Precisely for all this, in these same lines we are going to talk about WSAPPX and the importance that it sometimes has in the operating system itself.
What is WSAPPX?
It is a process that runs in the background on our Windows computer and is responsible for handling different tasks such as UWP apps and the official Windows store. In other words, it mainly focuses on operating, installing, removing and updating all the apps from the Microsoft Store.
It also includes two threads that can be seen in the Task Manager as they are ClipSVC and AppXSVC. In Windows 8 there is a thread called WSService or Windows Store Servicewhich is very similar to the one called ClipSVC what can we find in Windows 10 and 11. These provide the infrastructure support for the official Microsoft store, so if we disable it, the store applications will not work. Likewise, both processes are designed to protect us from piracy of Windows Store applications. We will not find this problem in Windows 7 since this version of Windows did not include support for the Microsoft application store, a store that landed with the launch of Windows 8.
On the other hand, the process AppXSVC, is responsible for deploying these UWPs, so it runs every time we install, update, or remove a tool from the Windows Store. In the same way that happens in Android with applications with an APK extension, we can load AppX files on our PC whenever we need them.
Since these threads run under the WSAPXX process, we will sometimes see their use it affects a high consumption of the equipment, at the moment that any of them is active. By the time we are done installing or updating all the store apps, we can turn it off to save some CPU or hard drive usage.
Some users think that it is a virus or something related to the WhatsApp for Windows application, due to its name. However, it is neither a virus nor is it related to the WhatsApp application. The reason why some users think that it is a virus is due to the actual name of the process, since, unlike others, its name does not offer us additional information about what mission it is on our computer. Like any other background process, there are many factors that can cause its activity to increase at any given time on our computer and affect the general performance of our computer, a problem that we are going to address in this article.
When is this process active?
In general, the WSAPPX process is only active when we are using the Windows store. Either at the time of installing an application or an update which causes the consumption of resources to rise. Similar happens when we install any Win32 software in the traditional way. Not surprisingly, its installation processes also consume a lot of resources during that time.
If we take into account the importance of this official store in the Microsoft operating system, we can understand the resource consumption of this process in question.
We can find it by opening the Task Manager, pressing the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl + Alt + Del”. Later we click on the Processes tab. Here we will find a list of active processes so we will have to scroll to the bottom to find it, right in the “Windows Processes” section. Windows considers WSAPPX as a vital processso if we end it through the task manager, it can cause the system to become more unstable and shut down.
In the event that we are not using the Microsoft Store, but it appears that the WSAPPX process remains active, it may be due to some pending update which is done in the background of any UWP app. This is something that we can deactivate if we want from the Store itself. Also, keep in mind that many tools that both Windows 10 and Windows 11 incorporate by default are UWP, so they also make use of this process. For example, we are referring to applications such as Calendar, Mail, Photos or the Calculator, among others.
In short, the importance of this element in the operating system is high, so we should not close it when it is running. In the event that the consumption of resources is very high, it is advisable to wait a few minutes for it to finish its work. Otherwise we could damage some of the applications that we have downloaded from the Microsoft Store if, for example, it is in the middle of the update process.
Can I forcefully close the WSAPPX process?
This is one of those processes that Windows considers critical and necessary for the entire operating system to function properly. Therefore, we must not end it by forcenot even when we are having the problems that we have already explained.
If we try to close it by force from the task manager we will see a message that will indicate that, if we do so, our computer may start to work unstable. In addition, we cannot have control over this process, since it is Windows itself that opens it when it needs it, and suspends it when it is no longer necessary. Therefore, if we force its closure, we can be sure that, sooner or later, it will be executed again.
Kill excessive CPU usage of the process
Having the hard drive or the CPU running at full capacity is not a good sign for the computer, as it will prevent us from using other applications with ease, causing slowdowns, and there may even be times when our PC does not respond. At the moment there is still no real solution, but it is possible to carry out certain actions to mitigate its effect.
Next, we are going to see several tips to end the excessive use of these processes.
Prevent apps from updating
Since these applications are an important part of the system, it is not recommended to disable their automatic updates. In this way we can be up to date with each of them without having to be aware that a new version has been released in order to download it.
However, in the event that we want to disable automatic updates, we just have to type Microsoft Store in the Start menu search box and open the entry. With the new design of the store, we must click on the button of our profile and then on “Application settings”. Now we just have to click on the slider of the box “App Updates” to disable it.
Update PC drivers
On many occasions, a high use of the CPU or hard drive in our system is related to the fact that we have installed drivers for our devices that are defective or incompatible. That is why we must have them updated to the latest version available.
To do this, press the keyboard shortcut “Windows + X”, and from the menu we select the “Device Manager”. Here we must make sure that there is none that has a symbol in the shape of a yellow triangle with an exclamation point. If we find any, it means that there are problems with the driver, so we must deploy it, click on it with the right mouse button and click on “Update driver”.
Disable the Microsoft Store
In the event that we do not use the Windows store, the truth is that it is possible to deactivate it and thus alleviate the problem of hard disk use. This is something we can do from the Group Policy Editorboth in Windows 11 and in the Pro and Enterprise versions of Windows 10.
To do this we press the Windows + R key combination which opens the Run command. Here, we write gpedit.msc and press Enter or the OK button. Later we navigate the following route:
Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Store
Here we will double click on the section “Disable the Store app”. This will open a new window where we must change the status to “Enabled”. Later click on Apply and Accept to save the changes. All that remains is to restart the computer for the changes to take effect.
Check for viruses
There are occasions where this problem may be caused by an infection from a virus or malware in our system, so it is convenient to perform a scan with our antivirus. In the case of Windows Defender the process is very simple. We must write Windows Security in the Start menu search box and select it.
Subsequently, click on “Antivirus and threat protection” and then on “Exam options”. Here we can try a first try with a “Quick Test”. In case we want to be more sure, we can try a “Complete Exam” that will last a longer time. Once finished we restart the computer and check if there are any changes.
check disk
Although it is rare, it can also happen that this process has problems, and consumes much more resources than it should, due to a problem with the hard disk. To solve it, what we have to do is use the well-known chkdsk tool to analyze the entire PC, detect problems in the file system, and solve them.
To do this, we will open a CMD window, with administrator permissions, and execute the following:
chkdsk /f /r
We let the analysis complete, and that’s it. After restarting the PC we can check if we still have the problems with the WSAPPX, or if they have been solved.
Remove the latest Windows update
Most likely, we found this problem that has appeared overnight on our computer in the latest update that we have installed on our computer. It is not surprising that the occasional update that Microsoft releases for Windows ends up hurting the performance of the computer, if we take into account that this operating system works on millions of completely different computers, with very different components and configurations from one another.
If none of the options that we have shown you above solve this problem, one of the last options that we can try is to uninstall the latest update on the computer. To uninstall the latest update, we must access the configuration options of Windows – Updates and security and click on see updates to write down the code of the latest update that has been installed on the computer.
Next, click on Uninstall updates, place the mouse over the update that we want to remove from our computer and click on Uninstall. Once the process has finished, we must restart the computer and check again if this problem has been solved. If so, we must wait a few days before returning to…
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