wmiprvse.exe and 100% cpu usage

[milomorai]

I have a pc running xp home w/all current updates. when the print spooler is started cpu usage immediately jumps to 100% with wmiprvse.exe taking 39-60%, spoolsrvc takes 6-19% and csrss.exe takes up to 30%. have run adaware, spybot, windows defender and a-squared spyware removers as well as virus scan - nothing found. when i stop spoolsrvc cpu usage drops to <50% usually between 0-15%. restored to a date b4 this started - no change. the wmiprvse.exe file is in win/sys32 folder as well as i386 and in a windows update (don't have the number). i am baffled.

[cluberti]

If WMI and the spooler start up, along with csrss, it could very well be a print driver trying to query data - do you have any printers installed?

[milomorai]

have two printers installed - one a laser multi-function device and a hp inkjet but this problem is only active when the print spooler is started - stop the spooler cpu usage is normal.

Edited July 2, 2007 by milomorai

[cluberti]

If it only happens when the spooler is running, then it's DEFINITELY something with a print driver. You have two options:

1) Remove the print queues and uninstall the drivers from the machine (once the queues are removed, open File > Server Properties > Drivers and select any drivers listed here and click "Remove"), and reboot - see if the CPU goes back to normal after a reboot with all services running as normal

2) If you can, gather an adplus "hang" dump of the spooler by doing the following (this is documented here, for reference):

1. Download and install the "Debugging Tools for Windows"

2. Create a directory called c:\websymbols

3. Create a SYSTEM environment variable as follows - you can do this from Control Panel > System > Advanced tab > Environment Variables button > System variables > New... button:

Variable Name:  _NT_SYMBOL_PATH
Variable Value: SRV*c:\websymbols*http://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols;c:\websymbols

Once you've done the above, here are instructions on how to create the dump:

1. Create a directory called c:\adplus

2. Open a command prompt and change to the directory where you installed the debugging tools. By default, this is "C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows"

3. Type the following commands in the command prompt, each followed by pressing the ENTER key:

cscript adplus.vbs -hang -pn wmiprvse.exe -o c:\adplus

cscript adplus.vbs -hang -pn spoolsv.exe -o c:\adplus

4. Once the debugger finishes (this can take some time), the command prompt window(s) will close, and you will have data in your C:\adplus folder that can be analyzed.

Compress and upload here, or place it somewhere it can be downloaded by us - we can probably tell you for sure which, if you want to go that route.