Virtual Machine Security Process (vmsp.exe) hogging CPU

Andrea Spadaccini 6 Reputation points
2021-11-02T08:41:13.173+00:00

Hello,
I have 3 instances of vmsp.exe and one instance of vmplatformca.exe hogging 100% of one core each. This happens even when no virtual machines are running.

It seems like this issue appeared recently, I think when I upgraded my virtual machine to version 10 and enabled nested virtualization. I use Windows 11 (which finally allowed me to set up nested virtualization on my AMD-based desktop).

This is pretty annoying as the machine is unnecessarily slowed down by those processes.

I saw a related question (http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverhyperv/thread/ff255f03-6b74-4a8b-bb46-1ca14ddbb9e0/) but that seems to be related to third-party applications that I do not use.

Could anyone help me improve the situation? I'm happy to help debugging, I am a developer and Microsoft full-time employee (andreas@microsoft.com).

Thanks,
Andrea

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System Center Virtual Machine Manager
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Hyper-V
A Windows technology providing a hypervisor-based virtualization solution enabling customers to consolidate workloads onto a single server.
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  1. John N 1 Reputation point
    2021-11-05T18:45:48.693+00:00

    I had a similar issue. The Hyper-V Certificate Authority Trustlet (vmplatformca.exe) process was the issue for me. Here's what fixed it for me so the process doesn't constantly use 4% of my cpu even though my VMs aren't even on.

    1. Disable any anti-virus programs you have running on the host temporarily
    2. Go into Hyper-V Manage and Stop/Turn off all VMs
    3. Hyper-V Manager -> Actions -> Stop Service
    4. Go into Task Manager and select the Hyper-V Certificate Authority Trustlet process and kill it
    5. Hyper-V Manager -> Actions -> Start Service
    6. Start VMs
    7. Enable anti-virus program

    After performing these steps, the vmplatformca.exe process uses 0% cpu.

    John

  2. Michal 1 Reputation point
    2022-02-28T18:10:17.393+00:00

    hmm, same problem here. Trustlet (vmplatformca.exe) draining 20% of my CPU continuously.
    Did you solved it somehow?

  3. Michal 1 Reputation point
    2022-03-01T17:40:14.923+00:00

    HI, thx for answer.
    I have Avast and today it worked.

    • stopped Antivirus service
    • stopped Hyper-V service
    • killed Trustlet
    • started service Hyper-V service
    • started Antivirus
      Trustlet not started - so I'm happy now.
      Let's see tomorrow :)
  4. Aren Cambre 6 Reputation points
    2022-03-02T20:56:58.76+00:00

    Confirming that @Andrea Spadaccini 's solution worked.

    The common factor in all cases of this behavior might be use of a virus scanner other than Windows Defender. Does Hyper-V have a deficiency that makes it difficult to use with third-party virus scanners? I have Cylance (installed by my employer).

    Both these processes misbehave by constantly consuming about 10% - 15% of CPU time on my four-core i7-1185g7:

    • Hyper-V Certificate Authority Trustlet (vmplatformca.exe)
    • Virtual Machine Security Process (vmsp.exe)

    Sometimes I see them active after I log in, after a cold boot (no VMs running). Sometimes they light up when I start a VM. Sometimes, they never start up regardless of whether I start a VM.

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  5. Michal 1 Reputation point
    2022-03-07T15:44:41.35+00:00

    Confirmed again today.

    Hyper-V Certificate Authority Trustlet (vmplatformca.exe) started with start of VM and consumed 20% CPU power continuously.
    Stopping service Service in Hyper-V console didn't help.
    Termination of Trustlet was impossible - It was restarted automatically after kill again and again.
    When I stopped AVAST it was possible to kill Trustlet (even with running VM still).
    Then I unpaused Avast and there were no more problems with Trustlet.

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