Vmmem Is Using Too Much Memory It Cant Be Deleted

Hello INNOMIO,

Thank you for using Microsoft products and posting to the community.

We fully understand the inconvenience the issue has caused and that the current situation can be frustrating.  VMMem.exe is a host process that hosts Docker containers and other virtual machines on the system, particularly when using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) or virtual machines. It's not recommended to delete or disable it, as it's needed for virtualization functionality.

If Vmmem is using too much memory, here are some steps you can take to manage its resource usage:

1. Adjust WSL Memory Allocation: If you're using WSL and Vmmem is consuming too much memory, you can adjust the memory allocation for your WSL instances. You can do this by modifying the WSL configuration files. This allows you to allocate less memory to WSL if needed.
2. Close Unnecessary VMs: If you have virtual machines running, consider shutting down or suspending any VMs that are not in use. VMs consume memory, and reducing the number of active VMs can free up resources.

In addition, in my search, I noticed two threads with similar issues, which you can refer to for the approach shared therein.

vmmem processes what's is? - Microsoft Community

High CPU usage for vmmem - Microsoft Q&A

Hope you are keeping safe and well. Please feel free to let me know if you have any further updates, thanks. 

Sincerely

Mavis - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

I have the same issues as the original poster. In my case, vmmem starting using excessive amounts of RAM after I already had Docker Desktop installed on Windows 10 on my laptop, and then updated Windows to Windows 11.

I have performed the 1st step already, where I have now limited Vmmem to 1GB of RAM only (before it took away 3GB of memory on my 8GB laptop), and it still didn't fix the issue. The 2nd step is not applicable for me as I only have 2 VMs that run only when I need them to (These 2 VMs aren't that huge, they're relatively small). I shutdown these VMs when I'm done using them.

The problem still persists, as even after I quit Docker Desktop completely (it is not running in Standby mode), one instance of Docker Desktop still runs in the background, which I see when I open procexp64.exe. Along with this strange instance of Docker still running, vmmem.exe still runs when all VMs have been shutdown. I'd prefer if vmmem.exe automatically shuts down without the user having to enter the following command many times: 'wsl --shutdown', instead of sitting in the PC's memory and sucking up RAM that could otherwise be used by some other applications. Is there anything I can do to solve this issue completely??

Hello INNOMIO,

Thank you for using Microsoft products and posting to the community.

We fully understand the inconvenience the issue has caused and that the current situation can be frustrating.  VMMem.exe is a host process that hosts Docker containers and other virtual machines on the system, particularly when using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) or virtual machines. It's not recommended to delete or disable it, as it's needed for virtualization functionality.

If Vmmem is using too much memory, here are some steps you can take to manage its resource usage:

1. Adjust WSL Memory Allocation: If you're using WSL and Vmmem is consuming too much memory, you can adjust the memory allocation for your WSL instances. You can do this by modifying the WSL configuration files. This allows you to allocate less memory to WSL if needed.
2. Close Unnecessary VMs: If you have virtual machines running, consider shutting down or suspending any VMs that are not in use. VMs consume memory, and reducing the number of active VMs can free up resources.

In addition, in my search, I noticed two threads with similar issues, which you can refer to for the approach shared therein.

vmmem processes what's is? - Microsoft Community

High CPU usage for vmmem - Microsoft Q&A

Hope you are keeping safe and well. Please feel free to let me know if you have any further updates, thanks. 

Sincerely

Mavis - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist