Windows 10, high load from WUDFHost.exe Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver

[luuk]

Anyone knows how I can fix this? The process WUDFHost.exe Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver cause a very high CPU load.

When this happens the screen works buggie / stays behind / not rendering correctly. Or only render parts.

System details:

Dell Inc. XPS 13 9350
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6500U CPU @ 2.50GHz, 2592 MHz, 2 core('s), 4 logische processor(s)
M​emory:16GB
​Microsoft Windows 10 Pro​ , 10.0.14393 Build 14393

2x Dell USB3.0 dock D3100
Screen Resolution : 2560 X 1440

Displaylink manager: 8.0.762.0


Thanks for the support

[luuk]

I think the problem is caused by the update of windows. And the way how the displaylink software integrate with it.

[AlbanRampon]

I think the problem is caused by the update of windows. And the way how the displaylink software integrate with it.

Hello,
I'm afraid I don't understand this, can you explain what you mean?
Kind regards,
Alban

[luuk]

Hello,
I'm afraid I don't understand this, can you explain what you mean?
Kind regards,
Alban

Before the update of windows, [Anniversary Update] I mean.

[luuk]

Any clue what it can be?

[perlamoldovei]

I've been expecting for more than one month the update of displaylink driver but the horrible mouse lag was not solved. Before W10 Anniversary update everything worked smooth. I have 3 computers with 2 monitors (1 on video card and 1 on usb - Philips C221S) and one with 3 usb monitors only.
Before W10 Anniversary update all computers worked fine without any mouse lag no matter what i did on the computers.
After W10 Anniversary update the computers with 2 monitors started having an annoying mouse lag on the USB Monitor especially when the computer was doing something, i.e. loading a webpage. I noticed that there is a high cpu load on Windows Driver Foundation when that happened (USB monitor activated and kind of graphic refresh of screen no matter the monitor). Things didn't improve after the last release (25 October) of the DislayLink driver.

Now it is impossible to use two of the computers with 2 monitors as they have a dual core processor. I still have to mention that the computer with 3 usb monitors (and no vga monitor) works flawlessly.

Is there any chance that this issue is solved? I invested a lot in these monitors and tehnically i cannot use them.

[zephnn]

We are also still facing the lag issues at our office. It has indeed improved after the last cumulative patch. However in our situation where we use 3 monitors we still can't work with it. Especially when Remote Desktop RDP or VNC is used on one of the secondary screens. I'm not sure how to call it but windows are not refreshing completely it seems. When you go over it with the cursor it gets there.
We removed the anniversary update on one of our systems and we don't experience any issues at all there.

[Qvazar]

Confirming this.
The Windows 10 Anniversary Update drivers are causing CPU usage to spike when anything "real-time" happens on the connected USB monitor.

My original setup was a Dell XPS 15 Laptop connected to a Dell D3100 USB docking station with two HDMI monitors attached.
Before the Windows Anniversary Update I could play Guild Wars 2 at 40FPS on one USB monitor while playing Twitch/YouTube content on the other USB monitor. Everything was working smoothly.
After the update, games are unplayable on any USB-attached monitor.
I've resorted to attaching one monitor directly to the laptop with HDMI and playing games on that, but if any rendering happens on the USB-attached monitor, game performance drastically drops. If I play a video on the USB-monitor while playing on the HDMI-monitor, game FPS drops to 20% of before. 40 FPS becomes 10 FPS!

My girlfriend is using a Surface Pro 4 with this same dock and is suffering the same problems; but obviously she cannot connect one of the monitors directly through HDMI, so any continuous rendering on the monitors causes heavy CPU-load and lag and any CPU-heavy load causes the monitors to lag greatly, i.e. when playing Flash games.

I understand that the Windows Anniversary Update forces this new driver model, but this performance decrease is completely unacceptable. You and Microsoft needs to work together to fix this.

I have all Windows, Dell and NVidia drivers up to date.

[AlbanRampon]

We are also still facing the lag issues at our office. It has indeed improved after the last cumulative patch. However in our situation where we use 3 monitors we still can't work with it. Especially when Remote Desktop RDP or VNC is used on one of the secondary screens. I'm not sure how to call it but windows are not refreshing completely it seems. When you go over it with the cursor it gets there.
We removed the anniversary update on one of our systems and we don't experience any issues at all there.
Hello Zephnn,
The paint effect you are describing with having to mouse over to refresh the area has been reported to Microsoft. This is not a lag as you can leave it for a minute and it still won't change.
Can you check if the content of the Print Screen shows the corruption?
Regards,
Alban

[AlbanRampon]

Confirming this.
The Windows 10 Anniversary Update drivers are causing CPU usage to spike when anything "real-time" happens on the connected USB monitor.

My original setup was a Dell XPS 15 Laptop connected to a Dell D3100 USB docking station with two HDMI monitors attached.
Before the Windows Anniversary Update I could play Guild Wars 2 at 40FPS on one USB monitor while playing Twitch/YouTube content on the other USB monitor. Everything was working smoothly.
After the update, games are unplayable on any USB-attached monitor.
I've resorted to attaching one monitor directly to the laptop with HDMI and playing games on that, but if any rendering happens on the USB-attached monitor, game performance drastically drops. If I play a video on the USB-monitor while playing on the HDMI-monitor, game FPS drops to 20% of before. 40 FPS becomes 10 FPS!

My girlfriend is using a Surface Pro 4 with this same dock and is suffering the same problems; but obviously she cannot connect one of the monitors directly through HDMI, so any continuous rendering on the monitors causes heavy CPU-load and lag and any CPU-heavy load causes the monitors to lag greatly, i.e. when playing Flash games.

I understand that the Windows Anniversary Update forces this new driver model, but this performance decrease is completely unacceptable. You and Microsoft needs to work together to fix this.

I have all Windows, Dell and NVidia drivers up to date.

Hello,
There are several points in this post.
WUDFHost.exe load has no direct bearing on performance. The algorithm uses, and has always used the available CPU to minimise latency and achieve the pixel-perfect we expect. The CPU is used because it's available, otherwise the quality will be dropped temporarily.
Would you look at your laptop to check if there are multiple graphics cards in it? If so, can you please disable the low end one to see if there is a performance gain? We know the Anniversary Update OS will the choose the best graphics card but the one used at startup. We know this because we have already been working with Microsoft on this. The compute of graphics has never done by DisplayLink as this is not a GPU. How do you measure your FPS? Do you have a sensor on the monitor, or is it an in-game counter looking at what the graphics card is handling?

The second aspect around general performance is on the engineering backlog to be worked on. There are a number of features which were available to us prior to this OS which have to be totally redeveloped with this new way of doing indirect displays.
The priority was to have the system work for the OS launch.

Kind regards,
Alban

[AlbanRampon]

Any clue what it can be?
Hello,
When you do a Print Screen, do you see the corruption?
If so, then this is a bug we've reported to Microsoft already and they are working on it.
How many displays in total are working? We've noticed you need 3+ for the issue to be obvious and that's why this is reported by DisplayLink users... because we make it easy to add that many displays on machines.
Regards,
Alban

[jaydub]

same exact issue here. if the dock is connected and you use any peripheral the process will spike just moving the mouse can be enough to get wudfhost.exe to spike up an extra 25% cpu load. (even though the mouse is plugged into the laptop)

with the dock not connected there are zero issues in fact the process doesn't even show in taskmgr

uninstall use the install cleaner tool, reboot reinstall no change.

[Qvazar]

Hello,
There are several points in this post.
WUDFHost.exe load has no direct bearing on performance. The algorithm uses, and has always used the available CPU to minimise latency and achieve the pixel-perfect we expect. The CPU is used because it's available, otherwise the quality will be dropped temporarily.
Would you look at your laptop to check if there are multiple graphics cards in it? If so, can you please disable the low end one to see if there is a performance gain? We know the Anniversary Update OS will the choose the best graphics card but the one used at startup. We know this because we have already been working with Microsoft on this. The compute of graphics has never done by DisplayLink as this is not a GPU. How do you measure your FPS? Do you have a sensor on the monitor, or is it an in-game counter looking at what the graphics card is handling?

The second aspect around general performance is on the engineering backlog to be worked on. There are a number of features which were available to us prior to this OS which have to be totally redeveloped with this new way of doing indirect displays.
The priority was to have the system work for the OS launch.

Kind regards,
Alban

The Intel GPU cannot be disabled, since the NVidia GPU is only a co-processor, but the NVidia GPU can be set as default. See http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3519/p/19586281/20639779#20639779 and the post below it.

This changes nothing however.

But I was able to come to a new conclusion.
When both monitors are connected through USB the game reports a max of 17 FPS and is unplayable, even on the laptop display.
With one monitor connected through USB and the other through HDMI the game reports 60FPS when played on any of three displays. But still, the USB monitor is obviously not rendering 60FPS since the mouse cursor and the game feels obviously sluggish when compared to the HDMI and integrated monitor.

The FPS counter is an in-game one.

[theolditguy]

Same here, build 1503 was fine with displaylink 7.7 m4 drivers, but as soon as I install 1607 I'm getting input lag, high CPU load from WUDFHost, and the screen fails to update until I interact with the window. Tried new 8.0 m3 drivers, uninstall/reinstall, old drivers, nothing seems to help. I'd rather not roll back to 1503 but it seems I may have to.

[theolditguy]

If anyone else find this thread they should give the 8.1 alpha driver a shot, its not perfect but it helps a lot. Made my win10 1607 setup usable again with two displaylink adapters connected.

close all apps, save work and prepare to reboot:

http://www.displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=64916

[Josbourne]

Unfortunately this did not work for me. Experiencing the same issue as all of you guys on build 1607..

KR, Jos

[robert.angell]

I have also tried the 8.1 alpha and this issue is still occurring.
From when I got the dock, I started with DisplayLink 8.0 M2, then M3, now 8.1.782 Alpha. Issue still occurring.
I've only ever had Win 10 1607 on this device, so not sure if performance is/was better prior to this version.

Windows 10 Pro 1607
Dell Inspiron 13 - 7000 series
Core i7-7500 @2.7 GHz
16GB RAM
Intel HD 620
Dell D3100 USB 3.0 Dock
1 external monitor connected at 4K via DisplayPort on dock.

Mouse cursor is laggy most of the time - especially once more than a few applications are open.
External monitor goes black for 2 seconds about every 15minutes during use, as though it is resetting itself. The laptop monitor remains on. There is nothing to indicate that the monitor is 'disconnected'... the primary screen settings remain in place.
WUDFHost.exe consumes 10-15% CPU continuously while the dock is connected and actions are occurring on the external monitor. When disconnected, this process is 0%.
Possibly related: audiodg.exe consumes 5-10% CPU continuously while the dock is connected.

Happy to provide more information if required.

[daniel]

Same issue here. It is impossible to use my ThinkPad USB 3 dock now because of the severe lag. It's been working fine for quite some time, but as of last week it's extremely laggy. I've been on Anniversary update for a couple of months, so it didn't happen along with the update.

Why so silent AlbanRampon and others at DisplayLink? Please try to advise here.

[tbone]

Same challenge here folks with a Lenovo X1 Yoga 1st Gen. When docked, Windows Driver Foundation is always at the top of the CPU list at 5% – 10%. No issues when running undocked. Yeah… I know… well then run it undocked.

Lenovo X1 Yoga 1st Generation OLED
Windows 10 Pro Build 1607
Core i7-6600U @ 2.60 GHz
16 GB RAM
Intel HD Graphics 520 (Driver 20.19.15.4463)
Thinkpad USB 3.0 Docking Station (with DisplayLink 8.1M0 drivers)
2 x external Dell 2407WFP (1920 x 1200) + X1 Yoga native laptop screen on
StarTech 2 Port Dual DVI USB KVM Switch with Audio

Configuration:
X1 Yoga -> Thinkpad USB 3.0 Dock -> 2 x DVI to StarTech KVM -> 2 x DVI to 2 x Dell 2407WFP

I have this configuration so that I can switch between two laptops; work and personal.

Just for fun, other laptop connected to the KVM is

Thinkpad W510
Windows 10 Pro Build 1607
Core i7 Q20 @ 1.73 GHz
8 GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX880M
Lenovo ThinkPad Mini Dock Plus 3 (who comes up with these names)
2 x external Dell 2407WFP (1920 x 1200) ONLY; can’t have the W510 native display on with 2 monitors.
StarTech 2 Port Dual DVI USB KVM Switch with Audio

No high CPU issues with my W510 configuration.

So, any way to get my newer X1 to stop running so hot when docked?

[nouserr]

same issue here, not so bad as other are saying but laptop is freezing and slowing badly when one of the screens has some video turned on, youtube, google hangouts, skype etc

Lenovo Yoga 500-14IBD
i5-5200U CPU @ 2.20GHz, 2201 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
8GB RAM DDR3
Intel HD Graphics 5500

DisplayLink 8.1.843.0
Acer Led 1920x1080 Extended HDMI
Iiyama Prolite E2407HDS 1920x1080 DVI

[anyweb]

I have the high CPU load issue with Windows Driver Foundation when docked in the Displaylink dock, simply moving the external mouse causes the cpu to spike and lag, when undocked from the displaylink dock (thinkpad) everything is normal and no spiking of cpu,

this is frustrating, i've tried every driver released for this and still the issue persists, as this is occuring on several hardware vendors you cannot blame the manufacturer of the computer,

the computer i'm using in this case is a Surface Pro 4,

please fix this annoying problem

thanks

[bfcamara]

The same issue here with a Dell XPS 13 9360 and a Targus Dock with an external monitor.
WUDFHost.exe consuming always some CPU, monitors lagging, etc.

