How to Fix High CPU Usage by GfxUI.exe on Windows 10

Countless Windows 10 users have been and continue to be affected by an issue where their CPU usage quickly soars really high (sometimes up to 100%) because of extremely high hard disk bandwidth usage by a process named gfxui.exe, ultimately making their computer unbearably sluggish. The gfxui.exe process is a process associated with Intel GPUs, which is why this problem only affects users that have Intel GPUs in their computers. However, this problem is especially rampant among computers and laptops that have two graphics cards – an Intel HD Graphics card for display and an NVIDIA/AMD graphics card for dedicated graphics (playing graphically demanding games, for example).

In most cases, it is either a clash between two graphics cards or an issue with the Intel HD Graphics drivers that causes the gfxui.exe process to use a lot of hard disk bandwidth and lead to high CPU usage. Thankfully, though, this issue can be fixed by simply uninstalling and then reinstalling the Intel HD Graphics drivers. In order to uninstall your computer’s Intel HD Graphics drivers, you need to:

1. Press the Windows Logo key + R to open a Run
2. Type hdwwiz.cpl into the Run dialog and press Enter to launch the Device Manager.
3. Double-click on the Display adapters section to expand it.
4. Locate and right-click on your computer’s Intel HD Graphics
5. Click on Uninstall in the context menu.
6. Enable the Delete the driver software for this device option by checking the checkbox beside it.
7. Click on OK.
8. Wait for the adapter and its drivers to be uninstalled.
9. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Once your computer boots up, the Intel HD Graphics drivers will have been successfully uninstalled, which means that you are now going to have to reinstall them. In order to do so, go to the official Intel Support website, type the model of your Intel HD Graphics adapter (Intel HD Graphics 4000, for example) into the Search downloads field and press Enter, sift through the search results for the most recently released version of the drivers for your Intel HD Graphics adapter that is compatible with the OS your computer is running on, download the installer for the drivers, run the installer and go through it to reinstall the drivers for the Intel GPU.

Once the drivers have been reinstalled, restart your computer and, when it boots up, you should see that you are no longer affected by this problem even though the drivers for both your Intel GPU and your dedicated GPU are installed and both GPUs are working.