During Updates to try and isolate the thread causing your high CPU? The image below shows high CPU caused by the Windows Update service (wuauserv) running under scvhost.exe (Windows' generic host process for services that run from .DLL dynamic link libraries) but you might find that a different process (.exe executable) or service is causing your high CPU. As long as your high CPU lasts for more than 30 seconds you should be able to use Process Explorer to find the name of the process or service causing your problem. If you aren't familiar with Process Explorer then How-To Geek has posted tutorials for all the Microsoft Sysinternals tools, including Process Explorer (Lessons 2 and 3) at What Are the SysInternals Tools and How Do You Use Them?.

View attachment 31069

If Windows Update appears to be the cause of your high CPU then check the version number of your Windows Update Agent (WUA) at C:\Windows\system32\wuaueng.dll. My "plain" Vista SP2 OS (patched to end of support on 11-Apr-2017 without any Win Server 2008 updates) has wuaueng.dll v7.6.7600.256 (released June 2012).
----------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365 * MS Office 2003 Professional SP3
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 256 GB WD SATA HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
-----------
Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1766 * Firefox v102.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2205.7-1.1.19300.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.10.200-1.0.1709 * MS Office 2019 Home and Business Version 2205 (Build 15225.20288 Click-to-Run)

i cant find a version of Process Explorer that works on vista since the latest version in the official microsoft webpage is only for Windows 8 or avobe, but as i told you when i stop the Windows Update service, Svchost.exe calms down, and i forgot to tell you that svchost.exe does not start consuming all cpu when i look for updates, it starts automatically 1 minute or so after booting the machine and logging in

 

[Joadix100]

After installing both IE9 and Office 2010 SP2 (and restarting if needed), I would try manually installing (with Windows Update still disabled) KB4507434, which is a cumulative update for IE9 from July 2019. That would save Windows Update from having to look at 8 years of IE9 updates. (If you have installed SHA-2 support, then you could use an even newer IE9 patch.) There are probably specific updates for 2010 SP2 that would speed up searching for updates if they were manually installed first, but I do not know which to suggest.

If that doesn’t allow searching for updates to complete within a few hours, then maybe try installing only 2010 SP2, updating it, and installing IE9 only later. However, I think Outlook 2010 relies on Internet Explorer to some extent, so Outlook might not install or update correctly if IE is too primitive.

it is too late to uninstall IE9 since now im running the Extended Kernel and it requieres IE9 to work properly, i installed a newer version of the update you told me, the latest IE9 update that does not requiere Windows Installer 5 i think, Vista and Server 2008 only support 4.5, 7 and 2008 R2 support Win Inst 5.

About outlook, i dont use it for now, in fact i disabled it when i installed office, i only installed Word, Excel and Power Point, i use Windows Mail to recieve mail and it works fine, recently google droped support for non secure mail clients but only for personal accounts, i still use Windows Mail with my colege account and it still works. the only problem with windows mail is setting it up because it is not as intuitive as a normal web client or Mail for Windows 10.

And yes i am thinking about switching to Outlook (mail provider, not the program) for my personal account and Leave Gmail, but i dont know if Outlook has the "unsecure login" too or it is locked like google now.

 

[Vistaar]

...after installing SP2 for microsoft office 2010 the cpu goes to 100% usage and windows update is stuck at searching for updates...

An MSFN member running Windows XP and using a Windows Update hack appears to have reported the same issue in December 2020 in this post. Discussion continues on the next page of the thread, but no solution is suggested other than manually installing all updates for 2010 SP2. Looks like there were ~75 of them.

 

[Joadix100]

An MSFN member running Windows XP and using a Windows Update hack appears to have reported the same issue in December 2020 in this post. Discussion continues on the next page of the thread, but no solution is suggested other than manually installing all updates for 2010 SP2. Looks like there were ~75 of them.

i tried manually installing the SP2 but as i said it gives me the same problem, i have the other updates already installed, or at least all the updates that came out before SP2.

 

[lmacri]

i have the i430vx patch thtat makes windows update work again, i fully patched Vista untill 2017 and office 2010 updates also installed with those updates, after i install SP2 for office svchost.exe goes to 100% CPU usage, i know i can disable windows update but i would rather find a fix because my previous installation had office 2010 and the problem was not there, but now that i reinstalled Windows Vista 3 times, got the same problem all 3 times.

i cant find a version of Process Explorer that works on vista since the latest version in the official microsoft webpage is only for Windows 8 or avobe, but as i told you when i stop the Windows Update service, Svchost.exe calms down, and i forgot to tell you that svchost.exe does not start consuming all cpu when i look for updates, it starts automatically 1 minute or so after booting the machine and logging in

Hi joadix100:

If you disconnect from the internet or stop / disable your Windows Update service (wuauserv) at Control Panel | System and Maintenance | Administrative Tools | Services then you will not be able to run any Windows Updates checks, including a manual Windows Update [Windows Update | Check for Updates]. If you leave that Windows Update service running with its default Start Type [Automatic (Delayed Start)] and disable automatic Windows Update checks as I suggested [Windows Update | Change settings | Important updates | Never check for updates (not recommended)] and reboot do you still see your high CPU activity starting shortly after boot-up?

I've never applied the i430vx patch that uses an unauthorized WSUS server to host available updates, but if you followed all the instructions in the YouTube video at Update Windows 2000, XP and Vista the Easy Way: Using a WSUS Server! and your Windows Update is working again can you just confirm that it will search for and install available updates for MS Office 2010 as well as Windows Vista SP2? Can it also check for available updates for Win Server 2008, or do you have to apply those updates manually?

