WDFME.exe Process Keeps Running

The WDFME process eats 80% of my CPU whether or not the drive is plugged in. Please WD fix his bug.

I wonder if my Logitech wecam drivers are to blame since I think (but not sure) it was working better before I installed the new webcam. 

I have  the latest WD software.

I came back from vacation yesterday, plugged my passport HD into my office computer and noticed the same problem with the WDFME process using most of my CPU and RAM.   Started searching for a solution and found this forum. 

I then started trying to figure out why this just started happening.  I normally just unplug the HD from the cable and take it home for backup, etc.  But, this time I was going on vacation and needed the usb cable. When I came back from vacation, I couldn’t remember which usb port I had been using.  I only had two open usb ports on the back of the computer.   I thought…what if the Western Digital File Management E  (WDFME.exe) process is trying to reindex all the files.  What if  all this is because I was using a different usb port?  I switched to the other usb port, rebooted and everything is back to normal.  The WDFME process is open but using 00 CPU and only 10,180k of memory! 

Problem solved for me by using the same usb port I always used for this WD HD.  I am guessing that if you have never used the HD on your computer before it will need to run this process to index all the files on the HD.  But, if you have used the HD on your computer, then try to consistantly use the same usb port?

Hope that helps some of you.

Mike

worldwideopt wrote:

I just called WD and was transferred to level 2 tech support after level 1 could not fix this issue.

Apparently the WDFME.EXE resource hog issue is a “known issue” and is being worked on by

the engineers.  He could not tell me when this would be fixed but said it would be fixed in a

future update to the software.  He suggested doing a backup and then either stopping the WDFME.EXE

process from task manager or just unintalling the software still you next update and the update is available.

 

My WDFME.EXE file was taking 100% of my CPU during file catagorization process and then stuck at 50% after it was done.  This was BEFORE I even plugged the external hard drive in.  After pluggin it in makes no difference to me.

 

I’ll wait for the update and do weekly backups only and stop the process of the file in between backups for now I guess.  You’d think that “engineers” as they called them would have the brains to test of all OS platforms before releasing the software.

This issue can’t be readily reproduced.  You are also assuming that you have the same root problem as others in this thread do.  I have worked directly with individuals that have had this issue and we did a targeted change in the 1.4.5.2 version of the software that fixed this issue for a sizable amount of people.  That being said, from my previous post, we are expecting more improvements in our next version to address this issue.  Our testing thus far has proven very promising.

You have got to be kidding!  What do you mean it can’t be readily reproduced?  Have you read the post in this forum?  I think all you have to do to reproduce it is install the software. 

Your last suggestion was to install the latest update.  That did nothing.  Just admit it is a real problem instead of trying to blow smoke and play the company line.

I found the fix.  Seagate!

srh2174 wrote:

You have got to be kidding!  What do you mean it can’t be readily reproduced?  Have you read the post in this forum?  I think all you have to do to reproduce it is install the software. 

 

Your last suggestion was to install the latest update.  That did nothing.  Just admit it is a real problem instead of trying to blow smoke and play the company line.

 

I found the fix.  Seagate!

Why don’t you try actually reading my posts before you decide attacking me again or you will find yourself removed.

This issue only occurs on very few systems

We have fixed this issue for some users not all

Although the symptoms are the same for the users having this problem, the root cause is not

The above reasons are why I say its not readily reproducible. 

I have installed 1.4.5.2 on my system (Win7 SP1).

I have a WD MyBookLive (no USB, just attached in my LAN).

I never run a SmartWare-Backup on this PC and I don’t wana do it since I have Win7 Ultimate with its integrated Backup here. Only installed the software to access the Drive as NAS.

After some time, I realized, that the CPU-Fan runs much louder than usual during work.

Today, I realized, that it is this ¦@#°§¬§°#@ WDFME.exe which is taking up one CPU (have a Quad Core, so CPU-Usage in Taskmanager is still 12% due to this intel threading thing, but in fact, its 100% of one CPU). Memory usage was 450MB.

