[SOLVED] powercfg.exe keeps restarting and using a lot of CPU

Jeff Drew

Jeff Drew

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Joined
Jan 22, 2023
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36
Location
Switzerland
I just installed Windows Server 2022 and everything is running well, except powercfg.exe keeps running and using 25% CPU (one logical processor). I have run it from the command line to set the power settings, I have tried updating power settings from the control panel. I am not sure what keeps triggering it. Any ideas?
 
I noticed the same issue with powercfg.exe on our two Windows Server 2022 systems. I saw one site that blamed it on a recent Windows Update.

In our case, it is the CrashPlanPro backup process that does "powercfg /requests" commands. If I try that from the CMD prompt, it hangs too.
 
Actually, I run CrashPlanPro also. I checked and powercfg /requests hangs from the cmd prompt. Looks like we are in the same boat. There is either an issue with powercfg or a conflict with CrashPlan.
 
For anyone else that sees a powercfg.exe running all the time, you might be able to find the process that started it by downloading and running ProcessExplorer from Microsoft's Sysinternals site. It will show you the process tree and you can right click on powercfg.exe, take Properties, and view the full command line on the Image tab.

I did submit a ticket to CrashPlan, but I have not heard anything back yet.
 
CrashPlan support did get back to me and they sent the same response that they sent others:

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention; we are aware of this issue, and we believe at this time that this stems from a recent February 2023 update to Windows Server 2022 specifically.

Unfortunately, there is currently no 'fix' or workaround for this behavior from our end at this time, as it is a change in the way that operating system utilizes powercfg.exe. We do recommend reaching out to Microsoft in order to give any feedback on this change, or to seek a recommendation for how the function could potentially be reverted to its state before the most recent Microsoft update."
 
OK, thanks for that info. I have posted on Microsoft's forum, but I think I will try to escalate this since it is a Server 2022 issue.
 
It's Update Tuesday and there is a Cumulative Update (KB5023705) waiting to be installed in Windows Updates. I don't see any powercfg fixes mentioned, but if you see that update too, can you install it an see if it helps? I won't be able to update our servers until the weekend.
 
I applied the update and I can confirm it fixes the problem. I can run powercfg /requests from the command prompt and it comes right back. You should be good to go over the weekend.
 

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