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BUG: dwm.exe uses memory leakage with Intel HD Graphics 630

Cody
New Contributor I
512,153 Views

Hi,

dwm.exe (Desktop-Window Manager) uses high memory with Intel Intel HD Graphics 630. This problem has been reported before:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/desktop-windows-manager-dwm-memory-leakage-in/c2968fb0-ee26-4483-9f08-dfa19149cd24

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/windows/comments/iqttw5/windows_10_dwmexe_high_ram_usage/g4umzyn/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

 

Here's a screenshot of my dwm ram usage after 2 hours (1.6 GB):
Image1.jpg

 

Please, this bug is already known for 3-4 months, and I do not want to reinstall a 2019 driver...

1 Solution
Gabriela_Intel
Moderator
316,008 Views

It seems that everyone has posted positive results so far about beta driver 101.1121 resolving this dwm leak issue. I'm going ahead and marking this thread as resolved! Please note that we'll specifically call out this fix in the release notes of our next production driver release to the Download Center which will be found here once available.

 

Special thanks to @HKlum@TurboTacho@Ansuel, and the MANY others that dedicated their time testing and providing various dump files. I really appreciate you all sticking by our side after all this time to make sure this long-standing problem gets resolved. You folks are what make this Community forum so great. We couldn't have done it without you! 😊

 

For those of you that continue to exhibit issues: Please create new individual threads so we can assess if it is a separate issue or not for your particular case.

 

Thanks again everyone!!

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612 Replies
Vivisector
Beginner
16,377 Views

Okay, using DDU and then installing the 24.20.100.6286 drivers seems to have done the trick.

MrX1980
New Contributor I
15,280 Views

Hi to everyone.
I saw this problem about 3 months ago an reported it via Feedback-Hub (https://aka.ms/AA9ibru) & Twitter (https://twitter.com/MrX_1980/status/1299693776622047233) to Microsoft.

Sadly I still have no repro, but I'm still searching for a good repro for you.
I noticed it for example after a longer usage of many Youtube clips (switching many times between full screen and normal screen, likes and adding clips to my playlists) with Microsoft Edge Stable (Chromium) and using other programs like WhatsApp Desktop, Twitter Desktop App, ... . I also use sometimes standby/hibernate.

My temporary fix is to do a full Windows reboot (WIN + x -> Shut down or sign out-> Restart)

My Device:
Lenovo Yoga 710-14IKB Type 80V4 / BIOS Version 2XCN38WW(V2.12 / 2018)
DualCore Intel Core i5-7200U, Intel HD Graphics 620 (no other GPU)
LG Philips LP140WF7-SPB1 [14" LCD] (only Notebook display) / 1920 x 1080 at 60Hz 
1x 8GB DDR4 RAM at 1066/2133 MHz (SK hynix HMA81GS6AFR8N-UH) / 15-15-15-35 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)

Currently I use:
Microsoft Windows 10 Home x64 Dev-Channel (build .21277.1000)
Intel graphics driver 29.20.100.9116 via Windows Update (With older drivers & Win10 dev builds that was released the last ~3 months too. I will try other drivers later this week.)

0 Kudos
smithy
Novice
15,164 Views

@AndrewG_Intel  @Jose_V_Intel @Maria_R_Intel @Sebastian_M_Intel 

Can anyone please shed some light on whether this issue is being looked at / resolved with a new driver update please?

0 Kudos
RonaldM_Intel
Moderator
15,952 Views

Hello everyone,

No progress has been made since we haven't been able to find a way to reproduce this issue in our lab using different platforms (laptops, NUCs with and without Hybrid graphics) and all the input you have provided so far.

I would recommend reporting this issue to Microsoft. Usually if they find a fault in the OS component (dwm.exe) linked with the Intel driver then they will work directly with Intel to address it.

Ronald M.

mamarley
Beginner
15,731 Views

I have this issue too on my NUC8i7bek (Iris Plus 655 graphics) with fully up-to-date Windows 10 and currently the latest beta driver 27.20.100.9077, though every driver version I have tried has been affected.  My system also has a 4K monitor (Dell U2720q, specifically).  The hardware is important here, because I cannot reproduce the issue on a NUC6i5syk (Iris 540) with a 1080p TV and the same driver and OS version.

I do have a method of reproducing this issue 100% of the time.  My system, for the record, has fast startup and hibernation both disabled, and I never use sleep.  It is configured to turn the monitor off (and lock the screen) after 5 minutes of inactivity.  If I press Win+L to lock the screen manually, the monitor shuts off within a minute or so.

To reproduce the issue, I reboot my system and log in.  Then I lock the screen and wait for it to shut off the monitor automatically.  Once it does, I press a key to turn the screen back on, log in again, and repeat the process.  The second time the monitor comes back on, if I perform almost any action, DWM starts leaking memory very rapidly.  This includes opening/closing windows, moving windows, scrolling within windows (browsers, both Firefox and Chrome, seem to make it leak the fastest), and watching videos within a browser all cause leakage.  Then, if I lock the screen again, wait for it to shut off, and wake it up a third time, it stops leaking RAM (though what was previously leaked is not freed).  The leakage will occur again after some number of additional monitor sleep cycles, but whenever it is leaking, a sleep cycle will temporarily stop the leak.