I hope a fix is available soon.

[ed34567]

Got the same issue here with the Anniversary update and WUDFHost.exe, specifically the process loading the Intel 520 driver dll's.
Updated the Intel drivers to 21.20.16.4574 and the DisplayLink to 8.1.843.0 but still getting the problem. It's actually making Edge unusable.

This is on a Dell Latitude E5470 and a Targus ACP71EU dock.

[EyalBkk]

Same issue with Windows Driver Foundation hogging the CPU. Latest displaylink driver just installed. Running 2 external screens with Lenovo Yoga 3 (i7 5500U + 8GB ram).

Can we have an update on expected next step and timeframe to solve this?

[AlbanRampon]

Hello,

I have been notified that engineering has now been able to reliably reproduce it on a model of machine.
They are now working on understanding the problem.
There are a few leads they are following, one of them is linked with memory. Result of the investigation will be telling what will help and a timeline.

If I understand that 50% CPU is considered high, having 5% would leave still 95% free... If a computer is struggling with 5% CPU usage, then there is something else at play!
Unfortunately the system gauge doesn't give any obvious information about where the bottleneck is.

WUDFHost, as its name indicates is a process hosting other processes (Windows User Mode Driver Framework). One of the hosted processes is the DisplayLink Manager process. This has changed from a separate DisplayLink User Agent, DisplayLink Manager approach because we are now using the Microsoft standard USB driver.

Kind regards,
Alban

[fstx]

I don't use the display connections on my dock at the moment, just the ethernet and usb ports.

When using SysInternals procmon to see what WUDFHost.exe is doing, I see that it repeatedly accesses the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink\NivoManager.

[AlbanRampon]

I don't use the display connections on my dock at the moment, just the ethernet and usb ports.

When using SysInternals procmon to see what WUDFHost.exe is doing, I see that it repeatedly accesses the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink\NivoManager.
Hello,

If you don't use the video, then a high load would have a different reason. What is high?
Ethernet and audio are also going through the same physical DisplayLink chip.
Also, whether you use a video output or not, the chip is on the USB so Windows will talk to it.

Kind regards,
Alban

[spellinn]

Hello,

I have been notified that engineering has now been able to reliably reproduce it on a model of machine.
They are now working on understanding the problem.


I can 100% reproduce the problem here, so do let me know if they want to run any diagnostics on my system (Dell XPS 13)

I'm using your latest Win10 drivers (8.1M0)

Cheers

Neil

[-=Markus=-]

Hello, I have the same problem.

I can't use my four USB screens.
I have update my computer with the last nvidia driver, and my problem is unchanged.

I work in the development of flight simulator, and it's logical for us to simulate any instruments between different screens.
And the top for a good interface utilisation, is the possibility to change rapidely by USB ports of screens.

I try to disconnect GPU / Graphic Card / Wudfsvc, but nothing happens.

My only option for the moment, is to remove physicaly one of the twice graphic card from my motherboard, for have 3 surround screens HDMI, and four USB sreens for plane instruments.
It's not envisageable.... .

The computer is very powerful :

OS : Windows 10 / version : 1607 / 14393.693
Proc : Intel i7-6700K
RAM : 64 Go
System : 64 bits processor x64

GPU : 2 X GTX Geforce Titan X SLI
Motherboard : Asus Maximus VIII Extreme

Sceens : 3 screens HDMI
1 screen VGA
4 screens USB Lilliput

Drivers Nvidia version : 378.49
Drivers DisplayLink : 8.1 M0


Can you give me a configuration tip? Or tell me if the next DisplayLink drivers will solve this compatibility problem? and when ?
Thank you

Best regards,

Markus

[bfcamara]

I can also reproduce in my system: Dell XPS 13 + Win 10 + 2 External monitors attached to a Targus doc. As soon as I start using my external monitors, the issue happens. Very annoying.

[rbaldi]

Same issue for me at idle Driver Foundation runs 1-3 %percent CPU moving mouse across the screen cause it to jump to 20%. Running a game or steaming video on browser such as youtube causes it to jump form 35-50 CPU usage.

1 week old Lenovo IdeaPad 510, windows 10 pro, Lenovo Ultra Dock running 2 monitors, i7-7500, 12GB

Un-docked driver foundation doesnt even register any CPU usage.

