WMI Provider Host High CPU on ASUS 2021 ROG Strix G15 Advantage Edition SOLVED

2021-10-19

TLDR (Possible) Solution:
1. Disable ARMOURY CRATE Service in services.msc. But Armoury Crate app will not start anymore.
2. OR
3. Delete DenoiseAI plugin

Tracking Down the issue

Root Cause WMI Provider Host High CPU

We see WMI Provider host has high CPU (~30% in my case), but how do we figure out why?

1. Click start
2. Search Event Viewer and start as admin
3. On the left, expand Applications and Services Logs -> Microsoft -> Windows -> WMI-Activity
4. I see Errors appearing every few seconds
5. I notice a few ones that keep appearing
6. I see it's caused by Asus, and more specifically ArmouryCrate.exe

Id = {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}; ClientMachine = DESKTOP-A; User = DESKTOP-A\A; 
ClientProcessId = 100208; Component = Unknown; Operation = Start IWbemServices::CreateInstanceEnum - root\WMI : ASUSATKWMI_WMNB;
ResultCode = 0x80041003; PossibleCause = Unknown

Id = {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}; ClientMachine = DESKTOP-A; User = DESKTOP-A\A; 
ClientProcessId = 100208; Component = Unknown; Operation = Start IWbemServices::CreateInstanceEnum - root\WMI : ASUSManagement; 
ResultCode = 0x80041010; PossibleCause = Unknown

Id = {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}; ClientMachine = DESKTOP-A; User = DESKTOP-A\A; 
ClientProcessId = 100208; Component = Unknown; Operation = Start IWbemServices::ExecNotificationQuery - ROOT\CIMV2 :
SELECT * FROM __InstanceCreationEvent WITHIN 1 WHERE TargetInstance ISA 'Win32_Process' and TargetInstance.Name = 'ArmouryCrate.exe'; 
ResultCode = 0x80041032; PossibleCause = Unknown

Get More Info with Process Monitor

1. Download Process Monitor from Microsoft
2. Set filters that would track process creation. Let's track ArmouryCrate.exe
3. I set Process Name and Path contains for asus ASUS crate CRATE
4. I set Operation is Process Create
5. I see the following processes constantly being created
6. ArmouryCrate.UserSessionHelper.exe AsusSplendid.exe and ArmouryCrate.DenoiseAI.exe
7. So it seems like DenoiseAI is failing to run I guess? It keeps retrying?
8. Can I disable it?

Solutions

What Didn't Work

1. Going into the DenoiseAI.exe path and setting the process to always run as admin - DIDN'T WORK
2. Renaming the DenoiseAI binary so that maybe Armoury Crate would stop trying to use it - DIDN'T WORK
3. ^ The other processes just kept being created
2. Setting the ArmouryCrate process to always run as admin - DIDN'T WORK
3. Disabling DenoiseAI in output/input in sound settings - DIDN'T WORK

SOLUTION: What Did Work

Option 1. Disable ARMOURY CRATE service

1. Start Services as admin
2. Find ARMOURY CRATE Service
3. Right click Properties
4. Change Startup type to Disabled
5. Click Stop
6. Process usage should drop
7. Process Monitor shouldn't show any more processes being created
8. Event Viewer should stop showing the errors
9. ARMOURY CRATE app probably won't start anymore. You won't be able to use it.

Option 2. Delete Denoise Plugin

1. Copy Denoise AI directory path from Process Monitor
2. ^ eg C:\Program Files\ASUS\ARMOURY CRATE Service
3. Move the folder DenoiseAIPlugin out of that folder
4. Start Services as admin
5. Restart ARMOURY CRATE Service
6. Process usage should drop
7. Process Monitor shouldn't show any more processes being created
8. Event Viewer should stop showing the errors
9. Note: When the app updates the Denoise plugin might get reinstalled

Now I'm down to a constant ~0.1% - ~0.3%