I have also found that if I use SysInternals RAMMap to "Empty Working Sets" followed by "Empty Modified Page List", the leaked RAM is freed.  This does not stop the leaking, however, if it was actively occurring.

MrX1980
New Contributor I
13,822 Views

Update:
After one week with Windows 10 build 21292 and still the driver v29.20.100.9116 I don't saw this problem. It could be luck, but I have a little bit hope that it is fixed by Microsoft. Today I expect the next Win10 Dev build and I will keep an eye on it.

Ross2
Novice
16,063 Views

A friend had this problem, and my previous workaround didn't work for him.

After studying the problem for some time, I noticed that it only occurred when the Username shown in Task Manager > details > dwm.exe was DWM-2 or higher (I saw up to DWM-7). If the Username was DWM-1 the problem did not occur. DWM-1 is the account "Console Logon", and I eventually found a way of ensuring that dwm.exe always runs with this account. The solution was to disable Windows "Fast Startup", and multiple cold boots always resulted in DWM-1 being used. With "Fast Startup" enabled it would switch to DWM-2 etc after a couple of reboots.

When using Windows Manager accounts DWM-2 or DWM-3 etc, the memory leak started to show within minutes, but I couldn't reproduce the leak using DWM-1.

I tried searching Online for a screenshot of a Task Manager screen showing the "Details" tab with high memory usage of dwm.exe, to check the account being used, but I couldn't find one. As a result, I can't say if this will work for others?

 

Cody
New Contributor I
16,050 Views

I currently use driver  27.20.100.8476 since the problem occurs on my computer  when updating to next public release 27.20.100.8587. I'm not sure whether Intel can provide intermediate versions so I can help to find out the buggy update version.

If I make a fast-startup I see that I use DWM-15 (with 8476 and no memory leak), on cold reboot it is DWM-1. I cannot tell whether having constantly DWM-1 would fix the problem since the 8476 driver doesn't seem to have this problem with other accounts than DWM-1.

sandtechnology
15,998 Views

I found this: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/windows/en-US/29a96616-c942-4d33-9a0b-c4fa5a20c6b4/why-is-desktop-windows-manager-12345-or-6-in-task-manager-in-windows-8

Look like the "x" in DWM-x means sessions id, so look like is intel drive doesn't handle it smoothly or something, and cause memory leak.

But I still have no idea for reproducing constantly, and is the only way for fixing it.

Ross2
Novice
15,986 Views

Disabling "Fast Startup" worked for me, but my workaround is only one of many possible alternative "solutions" out there. Many people may choose not to disable this setting as they find it improves boot & shutdown time? They may also find it doesn't fix the memory leak for them?

I see that 27.20.100.9168 has just been released, so perhaps that will be an improvement, and no dwm.exe memory leak workarounds will be required? 

MrX1980
New Contributor I
15,318 Views

Update 2:
I still see sometimes abnormal spikes >500MB, but it seems that since Win10 build 21292 the dwm.exe process will be better flushed after I close the apps. My desktop computer with nVidia GTX 1060 never reaches over 100MB.

Currently I use Win10 build 21301 and driver 29.20.100.9263 and had 3 IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL GSOD (AV_nt!MiGetPfnPidSafe). I don't know if this has something to do with this bug. With my desktop computer I don't have these GSOD.

Papacu
Beginner
14,859 Views
I had this problem in the Windows 2004 version, so I decided to do a clean installation of version 20H2, everything was going well. The Windows update was up to date and I had the latest drives from the manufacturer, I was two days using the notebook without presenting the problem, so I decided to update the NVIDIA card driver to the latest version and also install antivirus software (bitdefender free) and today right after starting the notebook I noticed that the problem had returned. I don't know if the problem returned spontaneously or because of any of my last actions, I leave this report here. my integrated card is Intel HD 620 and my dedicated is Geforce 940MX.
McStef
Beginner
14,760 Views

Bonjour à toutes et à tous

Tous d’abord bonne et heureuse année 2021 ainsi qu’une bonne santé

Excusé de mon langage je suis Français.

Je suis tombé sur cette discussion suite au même problème avec un notebook

le cpu est un celeron j4115 avec intel UHD 600 en support vidéo

j’ai le notebook depuis une semaine quand je l’ai reçu il était sous Windows 10 pro 1903

Tous allez bien, passez en 1909 avec Windows Update

Tous allez bien, passez en 20H2 avec Windows Update

Depuis même problème avec dmw.exe

En suivant les guides j’ai donc mis la version 26.20.100.7985 et tous va bien

j’ai désactivé la mise à jour automatique dans :

Paramètres avancés du système > Matériel > Paramètres d’installation des périphériques

Donc il y à bien un problème avec les derniers drivers Intel et Windows 20H2

Cordialement.

