TrustedInstaller.exe process
I've seen a lot of people complain about this process. I never have had any trouble until I purchased my laptop. When I start Windows, the trustedinstaller process completely confiscates one of the processor cores for about 7minutes. This happens every time I power down and restart. Is there going to be a patch or update that tells this damn process to only run at a certain time? BTW, I tell the updates to install at 3:00am and here it is 6:02pm and I just got a notice that new updates are availible are are being installed in the background. So much for an install scheduler. Anyone have any sugestions on how to stop this from happening?
September 13th, 2007 6:04pm

I sure would like Microsoft to get off their *** about this and explain what's going on and give us a fix to keep it from locking our upcomputers.There's nothing worse than trying to watch a movie with my girl, and my computer lockingup beyond being able to do anything, whatsoever. I'm glad I don't do much online gaming anymore because that would totally screw up a good game. And just as OP said, I've seen too many complaints about this to not have seen any response from Microsoft. However, if there is one, let's get the word out, please!!
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September 16th, 2007 5:22am

This just started on my laptop in September and now Vista runs like Windows 3.1 What does it do and why and basically it has rendered my machine unuasable. Here we are 20 minutes from startup and the cpu (dual core) is still at 90%
October 9th, 2007 9:52pm

It's supposedly the Windows Update process kicking off.But yes why the f*** does it chew up 50+ % of the cpu (for me) at a random time? It's a pain in the rear when you are playing a game and then all of a sudden it decides to run lagging my game down completely.I mean seriously why couldn't MS have made it smarter to like oooo I don't know maybe have the user set it run at a user specified time (and no I don't want Windows Update to auto download and install updates) or hmmm wait until the computer has been idled for sometime before kicking it off?Geez maybe I should work for MS?This better be fixed in SP1 because I am really starting to regret purchasing Vista with the issues that I have been having with it.
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October 16th, 2007 6:34am

I have had the same issue with Vista recently and I think I figured out how to go about shutting it off.It started happening after I tried to download all of the updates and language packs at once.Go to your control panel--> Administrative Tools-->ServicesScroll down through the list of services to Microsoft Update.Click on it. In the upper left corner select Stop process.Now, right click on the Microsoft Update line and choose PropertiesUnder the General tab choose Startup type: Manual.Go to the Recovery TabFor First Faliure choose Take No Action and click Ok.Then...back out of those screens.From your desktop do the three finger salute (CTRL ALT DEL) and start the Task managerUnder the Processes tab find the Trustedinstaller.exeRight click on it and choose End process tree.This has worked for me so far. It should stay gone after a reboot. If not, try the shut-off process again.
November 3rd, 2007 4:12pm

I am willing to give this a try but will this prevent the automatic updates from being done? Meaning will i have to manually go in and check for updates on a weekly bassis?
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November 15th, 2007 6:39pm

I do not know the configuration of your computer, but I have no such issue on my laptop. It does check for updates at startup and I like that idea, but no major or even minor delay. My laptop is a bit beefy with a dual core duo and 4 gb of RAM. Vista, like every OS MS comes out with needs considerably more resources that the recommended to function well.
November 15th, 2007 6:47pm

Why has this post (by Richard Civil) been marked as an 'answer'. My laptop works fine - even with aero enabled UNTIL trunstedinstaller.exe starts, which takes up at least 50% CPU - and thats only when I can see the CPU value in task manager - often I cant even start task manager! My laptop has dual core, 2.16GHz, 1GB ram.The 'answer' given is quite condescending, and causes the post to even come up on this page: http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=718&SiteID=17 as one of the top 5 viewed answers and it doesnt even answer the question. Surely if it is one of the top 5 viewed issues this tells you something about how many people are having this problem.
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November 26th, 2007 7:28am

I have unmarked my post as an answer. I have no intention of being condescending, and I apologize if it came off that way. I just know that I do not experience the same thing with a well powered computer. I do not know what version of Vista you are running, but if it is Ultimate 1GB of RAM will not give you as much performance as the OS is capable of. Something you might want to try until a fix is found is Process Lasso. http://www.bitsum.com/prosuper.asp This is from their website: "Process Lasso is a unique new technology intended to automatically adjust the allocation of CPU cycles so that system responsiveness is improved in high-load situations. It does this by dynamically temporarily lowering the priorities of processes that are consuming too many CPU cycles, there-by giving other processes a chance to run if they are in need. This is useful for both single and multi-core processors. No longer will a single process, even at normal priority, be able to bring your system to a virtual stall."
November 26th, 2007 10:43am

