Service Host: Web Account Manager using 70+% of CPU

Question

I noticed that the fan on my laptop (Thinkpad Yoga X1) running Windows 10 was running at full speed, which was draining the battery quickly.  At the same time noticed a sharp drop off in performance on the machine.  (I was waiting for the applications to catch up with the keystrokes, etc.)

I the looked at the task manager and noticed a process called Service Host:Web Account Manager using most of the CPU capacity.  See below. 

If I stop the process, the fan slows down, the applications and  internet browser return to their normal self.  But, when I restart the machine, this Web Account Manager returns along with the degraded performance.  Do I need this process, and if not, can I disable it?  Or, it this situation a result of something else going on.  (This started back after a recent update I did.  I tried to restore, but it wasn't successful.) 

Any help or suggestions are appreciated.   

Answer 1

By shut off, I mean in Services.msc to choose the service to Disable and Turn Off.

More here about it: http://batcmd.com/windows/10/services/tokenbroker/

Answer 2

I wouldn't disable the service - you'll lose access to all of your Microsoft Account managed services (think Microsoft Store and Movies & TV)

I solved this on my system by changing the Web Account Manager from a shared-process service to a private process service.

Windows will try to save on memory by combining multiple background services under a single process. This usually works until one of the services in the group misbehaves (due to a intrinsic bug or external issue that it isn't handling well - I guess that's a bug too but I digress.) It doesn't have to be the service showing the problem (high CPU) that's the one showing the symptom.

Open a command prompt as Admin (shortcut - Windows + X, and then from the menu select "Command Prompt (Admin)" or "Windows PowerShell (Admin)" - either one will work. You'll see only one on the shortcut menu.

Then run the following (TokenBroker is the internal service name for "Web Account Manager" - feel free to verify this in the Windows Services list.)

sc.exe config TokenBroker type= own

You'll get this if you ran it from an Admin prompt:

[SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS

If you ran it from a non-administrator prompt you'll see something like this (just telling you that your current account doesn't have enough permissions and that you need to try this again with administrator privileges.)

[SC] OpenService FAILED 5:

Access is denied.

Once you've changed the service type you need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

I made this change on my computer and found that it solved the problem (I haven't had the issue since the change.)

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

I wouldn't disable the service - you'll lose access to all of your Microsoft Account managed services (think Microsoft Store and Movies & TV)

I solved this on my system by changing the Web Account Manager from a shared-process service to a private process service.

Windows will try to save on memory by combining multiple background services under a single process. This usually works until one of the services in the group misbehaves (due to a intrinsic bug or external issue that it isn't handling well - I guess that's a bug too but I digress.) It doesn't have to be the service showing the problem (high CPU) that's the one showing the symptom.

Open a command prompt as Admin (shortcut - Windows + X, and then from the menu select "Command Prompt (Admin)" or "Windows PowerShell (Admin)" - either one will work. You'll see only one on the shortcut menu.

Then run the following (TokenBroker is the internal service name for "Web Account Manager" - feel free to verify this in the Windows Services list.)

sc.exe config TokenBroker type= own

You'll get this if you ran it from an Admin prompt:

[SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS

If you ran it from a non-administrator prompt you'll see something like this (just telling you that your current account doesn't have enough permissions and that you need to try this again with administrator privileges.)

[SC] OpenService FAILED 5:

Access is denied.

Once you've changed the service type you need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

I made this change on my computer and found that it solved the problem (I haven't had the issue since the change.)

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

I tried it but Unfortunately it didn't worked, But there was an improvement, now when that service goes up to 100% does not block the whole system but only the application that uses it

Answer 5

I tried it but Unfortunately it didn't worked, But there was an improvement, now when that service goes up to 100% does not block the whole system but only the application that uses it