Need fix please

[PCEng]

Hi Alban,

I was wondering if you had any rough ETA for 8.1 M1 and is there an Alpha or Beta version available for testing?

My organisation has around 4000 Targus ACP77 docking stations and are keen to ensure our rollout of Windows 10 14393 goes as smooth as possible and are very happy to provide feedback and logs if we find issues.

Thanks,

Matt

[seb2020]

Hello,

Same issue with my Windows 10 and a HP Universal Docking. I have 2 screens. When I move the mouse, the process WUDFHost.exe use more CPU.

Any news about this issue ?

[Jouni]

Same problem here. WUDFHost.exe jumps up to 40% CPU when moving mouse.

Win 10, Lenovo ThinkPad T460s with two external screens using Dell DisplayLink D3100.

[Simon!]

Why is there no response for 2 weeks?

[AlbanRampon]

Why is there no response for 2 weeks?
@Simon, because I'm more focused on getting engineering to actually work on it rather than just repeating what I said before.

I wanted to post an update on Friday but meetings finished too late.
The problem with a "me-too" post without any value AND test conditions is that it is as valuable to reach a solution as a "I'm coughing" allows diagnosing the root cause of any ailment/illness.

Here is the update I had planned though!

TL;DR: we're still working on it and priority was increased the week before last.


In details:

The next DisplayLink driver for Windows will be 8.2 M0 at the end of March/early April.
I've been reshuffling the Windows 10 Anniversary (& Creators) Update team priority to look at CPU usage as THE main delivery for 8.2 M0.
Since Friday, I have something which I can share to users for some specific types of reports to gauge impact. Some changes were made in the OS and we've been able to remove some early workarounds, and bring other improvements.

In order to help effectively, I would like the suggest to each commenter on this thread to edit their posts in the thread to make sure the following is included in their report. You do NOT have to. However, I will keep assigning priorities based on pressure points.
Items to include:
1. Windows 10 Build Number (available from System_Details.txt of our Customer Support Tool). Home/Pro/Enterprise is not needed.
2. Enumerate each display, its resolution and if it is connected to the graphics card or a USB adapter (available from System_Details.txt as well).
3. The CPU ***full*** name including the numbers after iX (available from System_Details.txt as well). Generation is more important to understand the architecture rather than if it is an i3 or i7.
4. The GPU details (available from System_Details.txt as well).
5. What you include in your CPU usage (which processes: overall, WUDF, DWM...). Note: I really need WUDF more than the rest as DWM is a Windows process).
6. The value of CPU being used.
7. What happens on ALL indirect displays (indirect = through USB). If you have Task Manager on an indirect display, then it is NOT idling as content changes!!! This is really one of the most important point. Here are some examples:
7a. Content fully static: nothing changes at all, and I mean nothing, not the clock, not the mouse pointer.
7b. Some little area changes: like for instance you only have some numbers on the clock or the numbers in Task Manager.
7c. Only the mouse pointer across indirect displays. (if you do this, please do NOT use the mouse trail accessibility feature or this is the same use case as 7b).
7d. Moving a window. Indicate an idea of the size of the window... I mean moving a 10x10 pixels windows is obviously fundamentally different to moving a 4kx4k one.
7e. Playing video on VLC
7f. Playing video on a browser (and the value is constant across browsers). Our driver CANNOT differentiate which browser is playing.
7g. Game, full screen or windowed? Games do NOT use the same as video playback.
8. Which version of DisplayLink driver you are running as, like Windows builds, they don't all have the same features. (available from System_Details.txt as well).

You'll notice that all data, except usage and CPU value, is in the ZIP our Customer Support Tool (http://www.displaylink.com/downloads/file?d=65) creates.

I will then review the full threads regularly to see the updates.
Should I see someone with details which matches something I have something to be tested, then I will create a ticket using the forum registered email address and share what I have privately to get meaningful feedback on what I think should have been impacted by changes. Once I have verified with your feedback, we can secure the change in the release but I can also track who has been using the development build.
I am sure that posting it here publicly would be wasting everyone's time, and it wouldn't help narrow down a solution for each use case reported.

There are some long terms optimisations and new features around this as well, of course.

Kind regards,
Alban

[Nickski]

1. OS Build Info

OS Build: 10.0.14393.0 (Debug = False)
OS Build Label: 14393.rs1_release.161220-1747


2. Monitors Connected:

Through USB (3.0 I believe)

DELL P1911 Manufacturer: DEL ProductCode: A074 Serial: 1WKJV14A08DS Built: 16/2011 @ 1440 x 900

DELL P2314H Manufacturer: DEL ProductCode: 4098 Serial: J8J313C6BLUL Built: 49/2013 @ 1920 x 1080


3. CPU

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-3220 CPU @ 3.30GHz

No other information about CPU can be found in the system_details.txt file.


