'System' process - what does it do?

[Timboi]

I'm trying to troubleshoot an issue where system process is 95%. I've run
procXP and I thought this would tell me the actual process under the top
level 'system' process but the usage is actually on the system process and
not one of the processes further down the tree.

What does the 'mother' system porcess actually do?

Cheers,

Tim

 

[Paul]

I'm trying to troubleshoot an issue where system process is 95%. I've run
procXP and I thought this would tell me the actual process under the top
level 'system' process but the usage is actually on the system process and
not one of the processes further down the tree.

What does the 'mother' system porcess actually do?

Cheers,

Tim

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;263201&sd=tech

"System - You cannot end this process from Task Manager.

* Most system kernel-mode threads run as the System process.

System Idle Process - You cannot end this process from Task Manager.

* This process is a single thread running on each processor,
which has the sole task of accounting for processor time when
the system isn't processing other threads. In Task Manager,
expect this process to account for the majority of processor time.

(Picture of the system architecture)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Cc768129.winarc01_big(en-us,TechNet.10).gif

And more here on the system architecture.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc768129.aspx

"The system process

This process contains system threads, which are kernel mode threads.
Windows and various device drivers create system process threads for
various reasons. For example, the memory manager creates system threads
for performing virtual memory tasks, the cache manager uses system threads
for managing cache memory, and the floppy disk driver uses a system thread
to monitor the floppy drives."

So a lot could be hiding in that "System" item.

Paul

 

[Jim]

I'm trying to troubleshoot an issue where system process is 95%. 95% idle ?

 

[Rey Santos]

From Mark Russinovich:
The Case of the System Process CPU Spikes
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2008/04/07/3031251.aspx

 

[Timboi]

Rey - that looks like it's going to help troubleshoot this issue.

Thanks.

 

[Timboi]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;263201&sd=tech

"System - You cannot end this process from Task Manager.

* Most system kernel-mode threads run as the System process.

System Idle Process - You cannot end this process from Task Manager.

* This process is a single thread running on each processor,
which has the sole task of accounting for processor time when
the system isn't processing other threads. In Task Manager,
expect this process to account for the majority of processor time.

(Picture of the system architecture)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Cc768129.winarc01_big(en-us,TechNet.10).gif

And more here on the system architecture.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc768129.aspx

"The system process

This process contains system threads, which are kernel mode threads.
Windows and various device drivers create system process threads for
various reasons. For example, the memory manager creates system threads
for performing virtual memory tasks, the cache manager uses system threads
for managing cache memory, and the floppy disk driver uses a system thread
to monitor the floppy drives."

So a lot could be hiding in that "System" item.

Paul
.

Thanks Paul - I was having a diffiuclt time finding pages that went into
detail about the process.