Why .NET Framework process uses 100% CPU

At the time I didn't know that it was a .NET Framework process, but after some research, I found out its whole story.

MSCORSVW.EXE is a process used by the .NET Framework to precompile .NET assemblies in the background. It tends to run most on two occasions:

(Note: The process will not run on multiple cores or processors, as a deference to the user's needs. For instance, if it's pegging at full usage on a two-core machine, it will be listed as using up 50% of available CPU.)

The process usually only runs as low priority, meaning that if other processes are running, it should cede CPU usage to them. When it does this, it will work through a queue of assemblies that need to be compiled, so it's not unusual to see it running for a few minutes on end if there's a lot of work to be done.

But if the process is running at 100% and refuses

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to cede to other processes, it is either compiling high priority assemblies, which need to be completed as soon as possible, or else there's something wrong with the .NET installation.

One way to get the process to crank through all of its pending work at once is to issue the command ngen.exe executequeueditems from the .NET executables directory. If this doesn't work—i.e., if the process remains at 100% for minutes on end—the .NET installation may be damaged and should be removed and reinstalled. However, this doesn't happen very often; it's often just that there's a large queue of work that's suddenly been set up.

About the author: Serdar Yegulalp is editor of the Windows Power Users Newsletter, which is devoted to hints, tips, tricks, news and goodies for Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Windows XP users and administrators. He has more than 10 years of Windows experience under his belt, and contributes regularly to SearchWinComputing.com and SearchSQLServer.com.

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