4. GPU Details

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (NVIDIA)
Graphics Driver: 21.21.13.7633 Dated 2016/12/11

Graphics: Intel(R) HD Graphics (Intel Corporation)
Graphics Driver: 10.18.10.4358 Dated 2015/12/21

The Intel internal graphics is used to take the load off the CPU when streaming through Open Broadcast Studio.

5. CPU Usages

WUDF @ 10-30% - It can go up to 50% in extreme cases - especially when using things like Open Broadcast software (that uses around 25% of my CPU).

Windows Desktop Manager stays at 0.5% to 2% CPU usage.

6. Total CPU Usage

75%-100%

7. Analysis

7a: When completely static with just the task manager open, WUDF idles at around 0.5%-2% CPU usage.

7b: Same as 7a - uses around 0.5-2% CPU with the Windows clock open.

7c: When just moving the mouse around the displays WUDF uses around 8-12% of the CPU.

7d: When moving a window around WUDF usage goes up to around 20-25% of the CPU.

7e: VLC player playing a 1080p video: 15-25% WUDF CPU Usage.

7f: Full screen video on:

- Google Chrome = 7.5-15% WUDF CPU Usage.
- Full screen video on Microsoft Edge = 7.5-15% WUDF CPU usage.
- Full screen video on Firefox = 10% WUDF CPU Usage (that said firefox used about 40% of my CPU whereas the other browsers used around 10%)


Same video used on all browsers.

7g: I will have to get back on that one. No real games installed at this current moment in time.

8. Display Link Driver Installed

DisplayLink Graphics Driver (8.1.848.0) on 2017/01/01 Status is Installed

[tracertit]

...

The next DisplayLink driver for Windows will be 8.2 M0 at the end of March/early April....



Is that a joke?
Complete firms cant work correctly since weeks/months.

[schmak01]

So I am having the same issue, usually 14-25% CPU usage, but when Skype for Business or WebEx is displaying, it goes to 100% and doesn't seem to kick off throttling either. I can use Throttlestop to force the CPU to max, but even then it doesn't seem to completely fix it, the rest of the system is very very slow, instead of unusable.

1. OS Build Info

OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (x64-based PC), No Service Pack, English
OS Build: 10.0.14393.0 (Debug = False)
OS Build Label: 14393.rs1_release.161220-1747


2. Monitors Connected:

Manufacturer: LEN ProductCode: 40D3 Serial: 0 Built: 1/2012
DELL E2211H Manufacturer: DEL ProductCode: A072 Serial: 7N01218P0U0M Built: 34/2011
DELL E2211H Manufacturer: DEL ProductCode: A072 Serial: 19G4H13T1U8L Built: 14/2011


3. CPU

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3667U CPU @ 2.00GHz - Running at 2.5 Ghz on all cores via Throttlestop


4. GPU Details

Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
Graphics: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 (Intel Corporation)
Graphics Driver: 10.18.10.4425 Dated 2016/04/04

5. CPU Usages
WUDF @ 14-25% when just browsers, spreadsheets and what not. With Skype For Business and WebEx presentations, it hits 75-100%, typically 100% This is with no video camera on, just screen sharing from others.

Windows Desktop Manager stays at 0.5% to 3% CPU usage.

6. Total CPU Usage

25-30 when not using Skype For business or WebEx, 100% when using them

7. Analysis

7a: When completely static with just the task manager open, WUDF idles at around 4%-15%

7b: Same as 7a - uses around 4-15% CPU with the Windows clock open.

7c: When just moving the mouse around the displays WUDF uses around 22-23% of the CPU.

7d: When moving a window around WUDF usage goes up to around 22-23% of the CPU.

7e: VLC player playing a 1080p video: 6-12%% WUDF CPU Usage.

7f: Full screen video on:

- Google Chrome = 10-15% WUDF CPU Usage. Appears to be throttled by Chrome CPU as well
- Full screen video on Microsoft Edge = 105-15% WUDF CPU usage.

Same video used on all browsers.

7g: Installed Stellaris off of steam. During loading screen it took 4-6% cpu, once in game at the start screen, where there is animation, it was taking 17-40% CPU.


