Insane RAM spikes from Service Host: Diagnostic Policy

bobjoe · 29 Nov 2019

I have a laptop with an i3-7100U and 8GB of DDR4-2133 (upgraded from the original 4GB) RAM.

For some odd reason, even if I have NOTHING open, Service Host: Diagnostic Policy Service constantly keeps changing its RAM usage, from barely anything to an insane amount. My "Performance" tab in Task Manager looks like this:

Insane RAM spikes from Service Host: Diagnostic Policy-ram-issues.png

Notice how the RAM usage keeps spiking. This will honestly continue for as long as I have the laptop turned on.

The RAM that I installed to replace the original 4GB of RAM is the exact same speed as the factory original.

And yes, if I disable the Diagnostic Policy Service in services.msc, it does stop the spikes. But I shouldn't have to do that every single time I turn on the computer. Also, I've already reinstalled Windows 10 with a fresh install (yes, that's how much it bothered me) but it didn't fix the issue.

Any ideas? I'm starting to think it's an issue with a Lenovo driver I might have installed, but I'm not sure.

Helmut · 30 Nov 2019

Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback > set that to Basic.
Below that install the diagnostic Data Viewer.
Feedback > never
Recommended troubleshooting > Ask me before fixing problems.
Activity history > untick boxes.

Look at all the categories to minimise what is sent to MS, there are scores of this type of setting you just have to go through them.

Look at the Diagnostic Data Viewer - This might give you a clue as to why Data is being sent and for what hardware/software/application/driver etc is involved.

bobjoe · 30 Nov 2019

Helmut said:

Settings > Privacy > Diagnostics & feedback > set that to Basic.

That's the first thing I do on a brand new Windows 10 install, so it's not that.

Helmut said:

Below that install the diagnostic Data Viewer.
Feedback > never
Recommended troubleshooting > Ask me before fixing problems.
Activity history > untick boxes.

Same with all those options... They're already set to what you said.

Helmut said:

Look at the Diagnostic Data Viewer - This might give you a clue as to why Data is being sent and for what hardware/software/application/driver etc is involved.

Seems like you need to download that "app" from the app store, is it worth my time at all? Does it actually do anything? I think I might have to turn on "View diagnostic data" first.

bro67 · 30 Nov 2019

RAM is like any storage medium that is read and written to and from. It is not a static medium and you will see spikes and valleys in the sine wave as 1’s and 0’s are being not only moved around in that medium, also to and from other mediums i to RAM. It is only when use is either 0% or 100% full time, there is a need toworry.

bobjoe · 30 Nov 2019

bro67 said:

It is only when use is either 0% or 100% full time, there is a need toworry.

Well, not really. Because my issue ONLY happens when my laptop is on battery (when plugged in, it's fine), and the issue ONLY happens because of "Service Host Diagnostic Policy" crap.

There's clearly an issue with Windows 10 or drivers or something going on here. It's not normal for RAM usage for Service Host Diagnostic Policy to go from 20 MB to 3.5 GB and back to 20 MB non-stop within seconds constantly.

bro67 · 30 Nov 2019

It is fine to see RAM being used as processes are running. When on battery vs plugged into AC Power, the OS has to keep moving data from RAM to hard drive storage in case the device has to be shut down. Service Host Policy is not crap. It is the main workhorse of the OS doing many sub-processing tasks.

Again, unless your use is at o% or 100% 100 percent of the time, do not worry.

You also only have 4gb installed. That is very low by today’s standards of needing a minimum of 8gb for Windows 10 to run efficiently.

f14tomcat · 30 Nov 2019

@bobjoe,

Greg ( @bro67 ) is correct as can be in his assessment. You make no mention at all of any performance issues, frozen apps, event errors, etc. All the things that would be obvious if there were a memory issue. It's doing just what it's suppose to do, and it's even smart enough to know when it's plugged in vs battery. Memory is to be used. It's the speediest part of the system. It's being used correctly. Unless you have performance issues, let it be. Don't disable that service, it could come back to bite you.

Ztruker · 30 Nov 2019

@bro67, he has 8GB installed according to the Task Manager image he posted. @f14tomcat, I would normally agree with you and bro about memory utilization but this one is to regular, to consistent. I think there is something going on that needs to be found and understood.
@bobjoe, how do you know Service Host: Diagnostic Policy is going from 20 MB to 3.5 GB and back to 20 MB non-stop within seconds constantly? If you find a particular Service Host: that is doing this, you/we need to figure out how to dig further into that to see exactly what it is doing that is causing this cyclic memory spike, which I agree is not normal.

Maybe something as simple as changing your power plan will affect it?

What about turning off Hibernate via powercfg /h off from a Elevated Command Prompt?

Look at Reliability History, see if anything shows there.
Also check Event Viewer in general, see if there are any repetitive events that coincide with what you are seeing.

