Microsoft KB Archive/838884

= Slow system performance or your computer stops responding when you use Windows Management Instrumentation in Windows XP =

Article ID: 838884

Article Last Modified on 5/14/2007

-

APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows XP Professional
 * Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
 * Microsoft Windows XP Professional for Itanium-based systems
 * Microsoft Windows XP Professional for Itanium-based systems

-



SYMPTOMS
When you use Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), you may experience slow system performance, and your computer may eventually stop responding (hang).

When you view the contents of the Processes tab in Windows Task manager, high memory usage is indicated for the Svchost.exe process, and this memory-usage value continues to increase.



CAUSE
This issue occurs because of a memory leak in Windows Management Instrumentation.



Service pack information
To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Microsoft Windows XP. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322389 How to obtain the latest Windows XP service pack

Hotfix information
A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Microsoft Windows XP service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question. The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

Windows XP
  Date         Time   Version            Size    File name ---  01-Apr-2004  02:53  5.1.2600.1337     161,280  Repdrvfs.dll 01-Apr-2004 02:53  5.1.2600.1331     215,552  Wbemcomn.dll 01-Apr-2004 02:53  5.1.2600.1331     479,744  Wbemcore.dll 01-Apr-2004 02:53  5.1.2600.1331     259,072  Wbemess.dll 01-Apr-2004 02:53  5.1.2600.1501     410,112  Wmiprvsd.dll 01-Apr-2004 02:53  5.1.2600.1337     104,960  Wmisvc.dll

Windows XP 64-Bit Edition
  Date         Time   Version            Size    File name --  01-Apr-2004  02:46  5.1.2600.1337     608,256  Repdrvfs.dll     IA-64 01-Apr-2004 02:46  5.1.2600.1331     672,256  Wbemcomn.dll     IA-64 01-Apr-2004 02:46  5.1.2600.1331   2,076,160  Wbemcore.dll     IA-64 01-Apr-2004 02:46  5.1.2600.1331   1,095,680  Wbemess.dll      IA-64 01-Apr-2004 02:46  5.1.2600.1501   1,547,264  Wmiprvsd.dll     IA-64 01-Apr-2004 02:46  5.1.2600.1337     336,896  Wmisvc.dll       IA-64 01-Apr-2004 02:53  5.1.2600.1331     215,552  Wwbemcomn.dll    x86



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the &quot;Applies to&quot; section. This problem was first corrected in Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2.



MORE INFORMATION
For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

824684 Description of the standard terminology that is used to describe Microsoft software updates

Keywords: kbbug kbfix kbqfe kbwinxpsp2fix kbwinxppresp2fix kbhotfixserver KB838884

-

[mailto:TECHNET@MICROSOFT.COM Send feedback to Microsoft]

© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.