8. Display Link Driver Installed

DisplayLink Graphics Driver 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01

Added a WPA screenshot, looks like the Displaylink driver is accessing Direct X 11, where the CPU draw is coming from

http://i.imgur.com/jUw88mk.png

[schmak01]

I hope this might help, when using WPA and looking into WUDFHost I discovered that the big CPU grab appears to be from when your dlidusb.dll starts interacting with the DirectX 11 DLL, which is used for just about everything on the desktop now IIRC with the anniversary update.

I am by no means an expert on this, but it might be something to dig into

http://i.imgur.com/jUw88mk.png

[KPetronis]

Perhaps it would be better to ask for the contents of the resulting zip file from the Support Tool? Anyway, here is what I got within reason.


1. Windows 10 Build Number
Microsoft Surface Book
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (x64-based PC), No Service Pack, English
OS Build: 10.0.14393.0 (Debug = False)
OS Build Label: 14393.rs1_release.161220-1747

2. Enumerate each display, its resolution and if it is connected to the graphics card or a USB adapter:

Both monitors are 1920 x 1200 and using USB adapter to Surface Book.
VS24A Manufacturer: ACI ProductCode: 24D1 Serial: F9LMQS066306 Built: 38/2015
ASUS VW266H Manufacturer: ACI ProductCode: 26A4 Serial: 96LMTF180980 Built: 27/2009

3. The CPU ***full*** name including the numbers after iX (available from System_Details.txt as well). Generation is more important to understand the architecture rather than if it is an i3 or i7.

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300U CPU @ 2.40GHz
Number of Cores: 4
Might be Skylake?


4. The GPU details (available from System_Details.txt as well).

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GPU (NVIDIA)
Graphics Driver: 21.21.13.6961 Dated 2016/10/20
Graphics: Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 (Intel Corporation)
Graphics Driver: 20.19.15.4463 Dated 2016/07/06
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
WEI Base Score is 6.4, CPU 7.5, RAM 8.2, GPU 6.4, Gaming 9.9, Disk 8.8

5. What you include in your CPU usage (which processes: overall, WUDF, DWM...). Note: I really need WUDF more than the rest as DWM is a Windows process).
Not sure precisely what you mean - but the top 5 when at-rest are:
WDF
Task Mgr
Windows Explorer
DWM
Chrome

6. The value of CPU being used.
Not sure what you mean here - typical CPU usage details are below.

7. What happens on ALL indirect displays (indirect = through USB). If you have Task Manager on an indirect display, then it is NOT idling as content changes!!! This is really one of the most important point. Here are some examples:

7a. Content fully static: nothing changes at all, and I mean nothing, not the clock, not the mouse pointer.
Ehhh - how do you want me to capture CPU % without anything open? Run a CPU logger? Is that of any value? I suspect WDF would be less than 2% and total CPU is around 8%

7b. Some little area changes: like for instance you only have some numbers on the clock or the numbers in Task Manager.
WDF anywhere from .5% - 2%
Total CPU is around 8%

7c. Only the mouse pointer across indirect displays. (if you do this, please do NOT use the mouse trail accessibility feature or this is the same use case as 7b).
WDF 28% - 30%
Total CPU is about 60% as other extraneous processes start to take up a little more CPU when I move the mouse.

7d. Moving a window. Indicate an idea of the size of the window... I mean moving a 10x10 pixels windows is obviously fundamentally different to moving a 4kx4k one.
A full-size-ish window (not maximized but filling a 1920 x 1200 display)
WDF – 30% - 38%

7e. Playing video on VLC
Video maximized on one screen.
WDF about 30%
VLC about 15%
DWM about 5%

7f. Playing video on a browser (and the value is constant across browsers). Our driver CANNOT differentiate which browser is playing.

With YouTube maximized on one of the screens (task manager on the other)
Total CPU = 100%
WDF 38%
Chrome 28%
Chrome 22%
DWM 3%
Task manager 2%



7g. Game, full screen or windowed? Games do NOT use the same as video playback.
Haven’t tried playing games (I don’t actually have any installed), I’m sure it would be catastrophic.

8. Which version of DisplayLink driver you are running as, like Windows builds, they don't all have the same features. (available from System_Details.txt as well).

