Help with figuring out what is causing waitchain/deadlock in dashost (causing TaskMgr, Settings hang or any app that uses WiFi/BT)

Narayan B 195

Windows 11 Home 22H2 22621.1992

Hang due to a deadlock between dashost.exe (Device association) and svchost [WLAN AutoConfig i.e. WlanSvc] for unknown reason, but caused by something waiting on the WiFi card. Drivers are up-to-date [RTL8822CE].

I need help figuring out what it is waiting for, specifically, is it caused by some enumeration issue or BT pairing locked somehow (my guesses). Not able to use bluetooth device at all for scanning, pairing, removing existing paired devices, etc. I can't even switch it on from the Taskbar.

WaitingOn output [on Task Manager after clicking "close"]: https://pastebin.com/b6RjkPxt

(I've gone and traced on all waiting processes. dashost seems to depend on WLanSvc, which in turn depends on dashost which is causing the cycle. dashost also created a massive amount of threads for unknown reasons.)

Relevant questions I asked on "answers" site, with some footage:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/task-manager-hang-and-crash/a02568a6-6615-4ed9-aea1-14b6713eaaaf

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-11-bluetooth-issue/a6e535e6-b76f-4b73-8f0e-cc5e686b633d

Task Manager hang - how to reproduce:

https://youtu.be/m5m-9p_xPfM

Bluetooth settings:

https://youtu.be/V_any4DV5yA

Narayan B 195 Reputation points

2023-08-21T07:03:49.4733333+00:00

I've proceeded and attached a debugger to the dasHost.exe process while it is executing using Visual Studio debugger. I've downloaded pdb symbols to get a better grasp of what's happening.

I found it has created a bunch of threads just because, and the main wmain() thread is waiting on all of them to complete, but the worker threads are themselves waiting for a trpc to complete.

Each worker thread has ended up on the same system call DevGetObjectPropertiesEx which isn't completing as it should have for whatever reason (I don't know).

Will add more info once I figure out the parameters passed to this method, and why it is in a waiting state
Narayan B 195 Reputation points

2023-08-21T10:59:59.5033333+00:00

Something to do with Upnp getting borked...
Leo 20 Reputation points

2023-09-14T02:00:38.3066667+00:00

I have the same deadlock issue, so f*k, BT doesn't work. And Wi-Fi is Intel wireless-AC 9560.
ZRnQ 10 Reputation points

2023-09-18T13:06:25.1033333+00:00

Same issue with Intel wireless-AC 9560. Although disabling Device Association Service will solve the task manager problem, BT feature is still not usable.

Accepted answer

Mike Le Voi 90 Reputation points

2024-10-02T00:20:31.91+00:00

Finally, turn off content sharing on the HiSense TV. This worked for me:

System > Application Settings > Content Sharing (Disable this)

Turn this off and buy a Fire TV Stick 4K and/or Chromecast TV :-)

Mike
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3 people found this answer helpful.
Narayan B 195 Reputation points

2024-11-09T16:02:45.3866667+00:00

Thanks for finding a fix for this! While my answer does temporarily address the issue, I think just tackling the root cause is a better option. This probably won't work on all TV models though, and maybe setting up a firewall for blocking the UPnP port is the best option for every other device

Narayan B 195 Reputation points

2024-11-09T16:03:40.8033333+00:00

Also its too bad that it's not allowing me to accept my own answer :(
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2 additional answers

Narayan B 195 Reputation points

2023-11-16T05:20:03.96+00:00
So I finally solved it!

Source of the problem: an Android TV (HiSense model) connected to my network. Yes. A TV caused this issue.

Details:

The root cause is the TV generates random UUIDs for UPNP network discovery every few minutes. That means it poses as a new device. This caused windows to add it to the device list (Device Association Framework, aka DAF) as a new device. This means now 1000s of devices (which is the same device) filled the device tree causing it to enumerate forever. Thus the "deadlock".

TaskManager uses DasHost to enumerate devices for some reason, so that hangs.

Bluetooth relies on device discovery, so that also hangs, and Settings app along with it.

Network discovery in file explorer obviously also needs Device discovery, so that also hangs.

How to solve:

Open Services App, find "Device Association Service", right-click it, properties and change Startup type to "Disabled". Then Apply and close.