Thank you for changing your post from being an 'answer'.Thank you also for implying the issue needs a 'fix' - thus agreeing that it is an issue, and not just something users with lower spec PCs have to put up with. I would certainly not accept that a PC, even with the recommended minimum system requirements, should effectively stop working for ten minutes whenever it feels like it.I will try 'Process Lasso'. Thanks for the suggestion.One thing still puzzles me though - why does windows update still need all that CPU time when I have it set to 'check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them'?
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November 26th, 2007 11:26am

I tried process lasso. I realise process lasso is nothing to do with microsoft, and I include my experience here purely as a warning for other uses that it might not be the workaround (for trustedinstaller the issue) you hoped for. I have no complaints about process lasso - after all it is free software - it just didnt work for me.It managed to downgrade the priority of trustedinstaller.exe once. But now it's processgovernor.exe (the engine part of process lasso) that uses 50% of my CPU (one of the dual cores I guess) so I am no further forward. It did manage to downgrade processgovernor once, but not since. Oh the irony! It also leaks about 3Mb of memory every second - yesterday it got to about 2Gb - although this seems to be only when the GUI is running.I hope microsoft are not using the existence of process lasso to justify ignoring the trustedinstaller issue by saying there is a 'workaround'.I used to think people who complained about vista on these forums were not being very productive. But now I completely agree with them. I'm even thinking about getting a copy of XP and putting it on my PC - but I am reluctant to let an issue caused by Microsoft software to force me to spend even more money on Microsoft software!Any idea when we might see a fix for the trustedinstaller issue? Or an indication from Microsoft that 1) they acknowledge there is an issue and 2) are working towards a fix?Thanks
November 27th, 2007 9:56am

A bug report should be issued on this. If you are using Vista SP1 beta, you can file a report from the connect website. If you are using the RTM version, a process of submitting bug reports is being worked out. For now try http://support.microsoft.com/gp/contactbug/. Please keep in mind that "Microsoft" does not monitor these newsgroups for problems. Microsoft has moderators from both employees and others to try and assist people to find answers when possible. Bug reports are a very important part of the process. Microsoft does monitor bug reports. When an issue is determined to NOT be configuration, user error or other similar things, but an actual error in the code, a report should be made. HTH
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November 27th, 2007 4:58pm

I didnt know there was a Vista SP1 beta is there a timescale yet for the public release? Not that this will necessarily help this problem it has escaped through beta testing once, so why not this time? And members of the public wont have reported it yet BECAUSE THEY CANT!!!!!! I realise that maybe you are not the person who should be having to deal with any of this but Microsoft do not make it easy for us. They force us to use Vista on new PCs and then have no way for us to report bugs!!!!!??????? The forums are our only hope. Can you tell I am a bit frustrated? As I mentioned previously, this issue was listed on the vista security support page as one of the top 5 viewed answers. Surely Microsoft has the sense to keep an eye on what issues are arising for such large numbers of its users???? (Or maybe they have ignored it because an answer was already provided?) Ive just followed the link you posted on the forum for submitting the bug It takes me to a page with a single link on it, which then takes me to the contact page for Microsoft UK in Reading (just down the road from me as it happens). I have been to this page many times before in my endless, cyclic search for a page to report the bug. Are you sure that the Reading office, which I am sure has nothing to do with technical issues, will want to hear about a bug report? And there isnt even an email address for them! Just a national rate phone line and postal address. Perhaps I will turn up at their office and explain the bug to the receptionist. If a system for reporting bugs is still being worked out, what exactly are the Reading office going to do with it? And I am one of the lucky ones I understand enough to discover that it is a particular process which is part of the OS causing the problem many users probably think it is something theyve done to make the PC grind to a halt and feel even more frustrated. Also, I have dual core, so at least only 50% of may machine gets hijacked by the bl**dy thing.
November 28th, 2007 1:26pm

I am not sure what link on the page you are refering to. When I followhttp://support.microsoft.com/gp/contactbug/I see the following: Report a Microsoft Product Bug If you think you have found a bug in a Microsoft product, contact our Microsoft Product Support Services department.(800) MICROSOFT (642-7676) I have not called the number, but it sure looks like a place to report bugs. The only links on the page are: Help and Support Home | Select a Product | Advanced Search and the standard search links. Try the phone and let us know how it works out. (not being scarcastic, really want to know)
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November 28th, 2007 11:11pm

I have a intel dual core at 2.13ghz with 2gb of ram running Vista Ultimate 64-bit and the trusted installer process uses 50% of my cpu at random times. I also notice alot of seemingly pointless disk activity. Periods of 15-20 of my HD just grinding while i do nothing(type this post).
November 28th, 2007 11:19pm

The only explanation I can think of why you see different pages to me is that I am in the UK, and they (microsoft) probably serve up different pages to us - probably because we are not capable of reporting bugs - or perhaps they couldnt cope with the deluge of reports they would get if they opened it up to the whole world?Even the first two links from the latest post get me nowhere - eventually leading to the Microsoft UK postal address in Reading. And the 'advanced search' came up with at most 2 results - both relating to the 'trustedinstaller' user account/group'. It didnt even come up with this thread - despite including technet content in the search options.They don't make it easy do they?I will not be trying the phone numbers, out of principle - I wont pay them even more of my money to highlight their bugs - which have clearly (based on their own website) been experienced by many, many users, who have already highlighted them on these pages. If they monitored the 'top 5 most viewed answers' then they would already know about the issue - and how many people are experiencing it.Give me a simple web page where I can report the bug and I will do so.
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November 29th, 2007 7:39am

"I also notice alot of seemingly pointless disk activity. Periods of 15-20 of my HD just grinding while i do nothing(type this post)." That is often caused by the index service. I always turn indexing off on my computers. Vista does handle it better than previous OSs, but it still takes a lot of I/O. The index is only used if you search for documents by their content. I turn it off for each drive and turn it on for a couple of document folders. It does make searches faster, but only for text in documents.
November 29th, 2007 9:01pm

Please can anyone in the US, who is affected by this bug, use the links provided above to REPORT THIS BUG to MICROSOFT. (i.e. the trustedinstaller.exe bug on vista whereby it suddenly and unpredictably consumes as much CPU as it can get for long periods, e.g. 10 minutes and more, thus debilitating the PC)The bug reporting links above DO NOT WORK FROM THE UK. So if you can report it from the states that would be much appreciated.Many thanks.
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December 1st, 2007 4:04pm

I'd just like to add... I have 8 gigs of DDR3, ... dual 3.4ghz CPU... and 8 stripped disks (super pimped gaming machine) and even though this only takes 50% of 1 CPU.. it still kills somthing, .. maybe disk IO or handles or something, who knows.. prolly kernel, lol It's not a matter of having a turd PC, i'll vouch for that. Also on 64-bit Vista Ultimate. when this thing kicks off, it hoses the WHOLE pc, clicks take 5-10 minutes to respond. it's supporting my smoker habit by forcing me to go smoke while it's doing whater the heck it's doing. I found 2 work-arounds fixes online for it.. (http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/201251.aspx) 1.) Lower the process priority to the lowest it can be.. (if you can get the task manager up) 2.) when it's finally taking a break and gives you your PC back.. just go to the Services window, and turn it to manual until the fix comes out, lol. #2 item seems to be incorrect,the Service is already Manual. I'll just keep mine disabled until i want to do a Windows-Update. as per the service's description:: " Enables installation, modification, and removal of Windows updates and optional components. If this service is disabled, install or uninstall of Windows updates might fail for this computer. "
December 6th, 2007 3:47am

Just to summerize this again as it is causing me and lots of other people alot of trouble. Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services > Scroll down to Windows Update and right click, select stop and let Windows terminate the service. I would advise not following more steps than listed here (Setting it to Manual etc.) unless you are confident in your abilities to update your computer manually, as you wouldn't want to miss any important updates. Just be careful that you don't turn it off at start up everytime and never get any updates. I would be careful about ending the process directly from the Taskmanager. Doing so could possibly cause system instability and crash your computer. After stoping the"Windows Update" service TrustedInstall.exe should close by itself. I'm running Windows Vista Ultimate on a IBM Thinkpad T43 with 1.5 gigs of ram. I'm in the USA fyi if people were looking for the USA perspective on this problem.
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December 18th, 2007 10:20pm

