How to Fix: Windows 8 100% Disk Usage Issue

Hi Guys, This post will guide you to fix the 100% Consistent Disk Usage issue. The solution is available in General Forums and TEch Talks, however the Issue source details are not discussed well there and how to track the issue sources if it’s a different case too, not discussed and screenshot guidance is neglected either, so look forward. Generally the visibility of disk usage is seen in Task Manager and more info at Resource Monitor. The issue can be of different sources, but that has to be dealt carefully before applying this sort of approach, because each issues has it’s fix, and this issue is tracked, so that appropriate solution is implemented. Note: For windows 8, this has become a common issue, and mostly this can be your solution too. But be informed about the issue source too.

For the fix; Change the Virtual Memory settings from Automatic System Managed To Custom Sizes, and Set Minimum To RAM Equivalent. For clear Step-By-Step Instructions, see below screenshots.

First off, Take a closer look at Resource Monitor Tool: Use RESMON command in CMD Prompt: And look there, in Disk Activity, the Read (B/Sec) is aligned in High to Low order, so that Highest Read rates Process are visible. Here, BackGroundTaksHost.exe is using Read rates from Disk consistently and is Locked out to fix the issue with Virtual Memory, since the Source process is initiated by Pagefile.sys file.

Some times, the RAM may be, at 100% usage, but for that Virtual Memory is not the issue, but can be at some times. However for such issues too, look at the Memory Tab in RESMON and identify the key issue maker. Here BackGroundTaskHost.exe is having more HardFaults than any, which is an issue with RAM processing. Sometimes RAM consistent usage is noticed for some users, however the Processes that’s using at boot starts are the one’s those to be blamed. For now to solve Disk Usage issue, Proceed to the next step, leaving Memory set aside.


Click on the Advanced System Settings, visible in the Left Hand-side Column.  And go to Advanced Tab in the Properties Dialog Box. and then click Settings Button on Performance Options.

Now, Click on Advanced Tab and Proceed to Virtual Memory Options menu and click on change button. And set the RAM amount there, Minimum = Your RAM Size in MB and Maximum = Twice or Thrice as you wish.

So, that’s it! Set it up! and Reboot the System to see the changes. And watch out the task manager after reboot, to see if the changes are made and success for us.

Cheers!