You can't stop the process from Services, so you need to force kill it. Open ProcessExplorer by Sysinternals as Admin, stop the svchost.exe that is parent to dashost.exe.

Download PStools by Sysinternals, open an Admin terminal, run:

.\psexec.exe -i -d -s c:\windows\regedit.exe

This will open regedit as SYSTEM user.

Navigate to:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\DeviceAssociationService\State\Store

You will find hundreds of keys with a DAFUPnPProvider#uuid.... name. You need to delete ALL of these ones (only inside the Store key, nothing else) and not any other prefix. ONLY THE DAFUPnPProvider ones, like so:

Just select the first key, hit delete key, then enter key. Keep doing it till I think WiFiDirect key and Bluetooth device keys remains.

Reboot. You should now enable (make startup type to Automatic) the service you disabled and it should start working.

Done :)

BT fixed, TaskManager Fixed, and Network Discovery Fixed.

How I discovered it:

I was just checking the handles of the service and discovered the "Store" key by accident. I checked it and found maybe 300 or so keys. I knew this was an issue with UPnP because of the name of the service. Also I posted an issue before of the TV causing UPnP flood, but didn't think Windows would go for a toss due to this.

Update:

You might also need to check out this key as well:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\SWD\DAFUPnPProvider

It also contains some UPnP discovery keys. There might be more places that I'm not aware of.
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22 people found this answer helpful.
Leo 20 Reputation points

2023-11-21T09:49:21.6633333+00:00

You're such a genius. I solved this problem according to your steps

So as long as the time is long enough, this problem has not yet reappeared?

Narayan B 195 Reputation points

2023-12-05T09:56:08.4233333+00:00

From my understanding, you will need to block UPnP of the offending device for it to "get fixed", or you will need to keep clearing the list every so often. I think just isolating the device into a different network or subnet will be sufficient, but not tried it yet.

Paul Daubian 20 Reputation points

2024-02-19T15:38:41.5633333+00:00

I've stumbled into this thread, starting to search for a resolution after upgrading to Win11 and having multiple issues, including the Tskmgr hanging... Well, needless to say I would have NEVER imagined this could have been related to my Smart TV... Big kudos to you for figuring this out. I will give this thread some visibility in other threads complaining about the task manager issue, because in NONE of them were close to the solution (most of them just say to kill the Device Association Service or the WLAN AutoConfig).

ghoulnoise 10 Reputation points

2024-03-26T21:20:19.9366667+00:00

This saved my computer! Thank you! I haven't been able to open display settings for like 2 years, and for the past month my taskbar would disappear, system settings couldn't be opened from command, restarting windows explorer in task manager did nothing, and task manager would freeze up if I tried to close it.

I believe this is finally a true fix, and I say this is because, when I updated display drivers (including uninstalling the drivers and reinstalling them), the problem (no taskbar or system settings) would temporarily be fixed, but display settings remained broken. When I followed your steps, display settings finally worked again in addition to fixing the other issues. The only other time I saw display settings work was earlier today when I needed to boot into safe mode while trying the display driver fresh install solution.

Hisense and Windows really need to fix this on their ends. Absolutely wild issue, by far the most cursed computer problem I've ever had.

喆边 15 Reputation points

2024-03-29T10:23:59.94+00:00

Thank you, bro. I fixed my system following your tutorial.

TallBuoy 10 Reputation points

2024-04-03T23:57:56.2733333+00:00

Exact same issue, also having connected a HiSense TV. Scoured for solutions, tried everything and this was the only solve for me. Thank you!

Edward Dekkers 10 Reputation points

2024-05-01T06:12:42.0966667+00:00

Mate, seriously, is there any way I can buy you a beer? I've been tearing my hair out over a month simply disabling Device Association Service after finding this thread. It sort of seemed to work for a bit. I'd removed all the Hisense devices manually out of my devices (or so I thought) through the GUI, but my printer dropped out of my printers list and NOTHING I could do to fix it. The Add Device button would grey out or it would crash all together, then I thought I needed to enable the service again to get that to work with as a result Task Manager crashed again and soon after explorer for some reason. The manufacturer's drivers would detect the printer than refuse to install it. It was an absolute mess! I even compared my DASHost.exe and das.dll files with my laptop (version numbers are different) and went down that angle, but finally after re-reading this post and downloading pstools and following your instruction - AND getting RSI in the process thank you very much - jesus how long had this been going on???), I deleted all the keys in the store, restarted, enabled the service and everything has been stable as a rock. Faster, better and completely rock solid I haven't seen in months. You are an absolute legend. I'm not sure whether to blame Hisense or Microsoft for this debacle but the really need to get together and sort this kind of crap out.

