Graphics
Intel® graphics drivers and software, compatibility, troubleshooting, performance, and optimization
20493 Discussions

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

Cody
New Contributor I
512,177 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
316,032 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!!

View solution in original post

612 Replies
vitalyplatoff
Novice
174,116 Views

I have same problem with Intel HD Graphics 630.

now i'm using batch command in Administrator command prompt (important: close all open working programs)

@ECHO OFF
taskkill /F /IM dwm.exe
taskkill /F /IM conhost.exe

..it clear dwm - but it occasionaly again start to enlarge. It's temporary fix. I want this big be fixed.. ))

imran7757
Beginner
121,038 Views

Historically, Intel’s graphics have not been amazing. The two graphics giants of the world are Nvidia and AMD. Intel’s greatest accomplishment in the graphics world has been Iris graphics, which the 5500 is not. On the flip side, the 820M is a dedicated video card that isn’t integrated on the motherboard.

This will always give you better performance than integrated graphics, because your graphics are now driven by a dedicated video chip with it’s own memory, which is optimized for graphics, its own processor, which is optimized for graphics, etc.

The 820M isn’t the greatest GPU known to man, but it is absolutely better than any integrated solution Intel can conjure up. When it comes to Intel, stick to their processors.

0 Kudos
AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
174,039 Views

Hello all

Thank you for posting on the Intel® communities.

 

@Cody, in order to check this further, could you please provide the following information?

1- How often does the issue occur? Is it triggered when running any specific app or software?

2- When the issue started, was there any recent change? (for instance: Windows® updates or graphics driver update?)

3- Have you tested on a different system with Intel® Graphics? If yes, what are the CPU/Graphics model devices and the behavior?

4- The reference links shared are from one month ago. Since you mentioned "this bug is already known for 3-4 months", do you have additional references regarding this statement? (so we can have more visibility of the behavior and impact of this).

5- Please provide step-by-step instructions to replicate this behavior so we may try to test it.

 

Also, please run the Intel® System Support Utility (Intel® SSU) and attach the report to this thread to gather more details about your system.

  • Download the Intel® SSU and save the application on your computer: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows-
  • Open the application, check the "Everything" checkbox, and click "Scan" to see the system and device information. The Intel® SSU defaults to the "Summary View" on the output screen following the scan. Click the menu where it says "Summary" to change to "Detailed View".
  • To save your scan, click Next and click Save.

Note: To attach a file, you must click the “Attach” option on the bottom left-hand corner of the response box.

 

@vitalyplatoff, to better assist you, our recommendation is that you post another question (creating a new thread). This is since every scenario is different and not always the same exact components or factors are involved even using the same integrated graphics controller. Thank you for your understanding.

 

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

 

Cody
New Contributor I
174,019 Views

@AndrewG_Intel 

Much thanks for your reply. Regarding your questions:

1. Everytime. The dwm.exe ram usage starts maybe at 30 MB and accumulates with the time of the computer usage. It increases very high when I e.g., watched a video stream. After 2-3 hours I already have 2 GB of RAM use.

2. No

3. No

4. This is the only source in the Internet I found. I tried it myself now and "downgraded" to driver version 24.20.100.6290, and the issue is gone. After my usual use of my computer, the dwm.exe ram usage is  still at maybe 50 MB. So it is definitely a bug with an update of the driver that happened between 24.20.100.6290 and 27.20.100.8853

I attched the ssu reports with driver 27.20.100.8853 (ram leakage), 24.20.100.6290 which solved the issue, and a new image of the ram usage of dmw.exe with the old 24.20.100.6290 driver

@vitalyplatoff I would not recommend to try it as well since downgrading a driver has always some risks, but if you dare to try it yourself, too, please report if this solved your problem as well

 

Best regards

AlHill
Super User
162,480 Views

Why do you need some 3rd party utility to remove the driver?  You need no utility for this.

Doc (not an Intel employee or contractor)

0 Kudos
AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
173,999 Views

Hello @Cody

Thank you for your response and for the reports provided.

After checking the reports, we noticed that your system is running "Windows 10 Home Insider Preview Build 20236".


These Insider* versions are created for testing and we cannot guarantee its proper functionality and the recommendation is to report any issue related to it to Microsoft® since this is an open software testing program by Microsoft. In addition, our latest graphics drivers do not support this Windows® version yet as you can see under "Supported OS versions" >> https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/29957/Intel-Graphics-Windows-10-DCH-Drivers?product=126790


Any feedback such as bug reports or additional questions should go directly to Microsoft (even if the driver is from Intel, Microsoft requires all feedback to go through them when it is part of the Insider Preview Program).


Is it possible for you to test with one of the stable and official Windows® 10 releases (e.g. Windows® 10 Version 2004 build 19041 or Version 20H2 build 19042)? Please kindly let us know the outcome.


In the meantime, we will test and try to replicate this in our lab. I do wish to set the right expectations since we cannot guarantee functionality with Insider™ versions, we will test using the latest official and stable versions of Windows (20H2 or 2004). As soon as we have the more details we will be posting back in this thread.


Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician


Cody
New Contributor I
173,989 Views

@AndrewG_Intel 

I updated to the preview because of this bug, since I first thought it was a problem with Windows, and being able to report this bug in the MS dev channel.

I can guarantee that it was already there in 20H1

vitalyplatoff
Novice
173,983 Views

@Cody  I have it in 20H2 version

AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
173,961 Views

Hello all,

Thank you for clarifying that the behavior is also present when running the latest and official Windows® releases (20H1 and 20H2). As soon as we have more details from our test, we will be posting back in this thread.


Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician


Nk3_
Beginner
173,914 Views

Same problem here, i have 16GB of ram and dwm gets to 5Gb very soon. My problem started this morning with the automatic update of my graphics card.
My version of windows 10 is 19041.610
My graphics are HD Graphics 530 of an i5 6600T

Had to come back to the previous installed version of graphics card driver, 27.20.100.7990.
The one i had to uninstall was the 27.20.100.8681 installed from windows update

Johnbelley
Novice
163,733 Views
This happened to me the other day. I killed the process and let Windows restart it. Haven't seen it since, but no idea what the cause was. I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary.
vitalyplatoff
Novice
173,849 Views

@AndrewG_Intel Hello, I have downloaded ProcessExplorer and take a look for dwm process - now it has 418 mb - i send you screenshot, maybe it will helps you somehow to understand

AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
173,903 Views

Hello all,

We would like to update this thread and inform you that we have tested this in-house and we could not replicate the behavior.

 

While starting the computer and opening Google™ Chrome tabs with 3 live YouTube™ streamings and 2 tabs with normal videos the dwm.exe process was consuming 50MB +/-, after 10 minutes it went down to 15MB after that went up to 18MB+/-, and then it remained around the 18MB and that was the behavior after 2 hours of having running live streamings and several tabs open in the browser.

 

We also run a test using Cinebench software* and the dwn.exe process was consuming only 10MB+/- with still the Internet tabs open and running.

 

In addition, we also moved tabs, closed and open tabs, and open programs and the dwm.exe process did not go as high as you are reporting (around 1500MB). There were no extreme spikes, and actually, the RAM consumption went down at the end of the 2 hours test.

We are attaching a couple of screenshots as reference.

 

This is the lab environment details:

  • Intel® UHD Graphics 620
  • Intel® NUC Kit NUC7i7DNHE
  • Driver Version: 27.20.100.8853
  • Windows® 10 2004

Note: Intel® UHD Graphics 630 (the one on your system) and Intel® UHD Graphics 620 both use the same driver package version, for instance: 27.20.100.8853.

 

Please kindly let us know if we are missing anything regarding the steps we followed during our lab.

 

Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician

 

vitalyplatoff
Novice
173,899 Views

Hello all again!

@AndrewG_Intel  

I have look 7 hours ago in my task manager and see Very huge dwm.. also i already download intel ssu and attach to this reply as .txt

Cody
New Contributor I
173,884 Views

@AndrewG_Intel 

This is very unfortunate, since this means I will never be able to update my graphic driver again.

@vitalyplatoff 

I see that you also have a second graphic card from NVIDIA just like I have, @Nk3_ , do you also have a second NVIDIA graphic card?

I have the suspicion that this error can be in context with having a second graphic card. With my curren 24.20.100.6290, I see that sometimes the dwm uses the intel (GPU-0), sometimes it uses nvidia (GPU-1). On 27.20.100.8853 it never used nvidia.

vitalyplatoff
Novice
173,857 Views

@Cody  Yes, second card is Nvidia RTX2060 but dwm uses only in my case GPU0 (Intel HD 630)

Nk3_
Beginner
173,855 Views

Hi, i don't have a second graphics card, only the included in the processor i5-6600T.  My computer is the HP EliteDesk 800 G3 DM 35W.

The intel assistant app for updating drivers, only tells me to update the graphics card

AndrewG_Intel
Moderator
173,818 Views

Hello all,

Thank you for your feedback. Please allow us to look into this and do further research. We will be posting back in this thread as soon as more details are available.


Best regards,

Andrew G.

Intel Customer Support Technician


Cody
New Contributor I
173,782 Views

@AndrewG_Intel 

Something really strange happened. As said I had the bug in 27.20.100.8853. Then I followed the advice at https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/desktop-windows-manager-dwm-memory-leakage-in/c2968fb0-ee26-4483-9f08-dfa19149cd24

and downdated it to 24.20.100.6290 and the bug was gonde

 

Now I wanted to see what happens if I update again to 27.20.100.8853 and experiment a little (e.g. disable nvidia or stuff like this).

However, for some unretraceable reasons, the bug is now fixed, just by re-updating the driver (I didn't make any more adjustments). The dwm.exe is constantly at around 50MB. This is preliminary after 2 hours with streaming videos and so on. If it happens again I will make another post, but it seems for me now to be stable and fixed.

Much thanks in any case for taking care!

0 Kudos
Cody
New Contributor I
173,729 Views

@AndrewG_Intel 

Sorry, the problem occured again. My report above was a bit "hasty". The reason I thought this was because I chose the option "restart". Then dwm behaves normal.

If I choose the option "shutdown" instead, the ram leakage occurs again.


I tested this a few times, if I choose shutdown, dwm memory leak increases, if I choose restart, the bug is gone.

 

I updated again to 27.20.100.8853, in 24.20.100.6290 the dwm leakage never happened equally whether I chose restart or shutdown. I do not know much technical details about the fast restart that is used on shutdown, as far I read some ram is written to hard disk to enhance the startup on "Shutdown", while on "Restart" everything is booted freshly.

 

I am not sure whether this is now an Intel or Microsoft problem, but since your old driver did not show this behaviour on "shutdown", maybe you have the chance to look inside here and fix if possible? Or do you have a tipp how I can exclude the Intel 630 from fast startup?

 

Reply