Ztruker · 30 Nov 2019

Also, what do you have for a power plan (I'm shooting at the moon here since the problem is tied to you being on battery power for the problem to occur). This is what mine looks like:

powercfg /list
powercfg /query GUID of plan to look at

Code:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>powercfg /list

Existing Power Schemes (* Active)
-----------------------------------
Power Scheme GUID: 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e  (Balanced) *

C:\WINDOWS\system32>powercfg /query 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e
Power Scheme GUID: 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e  (Balanced)
  GUID Alias: SCHEME_BALANCED
  Subgroup GUID: 0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442  (Hard disk)
    GUID Alias: SUB_DISK
    Power Setting GUID: 6738e2c4-e8a5-4a42-b16a-e040e769756e  (Turn off hard disk after)
      GUID Alias: DISKIDLE
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x000004b0
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000258

  Subgroup GUID: 02f815b5-a5cf-4c84-bf20-649d1f75d3d8  (Internet Explorer)
    Power Setting GUID: 4c793e7d-a264-42e1-87d3-7a0d2f523ccd  (JavaScript Timer Frequency)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum Power Savings
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum Performance
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: 0d7dbae2-4294-402a-ba8e-26777e8488cd  (Desktop background settings)
    Power Setting GUID: 309dce9b-bef4-4119-9921-a851fb12f0f4  (Slide show)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Available
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Paused
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

  Subgroup GUID: 19cbb8fa-5279-450e-9fac-8a3d5fedd0c1  (Wireless Adapter Settings)
    Power Setting GUID: 12bbebe6-58d6-4636-95bb-3217ef867c1a  (Power Saving Mode)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum Performance
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Low Power Saving
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Medium Power Saving
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum Power Saving
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002

  Subgroup GUID: 238c9fa8-0aad-41ed-83f4-97be242c8f20  (Sleep)
    GUID Alias: SUB_SLEEP
    Power Setting GUID: 29f6c1db-86da-48c5-9fdb-f2b67b1f44da  (Sleep after)
      GUID Alias: STANDBYIDLE
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000708
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000384

    Power Setting GUID: 94ac6d29-73ce-41a6-809f-6363ba21b47e  (Allow hybrid sleep)
      GUID Alias: HYBRIDSLEEP
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: On
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

    Power Setting GUID: 9d7815a6-7ee4-497e-8888-515a05f02364  (Hibernate after)
      GUID Alias: HIBERNATEIDLE
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00002a30
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00002a30

    Power Setting GUID: bd3b718a-0680-4d9d-8ab2-e1d2b4ac806d  (Allow wake timers)
      GUID Alias: RTCWAKE
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Disable
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Enable
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Important Wake Timers Only
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: 2a737441-1930-4402-8d77-b2bebba308a3  (USB settings)
    Power Setting GUID: 48e6b7a6-50f5-4782-a5d4-53bb8f07e226  (USB selective suspend setting)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Disabled
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Enabled
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

  Subgroup GUID: 44f3beca-a7c0-460e-9df2-bb8b99e0cba6  (Intel(R) Graphics Settings)
    Power Setting GUID: 3619c3f2-afb2-4afc-b0e9-e7fef372de36  (Intel(R) Graphics Power Plan)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum Battery Life
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Balanced
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum Performance
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

  Subgroup GUID: 4f971e89-eebd-4455-a8de-9e59040e7347  (Power buttons and lid)
    GUID Alias: SUB_BUTTONS
    Power Setting GUID: 5ca83367-6e45-459f-a27b-476b1d01c936  (Lid close action)
      GUID Alias: LIDACTION
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: 7648efa3-dd9c-4e3e-b566-50f929386280  (Power button action)
      GUID Alias: PBUTTONACTION
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
      Possible Setting Index: 004
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Turn off the display
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: 96996bc0-ad50-47ec-923b-6f41874dd9eb  (Sleep button action)
      GUID Alias: SBUTTONACTION
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
      Possible Setting Index: 004
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Turn off the display
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: a7066653-8d6c-40a8-910e-a1f54b84c7e5  (Start menu power button)
      GUID Alias: UIBUTTON_ACTION
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: 501a4d13-42af-4429-9fd1-a8218c268e20  (PCI Express)
    GUID Alias: SUB_PCIEXPRESS
    Power Setting GUID: ee12f906-d277-404b-b6da-e5fa1a576df5  (Link State Power Management)
      GUID Alias: ASPM
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Moderate power savings
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Maximum power savings
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002

  Subgroup GUID: 54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00  (Processor power management)
    GUID Alias: SUB_PROCESSOR
    Power Setting GUID: 893dee8e-2bef-41e0-89c6-b55d0929964c  (Minimum processor state)
      GUID Alias: PROCTHROTTLEMIN
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000005
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000005

    Power Setting GUID: 94d3a615-a899-4ac5-ae2b-e4d8f634367f  (System cooling policy)
      GUID Alias: SYSCOOLPOL
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Passive
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Active
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

    Power Setting GUID: bc5038f7-23e0-4960-96da-33abaf5935ec  (Maximum processor state)
      GUID Alias: PROCTHROTTLEMAX
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000064
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000064