Jason Grigg 5 Reputation points

2024-05-16T01:50:28.94+00:00

I can't thank you enough for this!

We have seen this issue on multiple computers now, and before this fix we were having to wipe and start fresh.

This fix has worked everytime for us.

Thanks heaps, awesome work!

Qtxo Jose 5 Reputation points

2024-06-06T07:01:02.09+00:00

Thanks!!! It worked. After a crash and next restart I saw task manager freezing, no display settings, phone link hanging... I have been searching for this problem and found nothing until this post.

Jason Polimeni 0 Reputation points

2024-07-10T14:04:40.9866667+00:00

You have no idea the pain and misery you just saved me, been trying to find a fix for months as I had to keep resetting my pc, or killing the dashost process. My issue was task manger would hand, then it progressed to the start menu not loading. This finally fixed it. Thank you

lxhill 0 Reputation points

2024-07-15T08:23:33.36+00:00

Thank you so much! This resolved an issue that had been troubling me for two years after I upgraded from Windows 10 to Windows 11. I searched through many posts online, and they all mentioned only disabling wlansvc, but that didn't actually solve the problem. Through my own exploration, I also discovered a dead loop in dashost.exe and reported it to Microsoft's after-sales engineers, but it was never ultimately resolved. I even thought it was a compatibility issue with the wireless network card, and upgrading the hardware and updating the drivers were still ineffective. It wasn't until I stumbled upon this answer that my problem was finally solved. Thanks again!

Martin Lerch 5 Reputation points

2024-09-27T17:48:13.04+00:00

So, I was deleting all these entries as you has mentioned and my finger slipped and I accidentally deleted the entire Store directory. I did restart and re-enabled the Device Association Services, and you are right. Things appear to be fixed. No more hangs. Printers are working, it's like a miracle! THANK YOU.

I checked and the Store directory is back, and I have 2 keys inside it, but I am wondering if there could be a hidden problem that I am not seeing right now without the other keys that were accidentally deleted. Do you know? Should I restore from a backup and start over?

Please advise.

sean caine 0 Reputation points

2024-11-01T14:21:50.6333333+00:00

This is a great post. Thanks ! It sorted my issue out regarding task manager and other processes not working correctly. The real bug bear was the taskbar would not displaying when I connected as another user ! All sorted now and yes my TV is a hisense smart unit !

Narayan B 195 Reputation points

2024-11-09T15:59:33.7866667+00:00

@Martin Lerch I think the only things in that "Store/" key are any discovered devices from for example your Network or Bluetooth (and Wi-Fi Direct). AFAIK it just gets re-populated if you delete all of it and reboot, so I don't think anything should go wrong. Also you can try to just pair any Bluetooth device and see if it pops up over there. If so, then it should be all well.

Also, for Everyone, I would highly suggest export the parent key DeviceAssociationService first to a file just in case something goes wrong, so you can restore it.

MIROSLAW MARCINKIEWICZ 0 Reputation points

2024-11-14T18:36:59.1866667+00:00

Thanks!

Kevin Shea 0 Reputation points

2024-12-01T20:07:37.0266667+00:00

ive been looking for an answer to this for months and months. thank god i stumbled upon this. can't believe this was caused by a stupid smart TV (i was already not very happy with the hisense tv i had and this just solidfies my opinion to never buy hisense again)

Thanks so much!!

Robert Wright 0 Reputation points

2024-12-21T17:06:26.1166667+00:00

Same issue after Windows 11 install including having a Hisense TV. This solved my issue. Thank you for your effort and sharing this solution!
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Help with figuring out what is causing waitchain/deadlock in dashost (causing TaskMgr, Settings hang or any app that uses WiFi/BT)

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