We have Windows 7 SP1 (x86 and x64) deployed across our domain, running on hardware that ranges from very old to very new. A common problem that has started occurring (since the deployment of Windows 7) is that machines with 2 GB of memory will run very slowly during various times of day.
Through process monitoring and live captures, we have narrowed it down to the wuaserv.exe service running inside a svchost.exe process. The service will consume as much memory as it can, until the machine
is unusable. Stopping the windows update service immediately releases the memory and the box will run in a normal state again.
There seems to be several others out there who have come across this problem, and all have come up with a couple common answers. Repair the windows update service (has not worked), or stop using Microsoft Update in favor of Windows Update (not applicable since we use SCCM 2012 SP1 for update management.)
I can't just change the SCCM setting to stop scanning so frequently, I need to ensure my systems have the updates we've applied, and enforcement is critical. Even if I reduce the scans, the problem still occurs when the scan kicks off. This is having a negative impact on our business, and I'm not looking for a workaround. I need a solution to this problem so we can move forward.
If this is not the right forum for this post, please let me know where this would better fit. Thanks in advance.
tags: SCCM high memory svchost.exe wuaserv windows 7
Update (4/30/15): A patch is apparently in development that will address this issue. There is information here regarding the update:
The post title is a bit misleading, as the patch should apply to the Windows Update client.
Update (6/3/15): The patch has been released! I have marked the post that links to the patch as the answer, and a couple posters have reported positive results after installing the following update:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3050265
Update (8/4/15): The original fix (3050265) has been superseded by the following:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3065987
Update (11/11/15): This is the latest release of the update agent:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/3102810
The above update was released this month, specifically addressing a high-CPU condition.