  Subgroup GUID: 7516b95f-f776-4464-8c53-06167f40cc99  (Display)
    GUID Alias: SUB_VIDEO
    Power Setting GUID: 3c0bc021-c8a8-4e07-a973-6b14cbcb2b7e  (Turn off display after)
      GUID Alias: VIDEOIDLE
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0xffffffff
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: Seconds
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000258
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x0000012c

    Power Setting GUID: aded5e82-b909-4619-9949-f5d71dac0bcb  (Display brightness)
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000064
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000028

    Power Setting GUID: f1fbfde2-a960-4165-9f88-50667911ce96  (Dimmed display brightness)
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000032
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000032

    Power Setting GUID: fbd9aa66-9553-4097-ba44-ed6e9d65eab8  (Enable adaptive brightness)
      GUID Alias: ADAPTBRIGHT
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: On
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

  Subgroup GUID: 9596fb26-9850-41fd-ac3e-f7c3c00afd4b  (Multimedia settings)
    Power Setting GUID: 03680956-93bc-4294-bba6-4e0f09bb717f  (When sharing media)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Allow the computer to sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Prevent idling to sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Allow the computer to enter Away Mode
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

    Power Setting GUID: 10778347-1370-4ee0-8bbd-33bdacaade49  (Video playback quality bias)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Video playback power-saving bias
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Video playback performance bias
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

    Power Setting GUID: 34c7b99f-9a6d-4b3c-8dc7-b6693b78cef4  (When playing video)
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Optimize video quality
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Balanced
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Optimize power savings
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

  Subgroup GUID: e73a048d-bf27-4f12-9731-8b2076e8891f  (Battery)
    GUID Alias: SUB_BATTERY
    Power Setting GUID: 5dbb7c9f-38e9-40d2-9749-4f8a0e9f640f  (Critical battery notification)
      GUID Alias: BATFLAGSCRIT
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: On
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: 637ea02f-bbcb-4015-8e2c-a1c7b9c0b546  (Critical battery action)
      GUID Alias: BATACTIONCRIT
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000002

    Power Setting GUID: 8183ba9a-e910-48da-8769-14ae6dc1170a  (Low battery level)
      GUID Alias: BATLEVELLOW
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x0000000a
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x0000000a

    Power Setting GUID: 9a66d8d7-4ff7-4ef9-b5a2-5a326ca2a469  (Critical battery level)
      GUID Alias: BATLEVELCRIT
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000005
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000005

    Power Setting GUID: bcded951-187b-4d05-bccc-f7e51960c258  (Low battery notification)
      GUID Alias: BATFLAGSLOW
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Off
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: On
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000001

    Power Setting GUID: d8742dcb-3e6a-4b3c-b3fe-374623cdcf06  (Low battery action)
      GUID Alias: BATACTIONLOW
      Possible Setting Index: 000
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Do nothing
      Possible Setting Index: 001
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Sleep
      Possible Setting Index: 002
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Hibernate
      Possible Setting Index: 003
      Possible Setting Friendly Name: Shut down
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000000

    Power Setting GUID: f3c5027d-cd16-4930-aa6b-90db844a8f00  (Reserve battery level)
      Minimum Possible Setting: 0x00000000
      Maximum Possible Setting: 0x00000064
      Possible Settings increment: 0x00000001
      Possible Settings units: %
    Current AC Power Setting Index: 0x00000007
    Current DC Power Setting Index: 0x00000007

bobjoe · 02 Dec 2019

Ztruker said:

@bro67, he has 8GB installed according to the Task Manager image he posted. @f14tomcat, I would normally agree with you and bro about memory utilization but this one is to regular, to consistent. I think there is something going on that needs to be found and understood.
@bobjoe, how do you know Service Host: Diagnostic Policy is going from 20 MB to 3.5 GB and back to 20 MB non-stop within seconds constantly? If you find a particular Service Host: that is doing this, you/we need to figure out how to dig further into that to see exactly what it is doing that is causing this cyclic memory spike, which I agree is not normal.

Maybe something as simple as changing your power plan will affect it?

What about turning off Hibernate via powercfg /h off from a Elevated Command Prompt?

Look at Reliability History, see if anything shows there.
Also check Event Viewer in general, see if there are any repetitive events that coincide with what you are seeing.

@Ztruker, I know it keeps changing because I'm seeing it on Task Manager. I will attach a video that shows what I'm talking about, probably the easiest way to show what I'm saying:

https://i.imgur.com/1dXRyQL.mp4
Notice how "Service Host: Diagnostic Policy" keeps going from barely any CPU or memory usage, all the way to almost 3.5 GB of memory used constantly. My computer was basically idle when I made that video, just had Chrome open with a few tabs, Spotify, and a Word document.

As for Power Plans, I am on "Balanced" and I already have Hibernate disabled, as well as Fast Startup. There's nothing on Reliability History or Event Viewer that I can find.