Monday, April 14, 2014

Windows 8.1 : Task Host is Stopping Background Tasks

For the past couple of days when I would shut down my windows 8.1 machine I would notice that the process would pause because "task host is busy stopping background processes". I'm would then have to kill it before it would go on to shut down .

Checking around the start up lists didn't bring anything and my av scanners had nothing to report. Searching was also not that helpful and now I couldn't even update the machine to the next version.

Having tried everything I figured why not turn off the last thing that was turned on which was sky drive sync and with that the problem went away . Turns out the sync was doing something even blocking the windows update manager .

Hopefully this helps others facing the same problem

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm also having the same problem with Windows 8 version.
What is sky drive sync?
And how do i turn that off?

Kashif Khan said...

Skydrive aka OneDrive sync is Microsofts online storage offering. It syncs your settings on there for convenience etc. I dont use it and dont have a need for it

To turn it off:-
Go to the metro view by hitting the windows key
click Settings
click "Change PC Settings" on the bottom
Click OneDrive and then sync settings. From there just turn off sync

Jill said...

Thanks Kashif - you've solved my problem. Outlook was unable to download my emails so I tried closing down & got the message re Task Host. I've turned off the sky drive sync (not needed in my case either) & Outlook is back in business. A big thank you!!!

Anonymous said...

I had the same problem of the message plus not being able to get into settings (as Kashif suggested), couldn't do updates etc.
When the problems started was when my computer was updating I remember my antivirus was scanning at the time and came up with a message that there was a medium threat and it was putting it into the virus vault. After this the problems started. I looked on a blog about this happening with my antivirus and after a while I went back to the virus vault and put the aforesaid item back and voila everything working. I did a scan and nothing found. I would never do this usually for obvious reasons but it worked and my computer is working normally. Thanks Kashif for pointing me in the right direction.
fillyjish

Anonymous said...

I go to onedrive in pc settings and click on it and nothing happens...??? rightclick also nothing

Kashif Khan said...

You have to go to Sync Settings for OneDrive and turn it off

Anonymous said...

I have a task host window problem at the shutdown, as well, but no skydrive problems. How do I get rid of it? Thanks

Kashif Khan said...

is your onedrive sync still on ? The problem for me was that the background sync process was causing that error, stopping that sync fixed it for me.

Anonymous said...

When I click on the OneDrive in the settings to get to the sync options, it wont open

Anonymous said...

What happens if you dont have a microsoft account so you dont have any syncs anyways. It's still not let me update and shut off correctly

Anonymous said...

What happens if you dont have a microsoft account so nothing would be synced in onedrive but its still not working

Anonymous said...

After googling this problem, I saw your blog and fixed it in seconds. Thanks Kashif!

M S Manian said...

Hi I am using one drive for syncing but whenever i shut down the machine I keep getting the messageTask Host is stopping banground tasks. I need the sync what I should do

Unknown said...

I forgot to say that I tried the One Drive but found that it was not enabled. I don't have a Microsoft account, so couldn't use it even if I wanted to.

Unknown said...

My previous query got lost somehow. I have this same problem. I am also not able to use Control Panel, any attempt to do so hangs the PC. Also, I am not able to start Audio Services. As I said, I have tried the OneDrive solution and I am not trying to sync. The problems started when a Windows auto update hung my PC completely and i was only able to get it going by going the F8 route, and doing a system restore. I later tried another System Restore from before the update, but even that did not help. I'd appreciate any input.

Kashif Khan said...

I have seen a ton of comments here where the problems differ yet the common thread is the Task Host Stopping some service. At this point the one drive solution worked for me, but ill dig around and see what I can come up with.

Im surprised Microsoft hasnt addressed this as this seems to be such a persistent problem across Win 8

Unknown said...

Thanks Kashif. Hope you have an awesome 2015.

Anonymous said...

a big thanks to Kashif Khan because it solve my problem...i no need n dont use the onedrive sync officially..after i close the sync my laptop turn so fast when it started...a big thnks to u

Kashif Khan said...

