According to reports from several users on Feedback Hub, there is a problem with high CPU usage on Windows 11. Based on the information available so far, this problem is caused by the Shell Infrastructure Host process “sihost.exe”, which is reflected in the user’s perception of slow system movement.
“sihost.exe” is a core component of Windows 11 and successive generations of Windows systems that support the Start menu, Taskbar and other important visual elements of the system. For example, the “sihost.exe” process affects the translucency of Windows 11 systems.
The “sihost.exe” process causes high CPU usage due to many factors, and this cause of Windows 11 failure may be one of them. a bug in Windows 11 apparently causes CPU errors, even after a complete system reinstallation. Users say that even simple file transfers can send the “sihost.exe” process CPU usage skyrocketing.
One of the users said: “Reinstalled Windows 11 on Lenovo ThinkPad-P72 and installed all updates provided by Windows Update. The Shell Infrastructure Host (sihost.exe) process started and the CPU usage stayed above 16% and the fan speed stayed high”.
Another user added that the high CPU usage was evident when they captured records/logs for feedback. A bug caused the process to seize up and lead to serious performance issues as it affected core components such as the Start Menu and Taskbar.
Thankfully, Windows 11 received a new update in the Windows Insider Program that fixes this nasty issue that was causing high CPU usage.
Windows 11 KB5016700, which is still in beta, addresses a bug that caused high CPU usage before its full release with Windows 11 22H2. As we noted, this has been mentioned in the release notes for KB5016700 and we can confirm that the patch has cured this spiking processor usage issue.
In the KB5016700 changelog Microsoft writes: “We fixed an issue that, in some cases, caused sihost.exe to use a lot of CPU”
