[Full Fix] Service Host: Local System High Disk & CPU Usage

By: Parvat Sarvade - Updated: September 25, 2018 8:30 am

When a particular process starts using more resources, your computer performance drops down. In Windows 10, the Service Host: Local System is a process that accounts for high CPU usage.

The Service Host: Local System high disk usage is a major problem among Windows 10 users. We know various ways to fix this problem.

Here you go!

Quick Links:

1. Turn Off Some Services

It makes sense when the Service Host: Local System process consumes high memory when un-needed services are hogging your CPU. You need to find and disable them to free up memory usage.

Certain services linked to Service Host: Local System , when disabled, won’t impact your computer’s performance. Windows 10 users can always disable them and find no difference.

To turn of certain services,

Right-click on the Windows 10 taskbar
Click on Task Manager to open it
Browse through the list of services under the Processes tab
Expand the Service Host: Local System category
Now, systematically select one service under the category and click on ‘ End Task ’

Follow this for all services under this category

Here, you identify the service that significantly lowers CPU usage when disabled.

Now, reopen the Task Manager and go to the Service Host: Local System category again
Select the suspected service and right-click it
Click on ‘ Open Services ’ from the dropdown menu
Locate the same service from the list
Right-click on it and select ‘ Stop ’

Once you know the suspected service that causes Service Host: Local System high CPU usage in Windows 10, there’s one more way of disabling it.

Follow the steps above

Instead of a right-click, double-click on the said service
Go to the ‘ General ’ tab in the service’s Properties window
Here, change the Startup type to – Disabled
Click on Apply and OK to save the changes

If this helps you reduce the Service Host: Local System high memory usage on Windows 10, don’t look any further.

2. Repair Corrupted Files with System File Checker (SFC)

If disabling certain services didn’t solve the issue, you can try repairing damaged files. In several cases, the Service Host: Local System process takes up more memory when system files get corrupted.

System File Checker (SFC) is an inbuilt Microsoft tool for Windows 10 users. It is free and better than other third-party tools to repair corrupt files.

You can run an SFC scan to fix the Service Host: Local System high disk usage. It’ll check all system files, repair them automatically and restore them to default.

To run an SFC scan.

Type ‘ cmd ’ in the Windows 10 search box
Go to Command Prompt program from the search results
Right-click on it
Select ‘ Run as administrator ’
Type the command ‘ sfc /scannow ’ in the Command Prompt window

Press the Enter key to execute the scan
Wait for the scan to finish (this takes a while)
Restart your computer thereafter

See if this unloads the usage of your Windows 10 computer CPU while running the Service Host: Local System process.

3. Install All Driver Updates

In Windows 10, Service Host: Local System high disk usage may have something to do with your system adapters. An outdated adapter/driver could trigger this issue and make it worse thereon.

If you haven’t updated Windows 10 for a while, it’s time you do it manually. Install the driver updates for your Windows 10 computer and see if it fixes the issue at hand.

Go to the Start menu
Type ‘ device manager ’ in the search box
Now, open the Device Manager program from the search results
Click and expand the list for all Adapters
Double-click on each adapter/driver
Go to the Driver tab
Click on ‘ Update Driver ’
A new window pops up
Here, select the Search automatically for updated driver software option

Let your Windows automatically check for all available updates and install them
After installation is complete, click on Close
Now, close the Device Manager window
Restart your PC

Follow this for all drivers on your Windows 10 computer. If driver updates fixed the Service Host: Local System high CPU usage on your Windows 10 computer, keep them updated at all times.

4. Use Windows Troubleshooter

For this issue, the Windows Troubleshooter is of great help. It can diagnose the high CPU usage caused by Service Host: Local System .

At the same time, Windows Troubleshooter can automatically fix the problem. You can use this option at the very time your PC faces high CPU usage by Service Host: Local System .

Right-click on the Start menu
Go to Control Panel
Change the ‘ View ’ option to ‘ by Category ’
Go to System and Security section
Click on Security and Maintenance

Select ‘ Troubleshooting ’

Now, select the option that says – Fix problems with Windows Update

Click on Next

Also, select – Try troubleshooting as an administrator

When the troubleshooting ends, check how significantly has your CPU usage been lowered. If it is satisfactory, follow this fix the next time Service Host: Local System takes up excess CPU.

5. Stop ‘SuperFetch’ with Command Prompt

Windows 10 users can cool off their CPUs by turning the SuperFetch process off. The Service Host: Local System process may consume less disk space when you disable SuperFetch.

Why disable SuperFetch? It helps increase boot time. SuperFetch decreases boot time, allowing heavy programs to take up more memory for efficient usage. So, when you disable SuperFetch, it lowers the instances of disk performance issues caused by Service Host: Local System .

To disable SuperFetch,

Press the ‘ Windows ’ key, followed by the ‘ X ’ key
Click on ‘ Command Prompt (Admin) ’ from the menu
Click on ‘ Yes ’ in the prompt window
Type the following command – exe stop superfetch
Press the Enter key

Wait, until you see ‘The Superfetch service was stopped successfully’ message on Command Prompt. Now, you can quickly run a disk check (see next solution) to lower the CPU usage of Service Host: Local System process.

6. Check Hard Drive Health

Checking your disk’s health fixes numerous issues on your computer. The Service Host: Local System service affects hard drive health of your Windows 10 system.

For Windows 10 users, the CHKDSK tool helps you find system errors and fix bad sectors. Also, the CHKDSK tool runs its disk checkup scan, and lets you know the potential risks to your hard drive’s health.

To use CHKDSK tool on Windows 10,

Open the File Explorer window
Go to This PC folder from your desktop
Now, select the hard drive you want to scan
Right-click on it
Click on ‘ Properties ’ from the drop-down menu
Go to the ‘ Tools ’ tab in the Properties window
Click on the ‘ Check now ’ button

Here, a dialog window pops up. You can tick the checkbox for two options –

Automatically fix file system errors

Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors

Put a check on both these options and click on the ‘ Start ’ button

The CHKDSK tool scans your hard drive and fixes the problems automatically. It may take some time, but your CPU certainly frees up its load thereafter.

You can also try out other ways to check Windows 10 hard drive health .

7. End Task (If Nothing Else Works)

Your last resort to reduce high CPU usage of Service Host: Local System process is disabling it directly.

Open the Task Manager window
Go to Processes tab
Click on the Service Host: Local System process to expand it

Right-click on Service Host: Local System process and click on End Task option

Hope these fixes help you improve your disk performance while running the Service Host: Local System process on Windows 10. If you know any other way to solve this issue, do let us know in the comments below.

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