Hi Helen, thanks for sharing the solution here :)

Did you select any particular options when you ran the tool ? Did it tell you what it had done ?

Unknown said...

I just went through all the steps and let it do its thing. It did create logs and so forth - a lot of stuff was command line instructions, but I, personally, didn't take any notice of it. I was once a techie, but am now retired and happy not to have to worry about all that!!

Anonymous said...

I am also having the same problem it would be great if you could help m
e through this

Anonymous said...

I can't get into settings?

Unknown said...

Now it's februari 26 2015, and the problem still occurs, and your method still solved it, thanks!

paula said...

fingers crossed i have turned the sync off ever since the last update i did a few days ago it is now 15 mar 2015 i have been having a black screen flick with a message re background issues and tells me its a Host Process for Windows Tasks error this is how i found this blog if this doesnt work i have the details Helen mentioned and if that still dont work i will throw the laptop back at the place i got it from and tell them to fix it

Anonymous said...

Thanks but when I try to open "Change PC Settings -> OneDrive" I got stuck so I cant disable it. I found the windows registry vai regedit and disable it but still not solved the issue. My outlook is also stuck when I try to sync. Sounds like time for a system recovery :- (

Anonymous said...

Anonymous' tip on the virus vault worked for me. I had all the same symptoms, and had already disabled OneDrive a while ago. However, AVG (my virus scanner) had snagged a driver file during the recent Windows 8 update. When I restored it from the virus vault (which took three attempts, due to all the errors) it fixed everything (after one more restart).

Keith K said...

I had the same issue with AVG anti-virus moving stuff to the virus vault during a Windows Update on May 3, 2015. All it took was restoring it from the virus vault and a reboot to fix the problems - no audio service running, shut down Task Host issue, couldn't get to the settings... Turns out I do have OneDrive Sync set to "on", but it wasn't the problem.

Thanks to everyone for all the help! :-)

Keith K said...

Oh, and during the restore from the virus vault I just chose to overwrite everything. There were several registry entries that already existed and it gave me the option to skip or overwrite. Hope that detail helps. :-)

Anonymous said...

My ASUS laptop running windows 8.1 just recently started having this problem. It started when I was downloading Heroes of the Storm, and was playing it when it was optimal. However, midway through the game my computer froze. Once I restarted it, the problem began. Here are the problems. No sound, I even uninstalled my audio driver then reinstalled it...to no avail. So, here's what else I can not do. I can not access my settings. When I swipe the right of my screen, choose settings, then click on change my pc settings, and then click on update recover to try and do a master reboot, I am unable to do so. The settings never load, and I can not access control panel from the desktop mode either. Any tips??? My name is Ryan

Anonymous said...

I am having this problem now. At shut down, it says that task host is stopping background tasks. I have tried shutting off the one drive and synch completely, but it did not resolve the problem. Any ideas? thanks.

Anonymous said...

I had all the same issues as Keith K, his answered worked for me .

Anonymous said...

I have suffered the annoying Task Host problem twice this spring.

First time (around April-15)it disappeared after an update.

This time (July-15) it stopped a number of programs to run, among them my BankID, which was a bit of a serious problem since I was blocked from logging in to my bank and other such sites!

Found this blog today and decided to try shutting down OneDrive since I haven't opted to use it, and Hay Presto! It works again! :) :)

Thanks a million!!!!
Can't help but wonder why the ODSync does this to begin with?

Unknown said...

Hi! my name is Josh. i have win 8.1 and just recently taskhost.exe is freezing my computer. i know it has to do with cloud syncing (i think.) is there a way to fix it and have sync on? please let me know...

Anonymous said...

where do I find "settings". I don't see that option when I hit the windows key

Anonymous said...

Hi Kashif, my name is Kate. A thousand thank yous for this fix -- my computer was crashing all over the place and running like a snail, and your advice and instructions were brilliant. My computer is running smoothly again. I am very grateful for your help.
Thanks again!!

Unknown said...

Help please...............

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