Fix: 100% Disk Usage Windows 10 (June 2022)

Windows 10 has received numerous updates throughout the year, requiring hardware to consume resources and resulting in 100% Disk Usage. Due to the number of updates in the background, and numerous changes across settings following the updates, disk usage can often stay at 100% too. In order to address the issue, there are a couple of solutions listed below.

Task Manager Showing 100% Disk Usage on Windows 10

You can check the disk usage from your task manager in the processes tab. If you don’t know how to open the Task Manager then follow the steps given below:

1. Press and Hold ALT, CTRL and Delete key simultaneously (ALT + CTRL + DELETE)
2. A new screen will open.
3. Select Task Manager
4. Select the Processes tab if it isn’t selected already
5. Look at the Disk You should see a percentage below it.

Method 1: Disable Windows Search

Disabling Windows Search has proven to be very useful for a lot of users. Basically what Windows Search does is it scans through your files and folders and creates information in an index file. That is why this service is also known as SearchIndexer. The benefit of Windows Search is that it speeds up searching your files. Disabling the Windows Search won’t have any immediate effect on your current searches. The drawback will be the increased time when searching for files and folders in the future, but it should be negligible. If you don’t search through a ton of files on a regular basis then you won’t even feel the difference.

So, follow the steps given below to Disable Windows Search:

1. Press the Windows key once
2. Type Command Prompt in the Start Search
3. Right-click the Command Prompt from the search results and select Run as administrator
   
   
4. Type net.exe stop “Windows search” (with quotes) and press Enter
5. Wait for the system to stop the Windows Search. You will see a message

Keep in mind that this will disable the service temporarily. You can open the Task Manager and look at the Disk usage once the Windows Search is turned off. If your Disk usage decreases then you can turn off the Windows Search permanently via the steps given below.

1. Hold the Windows key and press R
2. Type services.msc and press Enter
   
   
3. Locate the service named Windows Search
4. Double-Click the Windows Search
   
5. Select Disabled from the drop-down menu in Startup Type
   
   
6. Click the Stop button if the Service Status isn’t Stopped.
7. Click Apply then select OK

Keep in mind that disabling this service isn’t recommended. But, if it makes your system leaner and you want to keep it disabled then that’s up to you. If it doesn’t affect your system speed or disk usage then you can turn it back on by going back to services and selecting Automatic as the Startup Type.

Method 2: Disable Message Signaled Interrupt (MSI) Mode (Firmware Bug)

Disabling Message Signaled Interrupt also solves this problem for a lot of users. StorAHCI.sys is a driver that has a firmware bug associated with high disk usage. This means that it might be behind the issue and disabling it could solve the issue for you.

1. Hold the Windows key and press R
2. Type devmgmt.msc and press Enter
   
   
3. Double-click IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
4. Double-click Standard SATA AHCI controller
   
   
5. Click the Driver tab
6. Click the Driver Details button
   
7. If the driver file name is StorAHCI.sys then you are running the inbox driver and you need to make some changes to Registry Key
   
8. Click Details tab
9. Select Device Instance Path from the drop-down menu under Property
10. Note the path that is shown or keep it open here
    
11. Hold Windows key and press R
12. Type regedit.exe and press Enter
    
    
13. Navigate to this address HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\”Device Instance Path taken from step”\Device Parameters\Interrupt Management. If you don’t know how to navigate to this path then follow the steps given below
    1. Double-click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE from the left pane
    2. Double-click System from the left pane
    3. Double-click CurrentControlSet from the left pane
    4. Double-click Enum from the left pane
    5. Double-click PCI from the left pane
    6. Double-click “Device Instance Path taken from step” from the left pane
    7. Double-click Device Parameters from the left pane
    8. Double-click Interrupt Management from the left pane
       
14. Now click MessageSignaledInterruptProperties from the left pane
15. Double-click MSISUpported from the right pane
    
16. Change its value from 1 to 0
17. Click Ok

Now reboot your computer and your problem should be solved now. If you see multiple controllers in your device management screen (step 4), repeat the above process from all the controllers and then check if the 100% Disk Usage is now dropped down.

Method 3: Google Chrome

Sometimes, the problem might be because of Google Chrome and its prediction features. Users have complained about these features using a lot of system resources. So, disabling these prediction features from Google Chrome might improve your 100% Disk usage issue.

Follow the steps given below to turn off the prediction feature of Google Chrome

1. Open Google Chrome
2. Select the 3 dots (menu) on the top right corner
3. Select Settings
   
   
4. Scroll down and select Show advanced settings…
   
   
5. Uncheck the option Use a prediction service to load pages more quickly. This option will be under the Privacy section

Now, close Google Chrome and you should be good to go. If this doesn’t solve the problem then don’t turn the feature back on. Go to the next method (Skype method) and follow that.

Method 4: Turn off Skype

A lot of users have solved the high disk usage issue by turning off Skype. There are some programs like Google Chrome and Skype that are known to cause high or 100% disk usage issues. So, turning off some features or the whole application usually solves the problem. But, if it doesn’t, then you can always turn them back on.