This is absolutely inaceptable. I just wanted to have a NAS, nothing more.

How do I use WD MyBookLive as a NAS only without having to kill down my PC?

What is with the other PC’s in my Homenetwork which require the SmartWare Backup?

I mean, I have bougth the WD-Drive since I thought it is a good quality one with good software. But this is a nightmare.

I was just reading through the Thread " WD SmartWare using too many resources". This thread has been closed by an admin. He recommends to use an other Backup solution - for example Windows Backup.

THIS IS RIDICULOUS!

Many users out there have Windows 7 Home Premium. I do have this on 3 Home PC’s.

I bought WDMyBookLive to be able to backup these three PC’s.

SmartWare seems to be useless because of the Resource-Bug (CPU-Usage, Ram).

And I CAN’T USE WINDOWS BACKUP SINCE ITS LICENSE DOES NOT ALLOW ME TO DO A BACKUP ON A NAS.

Win7 Home Premium can only make Backups on locale drives attached by USB.

Unfortunately, WD MyBookLive does not come with USB.

So no way to use this drive for automatic backups.

How can I return this drive and get my money back?

schlm3 wrote:

I was just reading through the Thread " WD SmartWare using too many resources". This thread has been closed by an admin. He recommends to use an other Backup solution - for example Windows Backup.

 

THIS IS RIDICULOUS!

 

Many users out there have Windows 7 Home Premium. I do have this on 3 Home PC’s.

I bought WDMyBookLive to be able to backup these three PC’s.

SmartWare seems to be useless because of the Resource-Bug (CPU-Usage, Ram).

 

And I CAN’T USE WINDOWS BACKUP SINCE ITS LICENSE DOES NOT ALLOW ME TO DO A BACKUP ON A NAS.

 

Win7 Home Premium can only make Backups on locale drives attached by USB.

Unfortunately, WD MyBookLive does not come with USB.

 

So no way to use this drive for automatic backups.

 

How can I return this drive and get my money back?

I can send you a link to the WD Anywhere Backup software which will backup to a NAS, and you can use that or consider upgrading to the next Smartware version where this should be addressed.  If you do not want the drive, you can take it back to the place of purchase provided you are within their return policy.

Hi

Thanks for your reply.

Is the WD Anywhere Backup running on Win7 64bit now?

Does it support choosing which files to restore, or do I have to restore all files?

If it does, then I would appreciate a downloadlink.

Concerning the “consider upgrading to the next Smartware version where this should be addressed”, then I think I am not the only one that does not trust - these kind of problems seem to exist for years now…

Anyway, thanks for you help.

Sincerely

Markus

schlm3 wrote:

Hi

Thanks for your reply.

Is the WD Anywhere Backup running on Win7 64bit now?

Does it support choosing which files to restore, or do I have to restore all files?

 

If it does, then I would appreciate a downloadlink.

Concerning the “consider upgrading to the next Smartware version where this should be addressed”, then I think I am not the only one that does not trust - these kind of problems seem to exist for years now…

 

Anyway, thanks for you help.

 

Sincerely

Markus

I sent you a PM

I thought it was only me with an old box (2.5GHz) and 1.5G of RAM but after seeing what kind of specs others on this thread were using I was greatly relieved.

Here’s what I tried to stop the 99% CPU usage. Uncheck Mail in Detailed View (as suggested earlier in the thread). STOP all Backups in SmartWare. Remove WDDMStatus from the Startup directory in Start>AllPrograms>Startup. Start the program manually when necessary or until they find a fix. This did stop it from going to 99% (upon restart) BUT unfortunately it only brought it down to between 20 and 40% (fluctuating). Once I started SmartWare it soon returned to between 0 and 2%. After I then stopped the SmartWare, I am happy to report, it (WDFME) has remained at 0%.

As a software developer myself I can see how WD employees can get rather defensive about the product they are delivering, especially given the current business climate and their current market share. I hope they will have a fix soon.