I've seen this on a my test PC running Vista Ultimate. Lowering priority of a processor does get the system going but that isn't a fix since process priority changes on reboot and even with lower priority it still maxes out CPU. It seem to me that a problem is linked to windows updates like some pointed out here(Forcing the process to be manual post). Windows XP SP2 had a very similar problem around 2nd Q of 07 after a batch of updates came out one month and svchost.exe would choke up processor to a 100% a day after till it would determine that there is no updates available. MS noticed the bug and released a follow up to it shortly afterdescribed in 916089 article. I've experienced that one 1st hand in different environments. Seem like developers need to apply the same logic to Vista. I wonder if it is Vista Ultimate related problem... Thanks for Report a bug post, I'll report it with my findings to Redmond later tonight!
January 8th, 2008 6:39pm

I would just like to add, that on my current system (Vista Ultimate x64) it seems to do its thing when I run Windows Media Player. Makes it completely unusable.
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January 9th, 2008 7:55pm

Also seeing this problem on a Dell XPS 1210, dual core, 2GB RAM running Ultimate 32bit. TrustedInstaller takes up 50% of the CPU (presumably, one of the two cores) although I've set updates to manual and stopped the service (what is this, a zombie? Die TrustedInstaller, Die!). Another offending service is mcupdate (the media center update) which I've scheduled to run once a month but still seems to be running whenever it feels like.So I've repartitioned my hard drive, installed XP on one of the partitions and voila - the laptop runs like a beast out of hell and I can watch movies without stops and stuters. I've tried everything to get Vista working - disabled indexing, disabled Aero (the laptop has an nVidia graphics card in), put the laptop on maximum performance in the power settings (all this after doing a clean factory re-install and removing all the crapware Dell puts on). A nice Dell rep claimed SP1 should help although he warned me against installing the RC version as it blue screened a few of their machines.
January 12th, 2008 3:07pm

Greetings everyone, This is my first post here in ages! Just wanted to share my set up with y'all. I am using an HP TX1220 series notebook with 2 gigs of DDR3 (I think) RAM, a 2.2GHz Turion64x2 CPU, with Windows Vista Home Premium. This notebook is in a production environment. Almost no beta software at all. I didn't install the Vista SP1 Release Candidate, nor did Iinstallanything all week. Last night, Friday the 18th of January, for the first timesince I bought this laptop back in August, my CPU is stuck at 50-70% thanks to TrustedInstaller.exe. I keep this notebook fairly clean, and I have been proud to see a CPU usage at 0-3% when I typically don't do much. Right now, my disk activity isn't really moving; my network bandwidth is pretty much at zero, yet here I am with a CPU at 50%, thanks to Trusted Installer. I did notice that it affects one of the CPU cores a lot. Right now, the process has appeared to have stopped, and now HPHC.exe (Hewlett Packard Health Check) is using a good 40% of my CPU...again, one core up to 100%. Unreal. It's amazing... each week, another one of my colleagues switches to using a Mac. "It just works!" they all say. I guess we'll see what happens! I just wanted to share my setup with you, in terms of my PC, CPU, Windows Edition and RAM.
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January 19th, 2008 9:44am

I am experiencing the same issue on my Vista Ultimate install on my Dell Latitude D820 with 2gb ram and 2.16ghz processor. 50% cpu utilization (1 of 2 cores)for TrustedInstaller.exefor 10 minutes or so at seemingly random times. Right in the middle of a presentation this can be deadly. Very similar to what was happening a year ago under XP with svchost.exe which was fixed when a hotfix was released for windows update. This one needs to be fixed, and soon...its a real productivity killer! Sean
January 21st, 2008 5:50pm

At our company most of the users that recently migrated to Vista are also experiencing this issue of trustedinstaller high CPU consumption. We run Dell Latitutdes with Vista Ultimate Core 2 Duo, 2.0Ghz CPU, with 2GB of RAM and 120 GB HDD running at 7200rpm, and 128 Graphic Memory. PC's take forever to boot, seems like 10-15min. before they became usable in some cases and thats affecting users ability to perform daily tasks. I can only hope that MS is on top of this issue otherwise Ill move to Apple or go back to XP. My last hope is in Vista SP1, if the issue(s) isnt resolved by it then Ill jump MS ship It seems to me as the trustedinstaller is not only updating MS security, but also somehow interacting with other products that use or scheduled auto updates. Example McAfee, Adobe, etc.... or am I wrong to assume that? Thanks,
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January 29th, 2008 3:47pm

