Windows 11 has a bug in testing right now that is seriously slowing down processors, although Microsoft has said it's on the case, so it should be fixed soon enough, hopefully.
The bug is present in test builds of Windows 11 24H2, the next big update for the operating system, and is due to the cross-device experience host failing somewhere.
Neowin found that several users have said that their CPU performance has been affected (substantially in some cases) by the process. As the name suggests, Cross-Device Experience Host (CDEH) is the functionality that links your smartphone and Windows PC to make it easier to perform tasks like sharing photos from your phone to desktop. (By the way, this runs alongside the existing Phone Link app.)
There are reports of the bug in several places, including Microsoft's Feedback Center and its Answers.com support forum. The reported slowdowns vary, of course, some people say the CDEH process is consuming 5% to 10% of your CPU (which is still pretty bad), but others claim the slowdowns are 15% to 10%. 20%, or even 25% in one case. .
Frankly, having the CPU lose that level of resources due to a failed process running in the Windows 11 background is a pretty serious situation.
Microsoft's Jen Gentleman, who is part of the Windows testing team, has confirmed that there is an issue here and that work is underway to resolve it.
Gentleman responded in the Feedback Hub: “We appreciate your patience, we have identified the cause and are working to resolve it.”
Analysis: bad timing
So the good news is that there is a fix incoming, and remember, this bug won't affect you yet, unless you're a tester. The CDEH functionality is still in preview (in the unreleased 24H2 update) and has not yet been rolled out to all Windows 11 users, but of course it will be later this year.
We are also not 100% sure if the CPU drain issue could be present on Copilot+ PCs, but it won't be as far as we know. Those AI PCs launch today, June 18, with a 24H2 version built in, but not the finished one. There are still many features missing from the version of 24H2 that debuts with Copilot+ PCs, and the full feature set won't debut until later this year when the 24H2 update rolls out to all Windows 11 devices, and this is when we guess that the CDEH comes into play.
In any case, the only concern for Windows 11 users in general is that Microsoft will roll out a fix, which it will surely do when the 24H2 update is rumored to arrive (around September 2024). Our concern would be if the solution is not implemented correctly and there are still some issues related to this CDEH slowdown, but let's hope that doesn't happen. If so, it wouldn't be the first time that a bug fix applied by Microsoft didn't work at all, and this one would be particularly bad if it slipped through the net.
On a general level, the timing of this revelation is not the best time. As mentioned, the launch of Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft's new era of AI supercharged computing, is happening right now, and Microsoft just pulled its flagship AI feature, Recall, from that launch after a whirlwind of controversy, and now we have an error. in Windows 11, causing some CPUs to run like molasses (well, not completely, but very slowly in some cases).
The future of computing suddenly looks a little chaotic, as of last week, and Microsoft will have to act precisely.