That said, either you, WD, need to set up a few more test environments or you need to start enlisting the help of your customers. This sounds like a pretty common problem and if you can’t replicate it there seems to be a rather large disconnect from WD, it’s own software product and it’s customers.

Old_Man_Swampy wrote:

I thought it was only me with an old box (2.5GHz) and 1.5G of RAM but after seeing what kind of specs others on this thread were using I was greatly relieved.

 

Here’s what I tried to stop the 99% CPU usage. Uncheck Mail in Detailed View (as suggested earlier in the thread). STOP all Backups in SmartWare. Remove WDDMStatus from the Startup directory in Start>AllPrograms>Startup. Start the program manually when necessary or until they find a fix. This did stop it from going to 99% (upon restart) BUT unfortunately it only brought it down to between 20 and 40% (fluctuating). Once I started SmartWare it soon returned to between 0 and 2%. After I then stopped the SmartWare, I am happy to report, it (WDFME) has remained at 0%.

 

As a software developer myself I can see how WD employees can get rather defensive about the product they are delivering, especially given the current business climate and their current market share. I hope they will have a fix soon.

 

That said, either you, WD, need to set up a few more test environments or you need to start enlisting the help of your customers. This sounds like a pretty common problem and if you can’t replicate it there seems to be a rather large disconnect from WD, it’s own software product and it’s customers.

We have fixed 4 seperate issues with the same symptoms as this issue  and the feedback from the people that we verified were effected was positive.  This last problem that we seem to have found, effects 64-bit systems more, and is in fact related to the WDDMstatus as you have posted.  Our 1.5.x release has a targeted fix and our internal testing in which we were able to replicate this particular problem, the problem was fixed.

That’s good to hear. I had read in earlier postings that WD was unable to replicate the problem/s. I look forward to the next release. Any estimated date of release?

Old_Man_Swampy wrote:

That’s good to hear. I had read in earlier postings that WD was unable to replicate the problem/s. I look forward to the next release. Any estimated date of release?

I don’t have an ETA, but it is the next release.

WDFME.exe is set to run at the lowest priority.  Anything takes higher priority, but it will use up what CPU cycles are available.  It does not slow down normal applications with higher priority.  If by chance you have raised the priority of WDFME.exe to a higher priority, go to the processess tab in the windows task manager, right click on WDFME.exe, select Set Priority and change it back to low.  Do not disable it or you’ll loose background backup of your harddrive.

WDFME is the automatic backup.  It runs at the lowest priority but will use up all the available CPU cycles not being used by higher priority processes.  You have the option to pause backup until the computer is idle.  This is set on the WD SmartWare, setting tab.   This is not the default setting and so once backup begins your computer behavior will be slower if you have not selected this option.  

Robert your whole statement is filed with errors. WDFME.exe is set to run at NORMAL priority. Are you suggesting that all these people (myself included ) mistakenly changed the priority of the process in Task Manager and forgot we did it? “if by chance you have raised the priority ”? That is quite possibly the dumbest statement I have ever heard.

Has WD resorted to using really bad trolls for damage control or is this the author of the code trying to politically fix the problem? The software is broken. It installs at NORMAL priority and I as an Admin cannot change it. It uses ALL system resources.

Why shouldn’t I disable this software? What do you really have running in the background?

Seems like the cpu usage decreases better when not checking the option to pause smartware until computer is idle. When I had the external drive plugged into my laptop, Smartware was busy categorizing the files. After about 30 min. it finished and the cpu usage decreased to zero. Later, I was able to safely unplug the external drive and the cpu usage was still zero. So far, so good.

Even if the WDFME.exe process is at a low priority, it seems that the process is beating my disk drive to death. It  Right now the process has caused more than 3 billion page faults.

I thought not running SmartWare, turning backups to manual, would solve the problem, but now WDFME has taken over the CPU.     I have 1.4.5.2 installed.  Thanks for this THREAD!     Guess I’ll not start the process until another update comes out.  Better than throwing my computer out the window because it’s unusable :)!