Steps for turning off Skype are given below

1. Press and Hold Windows key and press R
2. Type C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone\ and press Enter
   
   
3. Right-click the Skype application and select Properties
   
   
4. Select Security tab and then select Edit
   
   
5. Select ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES in the section Group or usernames
6. Check (tick) the Write Allow option in the section Permission for ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES section
7. Select Apply then select Ok

Now check the disk usage from the Task Manager. It should be fine now.

Method 5: Uninstall Flash Updates

A lot of users have mentioned that uninstalling Flash Updates from the Windows Update History have solved this problem. This might have to do something with the latest Windows Updates and Flash Updates conflicting with each other. The latest update might also have a bug that is causing the issue. Also, keep in mind that Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome come with a Flash Plugin. So, even if you didn’t install Flash, it might already be installed and updated via Windows Updates.

Here are the steps to uninstall the Adobe Flash Updates.

1. Press Windows key once
2. Select Settings from the start menu
   
3. Select Update & Security
   
   
4. Select Update History
   
   
5. Select Uninstall Updates
   
   
6. Scroll down and look for the Adobe Flash Player update
7. Select the Adobe Flash Player update and select Uninstall
   
   
8. Follow any additional on-screen instructions.

Reboot your computer once the update is uninstalled. Now if the problem of disk usage is solved or not.

Note: Do not attempt to completely uninstall Flash via the uninstallers available on the internet/Flash’s official website. Uninstalling Flash has been known to cause some problems with Windows.

Method 6: Unlink OneDrive

The problem seems to be arising from OneDrive for a lot of users. Many users have complained about the high disk usage when they signed in to OneDrive. So, signing out and unlinking OneDrive resolves the issue of high disk usage.

Follow the steps given below to unlink OneDrive.

1. Right-click your OneDrive icon in the system tray (right bottom corner). If you can’t see it then you might have to click the upward arrow button and it will show up.
2. Select Settings
   
   
3. Select Account tab
4. Click Unlink this PC
   
   
5. Click Unlink account

Now restart your computer and check if the issue is still there or not.

You can also completely uninstall the Microsoft OneDrive by following the steps given below

6. Hold Windows key and press R
7. Type appwiz.cpl and press Enter
8. Locate Microsoft OneDrive
9. Select Microsoft OneDrive and select Uninstall
10. Follow any on-screen instructions

Method 7: Disable Windows Notifications

Disabling Windows notifications is known to solve the issue for many. You can easily disable the notifications from your settings

1. Press Windows key once
2. Select Settings from the start menu
   
3. Select System
   
   
4. Select Notifications & actions
5. Turn off all the notifications under the Notifications section

Wait a few seconds and you will be good to go. Your disk usage should go down within 10 seconds.

Method 8: Feedback & diagnostics

Settings the Feedback & diagnostics option to basic seems a viable solution when it comes to lowering disk usage. Usually, your Feedback & diagnostics will be set to either Full or Enhanced. Turning it back to Basic will lower the disk usage.

Steps for lowering the Feedback & Diagnostics are given below

1. Press and Hold Windows key and press I
2. Select Privacy
   
   
3. Select Feedback & diagnostics
4. Select Basic from the drop-down menu in Diagnostic and usage data section

Now check the disk usage and it should be lowered significantly.

Method 9: Cancelling Windows Performance Recorder (WPR) (Workaround)

Windows Performance Recorder, as its name suggests, is a tool that is used to record and report your performance to Microsoft. It is located at %SystemRoot%\System32 and comes with Windows. Cancelling the WPR via command prompt solves the issue of high disk usage.

Note: This is a workaround and not a permanent solution. You will have to repeat this process on every reboot of your system.

1. Press the Windows key once
2. Type Command Prompt in the Start Search box
3. Right-click the Command Prompt from the results and select Run as administrator
4. Type WPR –cancel and press Enter

Now you should be good to go. But, remember, you have to repeat this on every restart.

Method 10: Disable Connected User Experiences and Telemetry

Disabling Connect User Experiences and Telemetry service is also known to solve the issue.

1. Press and Hold ALT, CTRL and Delete key simultaneously (ALT + CTRL + DELETE)
2. A new screen will open.
3. Select Task Manager
4. Select Services tab
5. Locate DiagTrack
6. Right-click DiagTrack and select Stop
   
   
7. Right Click DiagTrack and select Open Services
   
   
8. Locate the service Connect User Experiences and Telemetry
9. Double click Connect User Experiences and Telemetry
   
   
10. Select Disabled from the drop down menu in Startup type
    
    
11. Click Recovery tab
12. Select Take no Action from the drop down menu in First Failure. Repeat this for Second Failure and Subsequent Failures
    
    
13. Click Apply then select Ok

Once done, you should be good to go. This is a permanent solution and you won’t have to repeat it every time you reboot.