How To Fix 100% Disk Usage Windows 10 Task Manager

Windows Task Manager is a useful tool that provides information about system performance. Occasionally, the Task Manager in Windows 10 displays 100% Disk Usage. When this happens, your computer slows down to the point where it is nearly impossible to use. Furthermore, 100% Disk Usage puts strain on your hard disk and may result in serious damage.

100% Disk Usage on Windows 10

Fortunately, by following a set of troubleshooting steps, the issue can be resolved.

1. Update Device Drivers

A faulty device driver is very likely to be the source of the issue. The best course of action is to update the device driver. Driver updates for Windows 10 are usually delivered and installed automatically. However, the rollout may take some time, and you may need to manually update or reinstall the driver in some cases. To manually update device drivers on Windows 10, follow the steps below.

Open Device Manager.
Select Disk Drives and click on the arrow to see devices under it.
Right-click the drive that Windows 10 is installed on.

Now click on the Update Driver option.

Select Search automatically for updated driver software.
Select Update Driver.
If Windows is not able to find a new driver, then you can head over to the manufacturers’ website and check for an update.
Restart your system, Open Task Manager, and check the Disk column in the Processes tab. If it is not showing 100%, then you have fixed the issue. If not, then proceed to the next step.

2. Disable Superfetch

Superfetch is a feature in Windows that analyzes RAM usage patterns in the background and preloads “frequently used” apps into the RAM. The feature is intended to make app launch times faster. On Windows 10, however, Superfetch is known to cause disk performance issues. Disabling SuperFetch is the best way to find out. Here’s how to disable SuperFetch:

Press Windows Key and X simultaneously and click on Command Prompt (Admin).
Click Yes on the User Account Control prompt.
Type the following in the command prompt, and hit Enter.

net.exe stop superfetch

If the command above fails, try this one.

net.exe stop sysmain.

Once again, head over to Task Manager and check the Disk column. If it is not showing 100%, then you have fixed the issue; if not, then proceed to the next solution.

3. Run a Disk Check (CHKDSK)

Open Command Prompt with admin rights.
Click Yes on the User Account Control prompt
Type the following command in the command prompt,

chkdsk.exe /f /r

Hit Enter and Y to confirm the changes.
Restart your computer. Please note that your PC will take an unusually long time to restart due to the Disk Check.
Open Task Manager and check the Disk column for disk usage.

4. Reset Virtual Memory

A combination of RAM and a portion of hard disk space is referred to as virtual memory. When there isn’t enough RAM to complete a task, data is typically offloaded to Virtual Memory. The data is temporarily moved to the HDD and then returned to RAM when needed. To Reset Virtual Memory, follow these steps.

Open Run by typing Windows+R keyboard shortcut.
Type sysdm.cpl in Run.
Open the Advanced tab and click Settings under the Performance menu.

Go to the Advanced tab in the Performance Options menu.

Click on Change in the Virtual memory section.

Ensure Automatically manage paging file size for all drives is unticked.
Click on C: or any other drive on which you have installed Windows.
Now you need to enter an Initial Size and Maximum Size for the virtual memory. As far as Initial Size is concerned, set your preferred value. If you are unsure, then enter the number mentioned as Recommended. Maximum Size should not exceed 1.5 times as that of physical RAM. For instance, if your system runs on 4GB RAM, then the Maximum size should not exceed 6.1GB.
Click on Ok and apply the changes.
Press Windows+R.
Type temp, and press Enter.
Select all the files and press Shift+Delete.

After you’ve completed the above steps, go to Task Manager and check the Disk column; if it’s not showing 100%, you’ve solved the problem; if it is, move on to the next step.

5. Repair StorAHCI.sys driver

Some Advanced Host Controller interface PCI-Express models are known to cause problems when used with the StorAHCI.sys driver. In other words, a problem with the StorAHCI.sys driver could lead to a 100 percent disk usage issue in Windows 10. Repair the StorAHCI.sys driver by following these steps.

Open Device Manager.
Click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers.

Double click Standard SATA AHCI Controller.

Go to Driver Tab> Driver Detail.
If you are running the AHCI driver, then the storahci.sys path of the system32 folder will be visible. This is to check whether or not you are running the AHCI driver. If you are, proceed to the next step. If you aren’t, you will not be able to use this fix.
On this same window, go to the Details tab.
Select Device Instance Path from the dropdown menu.

1. Copy the path starting from “VEN.”
2. Open Start Menu, type regedit, and press Enter to run Registry Editor.
3. Go to the following key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\ <AHCI Controller>\<Unique Nubmer>\Device Parameters\Interrupt Management\MessageSignaledInterruptProperties

1. Replace <AHCI Controller>, <Unique Number> with the path copied in the previous step.

Open the MSISupported key and change Value data to 0.
Click on Ok to apply changes.

Conclusion

We hope the steps above were helpful in resolving the 100% Disk Usage issue on Windows. When your system becomes sluggish, we recommend using the Windows Task Manager. This way, you’ll have a better understanding of the problem and be able to troubleshoot it using various methods.