Hi everyone, I just came across this thread while trying to figure out what was happening on my laptop. Based on my research, this issue "trustedinstaller.exe taking 100% CPU when starting computer" should be resolved in Vista SP1. Please note that I'm not active in this forum (I support Exchange Server), but I'll try to pop back in a couple of days in case there are any more questions. Kind regards, Edwin. Customer Support Services Microsoft Deutschland GmbH
January 31st, 2008 5:04am

I tried this. It seemed to work ... sorta. Trustedinstaller.exe dies and i get my computer back. However, 3 min later trustedinstaller.exe is back, its just not using the amount of processor power. Its there, but barely registering 0-1%. SP1 is supposed to be out in Feb. I hope this fixes it, as this hoses my games when im playing them and im on a pretty beefy gaming system.
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February 5th, 2008 8:24pm

Problem indeed is being solved by SP1(as well as beta and it works after you roll back sp1) but also, my system came back to live after i installed all 3 prerequisites for sp1. Didn't have that problem since those updates were installed. Hope that helps.
February 20th, 2008 5:59pm

Thanks, bunches, Scootr! I had to make two attempts, but I finally managed to shut down that damed Trusted Installer. Thanks for your help! I don't know if it's due to my particular edition of Vista, but the item you called "Microsoft Update" is called "Windows Modules Installer." Since I stopped it yesterday, it hasn't reared its ugly head again.
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May 5th, 2008 8:29pm

Hi Can you still do updates after disabling the Windows Modules Installer? The hanging sounds like an unsucessful attempt of installing Windows update packs (this is the purpose of the TrustedInstaller.exe process) and entering a loop state. Could you guys tell me if you have downloaded any win updates prior to the problem? Could you check the Reliability and Performance Monitor? Thanks
May 6th, 2008 2:01am

No, if you truly "Disable" the service.. by setting the service state to Disabled (vs. Manual).. windows update will error out saying it can't get updates. You actually have to go into Service manager, enable it, then windows-update.. then if needed, re-disable it after your done. I could not tell you if there was a particular update that cuase the issue originally, it took me quite some time to figure out what was wrong. It almost seemed to have been a problem ever since a fresh install... but, then again i always do a full update immediately after an install, so it still could have been one of them. Performance monitor doesn't report anything usefull, since the process doesn'treportany errors, it just runs, sucking up the CPU. PS: This should actually be a non-issue now (at least for me). It does appear to have been fixed in SP1, I enabled it for that update (and got a few others while it was updating), and have not seen the issue since.
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May 6th, 2008 12:27pm

Shannon is right on on all accounts.I apologize for my delay between posts. I believe SP1 fixed the trusted installer issue, too, but it knocked out my internet until I figured out what the heck was happening. Things appear to be groovy, so far... *fingers crossed*
May 6th, 2008 10:12pm

i just want you to know that having 4 gb of ram in your 32 bit laptop is just a waste do to the fact that a 32 bit operating system can only handle 3gb. the total amount of ram that your system is taking from that extra gb of ram is around 0.1 - 0.3 unless you have a 64 bit.
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July 19th, 2008 2:17am

This also effect Windows 2008 Server. I've installed servers running Windows 2008 and turstedinstaller.exe is a pain.Physical servers have 16GB of RAM and virtual servers have 3.5GB of RAM each, running on dual Quad Core. Everytime trustedinstaller start, performance go down drasticaly which is really bad in a production environment. I have found no real fix to this so far the works. On virtual servers the impact is really bad and sometimes the VM stops responding completly! Let's hope for a fix.....
July 29th, 2008 10:49pm

I stopped Background Intelligent Transfer Service temporarily.
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August 14th, 2008 7:51pm

I tried this, because TrustedInstaller will not allow me to delete WordPad. (I'm trying to force Windows 7 to recognize WINWORD.EXE) Unfortunately, Microsoft Update is not listed there, and neither is TrustedInstaller. As it stands now, Windows 7 will not allow me to use MS Word 2000, nor will it allow me to run SETUP on my Marine Aquarium 2.0 disk. Apparently, if it is not a 64 bit program, it will not work on Windows 7. Very strange...
January 12th, 2010 10:43pm

i personly have a much worse problem to report about trustedinstaller.EXE it has an error or a bug and refuses to allow windows to update it simply comes up with "windows module installer has stopped working" every time i try to update windows i have even tried manually downloading SP1 from the microsoft website to no avail someone please help
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June 12th, 2010 2:24am

Here you will find the detailed information about TrustedInstaller.exe.mui and how to fix TrustedInstaller.exe.mui error easily and effectively.
April 5th, 2011 4:57am

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