PS : Mon notebook est un Kuu K2s sous Windows 10 pro

Ross2
Novice
14,568 Views

I experienced the dwm.exe memory leak problem with versions 27.20.100.8853 up to 27.20.100.9126 inclusive.

However, I tried the older 27.20.100.8783 version and so far have not had a problem with the dwm.exe memory leak.

MissNet
Novice
14,430 Views

Hello! I have the same bug on my Lenovo Carbon Gen8 (intel UHD 620). After hybernation my dwm.exe ate 9,8 GB. OS is Windows 10 20H2. I updated intel drivers (to 27.20.100.9126)  and will continue to monitor the issue to collect a report. I didn't have any issues on previous driver version until I activated hybernation (though I might just haven't noticed).

I'm quite disappointed with intel team response "we couldn't reproduce it so it's not our problem". Hope it will be resolved soon.

MissNet
Novice
13,914 Views

I'm not sure if it helps, but on 27.20.100.9126 (and every driver > 27.20.100.8853) I encountered strange bugs in some games. The most reproduceable is Rimworld color coded bars (in the schedule menu, pawn's needs menu), all bars are gray, while on all previous drivers including 27.20.100.8853 colors are displayed correctly (blue, red, yellow, green etc.). Official forum link: https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=53555.0. I downgraded drivers to 27.20.100.8853 to fix this issue, but now dwm.exe leaks memory again (up to 700 Mb in 1h after os start with fast boot, ~5-10 Mb/h after dwm.exe restart).

It seems I don't have any choice but to rollback to 7985 driver until Intel/Microsoft figure this out.

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MissNet
Novice
14,283 Views

I don't know if it helps, but I encountered strange bugs in some games on 27.20.100.9126 with Intel UHD 620 (and on any driver > 27.20.100.8853), though dwm.exe leak was minimal. For example. in Rimworld color coded bars are all displayed in gray color (in schedule menu, pawn needs menu). I downgraded to 27.20.100.8783 and the problem was fixed. It seems some links aren't allowed here, but you can find the topic on official Rimworld forum by searching "ludeon 53555.0" on google. On 27.20.100.8853 dwm.exe started to leak again (up to 700 Mb in 1h after start with fast boot, 5-10 Mb/h after dwm.exe reset).

It seems I don't have any other choice but to rollback to 26.20.100.7985 until Microsoft/Intel figure this out.

 

Ross2
Novice
14,270 Views

I was able to reproduce the dwm.exe memory leak using version 27.20.100.9126 on an Intel UHD 630.

Once the memory usage started to go above about 300Mb, it didn't come back down, even after all Apps were closed. I tried this workaround, and after a couple of days of regular use I haven't see it use much more than 100Mb. The memory usage also drops regularly, and returns to "normal" values when all Apps are closed. I'm using Windows 20H2 Build 19042.746 on a Desktop PC, so it may not work on a Laptop or other versions of Windows 10?

Go to "Graphics performance preference" here -

Settings -> Display -> Graphic Settings -> click on the Browse" button and select dwe.exe in the System32 folder. Click on the "Options" button and select "Let Windows Decide" (I think this option is marked "System Default" on some versions of Windows?).

I tried both the "Power saving" and "High performance" options, and they did nothing, other than possibly making it worse!

I've been using my PC with this configuration for about 7 hours today, and most of yesterday, and the current dwm.exe memory usage is 100Mb. Of course I can't guarantee that the memory problem won't come back again? I can't guarantee that it'll work for you either?

 

Cody
New Contributor I
14,191 Views

I found in a thread here:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/desktop-windows-manager-dwm-memory-leakage-in/c2968fb0-ee26-4483-9f08-dfa19149cd24?page=2

that

TurboTacho: We are aware that the Intel graphics driver 26.20.100.7985 is the last known best working set that had no such memory leak issue.

 

I am also kind of programming stuff, so I do know that bugs, that aren't reproducable are nearly impossible to fix, also I heard that this is a heap problem which belong to the hardest nuts...

However if it is known that 26.20.100.7985 is the last version without this bug, many seem to have (I hope this version is right, since I didn't test it myself), @intel can I recommend to maybe look into the protocolled changes to the next version to maybe figure out which change could have caused this bug?

I would also happily test any experimental fixes

Cody
New Contributor I
14,139 Views

@RonaldM_Intel 

please discard/ignore above message. I systematically tested all previous drivers available at

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/de/download/30100/Intel-Grafik-Windows-10-DCH-Treiber

myself and can tell you exactly the last stable version without the dwm leak:

It is 27.20.100.8476

as soon I update to the next version (27.20.100.8587) the dwm leak happens on my computer... maybe you can check the change log between both versions and hopefully find something obvious that may cause this bug 🙂

 

Stefan3D
Honored Contributor II
14,124 Views

@Cody 

You can narrow it further with v8581 beta

Luckily i am not affected because of using an NVIDIA GSync laptop.
But out of curiousity i have attached a running instance of dwm.exe in WINDBG.
That was a bad idea, it froze the desktop and the computer started making noise like a telegraph...

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