Do you have a 32-bit or 64-bit version of MS Office 2010, and is the Service Pack 2 (SP2) currently installed? Do you have a valid product key, and were you able to activate your MS Office 2010 installation after it was reinstalled? Gunter Born's Microsoft Office 2010: Can't Be Activated Anymore? suggests that activation has not been possible after a clean reinstall since July 2021.

If your update checks are able to search for available MS Office 2010 since the i430vx patch was applied I suspect your Windows Update will not be able to successfully install updates released between MS Office 2010 Service Pack 2 (July 2013) and end of support (officially October 2020, but some out-of-band security updates were released after this date) until you've manually applied the final batch of security updates released for each MS Office 2010 program. If you already have MS Office 2010 Service Pack 2 then manually install the following MS Word 2010 and MS Excel 2010 standalone .exe installers (both released 13-Apr-2021) and see if this decreases your high CPU.

For 32-bit MS Office 2010

• KB4493218 ( 32-bit MS Word 2010)
• KB3017810 (32-bit MS Excel 2010)

For 64-bit MS Office 2010

• KB4493218 ( 64-bit MS Word 2010)
• KB3017810 (64-bit MS Excel 2010)

___________________________________________

For future reference, I believe that Process Explorer v16.05 was the last version compatible with Win XP SP3, but I think the latest v16.32 currently posted on the official Microsoft Sysinternals Process Explorer page still runs correctly on Vista SP2 and Win 7 SP1 machines. Microsoft removed Vista SP2 and Win 7 SP1 from the list of compatible operating systems when they reached their end of support, but Process Explorer v16.32 should still launch on a Vista SP2 machine.
----------
32-bit Vista Home Premium SP2 * Firefox ESR v52.9.0 * Malwarebytes Premium v3.5.1.2522-1.0.365 * MS Office 2003 Professional SP3
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3 GB RAM, 256 GB WD SATA HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
-----------
Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v21H2 build 19044.1766 * Firefox v102.0.1 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.2205.7-1.1.19300.2 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.10.200-1.0.1709 * MS Office 2019 Home and Business Version 2205 (Build 15225.20288 Click-to-Run)

 

[Vistaar]

...For future reference, I believe that Process Explorer v16.05 was the last version compatible with Win XP SP3, but I think the latest v16.32 currently posted on the official Microsoft Sysinternals Process Explorer page still runs correctly on Vista SP2...

Your post has been discussed at MSFN. For future reference, the version currently posted at the official Microsoft page is 16.43, which does not support Vista. There was no reason to mention Win XP here, but FWIW your information is incorrect. For that matter, why are you recommending Process Explorer when it is already clear (at least to me) that the Windows Update service is responsible for the high CPU usage? The OP is not a native English speaker, so please try to modulate your writing habits.

 

[lmacri]

Hi Joadix100:

You haven't responded in a few days so I'll assume that manually installing the KB4493218 (MS Word 2010) and KB3017810 (MS Excel 2010) standalone .exe installers released in April 2021 (see post # 11 for download links) and re-booting didn't decrease your high CPU activity by svchost.exe.

Vistaar seems to know the cause of your high CPU activity and he knows much more about the extended Vista kernel, the i430vx patch, and installing Windows Server 2008 patches on Vista SP2 machines than I do, so I'll step out of this thread and let him explain how to fix your problem.

 

[Vistaar]

i tried manually installing the SP2 but as i said it gives me the same problem, i have the other updates already installed, or at least all the updates that came out before SP2.

You could install SP2 for Office 2010, then disable Windows Update to avoid the issue. In a recent post, i430VX’s opinion is that Windows Update would eventually find the remaining updates for Office 2010 SP2 if you leave it running long enough. I don’t know about that, but you could certainly install the updates manually if you want them. There is a thread at MSFN that I have no reason to study myself, Slipstreaming all MSO 2010 updates. Good luck!

 

[Joadix100]

You could install SP2 for Office 2010, then disable Windows Update to avoid the issue. In a recent post, i430VX’s opinion is that Windows Update would eventually find the remaining updates for Office 2010 SP2 if you leave it running long enough. I don’t know about that, but you could certainly install the updates manually if you want them. There is a thread at MSFN that I have no reason to study myself, Slipstreaming all MSO 2010 updates. Good luck!

i am currently building a new PC for gaming and streaming, so a powerful one, and i am going to install Windows 11 and Vista too, the only problems are the drivers for the GTX 1650 Super, i think the i3-9100F is compatible but i will see, maybe i try there, the CPU beeing way more powerfull that the one in my Vista laptop may help see if eventually the problem with Svchost solves itself.

 

[Vistaar]

Someone at MSFN says there is a solution for Office 2010 SP2 update issue. Can you confirm @Joadix100 ?
Fix Windows Update stuck on checking for updates on Vista (and XP, well kinda) after installing Office 2010 SP2

 

[Joadix100]

Someone at MSFN says there is a solution for Office 2010 SP2 update issue. Can you confirm @Joadix100 ?
Fix Windows Update stuck on checking for updates on Vista (and XP, well kinda) after installing Office 2010 SP2

i sort of solved it, it happened to me after installing Vista Again, and i just fixed it using DISM++, it installed the updates for office and the updates mentioned in the post too, so it fixed itself and now i have a fully updated Vista with 2022 updates and i will get updates untill 2023, i am using another method than the ones before since it gives me all updates from MS servers and it gives me the Extended ESU for Server 2008 updates too