DisplayLink Version: 8.1.843.0
DisplayLink Installer Source: Normal or WU installed
DisplayLink Audio Version: 1.54.0.0 (DisplayLink USB Audio 2.0 Class Driver)
DisplayLink Ethernet Version: 2.34.17.0 (DisplayLink USB CDC NCM Driver)
No DL USB I/O drivers found.s
DisplayLink RS Version:8.1.843.0 (DisplayLink Core Software v8.1.843.0)

[Kristan]

This is my work setup below. I take the laptop home where I have the same dock, but different monitor setup. There I have one monitor connected via the laptops built in miniDP port to DP on the monitor, then two others via HDMI on the dock (laptop lid is closed, so screen is not in use). Incidentally I have to use the miniDP on the laptop as the DP port on the dock refuses to work. The monitor just flickers between no signal and powered off (another non-displaylink dock with a different laptop works fine with DP).

Happy to try beta/alpha builds. I work in software and beta test for other companies, so know how to provide decent feedback etc.

1. Windows 10 Build Number
Computer: Dell Inc. - XPS 13 9343 4Q5GT32
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (x64-based PC), No Service Pack, English
OS Build: 10.0.14393.0 (Debug = False)
OS Build Label: 14393.rs1_release.161220-1747

2. Enumerate each display, its resolution and if it is connected to the graphics card or a USB adapter
Primary Resolution: 1920x1080x32
Desktop Size: 5760x1080
Number of Monitors Connected: 3
Monitors Connected:
Manufacturer: SHP ProductCode: 1420 Serial: 0 Built: 2/2015
S240HL Manufacturer: ACR ProductCode: 0289 Serial: LU5EE0018536 Built: 46/2015
S240HL Manufacturer: ACR ProductCode: 0289 Serial: LU5EE0018536 Built: 46/2015
In english: one laptop screen and two Acer S240HL 1080p screens both connected via Dell D3100 dock on HDMI.

3. The CPU ***full*** name
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-5200U CPU @ 2.20GHz

4. The GPU details
Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500

5. What you include in your CPU usage
With no activity on the indirect displays, WDF is < 1% (average of 0.5%). Activity causes CPU to increase. I can get it to 100% with a youtube video playing on each connected display,with WDUF competing with Chrome for CPU.

6. The value of CPU being used.
By WDF? Anywhere from 0.5% to 30% depending on activity

7. What happens on ALL indirect display
7a. Content fully static
WDF - 0.5%

7b. Some little area changes:
WDF - averages around 1-2%

7c. Only the mouse pointer across indirect displays
WDF - 1.5% on build in screen, 20% on indirect displays

7d. Moving a window
Dragging full 1080p Outlook window around
WDF - 1% on build in screen, 25% on indirect displays

7e. Playing video on VLC
Don't have VLC

7f. Playing video on a browser
WDF - 2% if browser is on built in screen - 30% if either of the connected displays

7g. Game, full screen or windowed?
I don't play games - it's a work PC

8. Which version of DisplayLink driver you are running as
DisplayLink Version: 8.1.843.0
DisplayLink Installer Source: Normal or WU installed
DisplayLink Audio Version: 1.54.0.0 (DisplayLink USB Audio 2.0 Class Driver)
DisplayLink Ethernet Version: 2.34.17.0 (DisplayLink USB CDC NCM Driver)
No DL USB I/O drivers found.
DisplayLink RS Version:8.1.843.0 (DisplayLink Core Software v8.1.843.0)

[schmak01]

I had posted a ton of details on here yesterday and now it is deleted. Why? That took a lot of time and research to help you all out and hopefully fix the problem? I found that the CPU being eaten up was due to the driver calling a directx 11 DLL as well as provided the numbered list requested. Did I violate some kind of TOS?

[AlbanRampon]

I had posted a ton of details on here yesterday and now it is deleted. Why? That took a lot of time and research to help you all out and hopefully fix the problem? I found that the CPU being eaten up was due to the driver calling a directx 11 DLL as well as provided the numbered list requested. Did I violate some kind of TOS?
Nothing is getting deleted. Like many, many but many forums, posts with attachments are moderated. The number of spam/porn/fake medicine messages that don't invade your inbox because of this measure is relatively high.

[schmak01]

Nothing is getting deleted. Like many, many but many forums, posts with attachments are moderated. The number of spam/porn/fake medicine messages that don't invade your inbox because of this measure is relatively high.

So why was it removed? It wasn't spam, it was all technical detail on this problem.

[AlbanRampon]

So why was it removed? It wasn't spam, it was all technical detail on this problem.

You removed it from public view pending review when you added attachments.

[schmak01]

You removed it from public view pending review when you added attachments.

Thanks for clearing it up, I had thought I did something wrong, and only want to help.

This issue makes using the dock for Skype meetings or Webex impossible. I have to log into my VDI through my windows Phone and Continuum dock to join any meetings that have presentations or undock my laptop.

[occit]

I have been fighting with my workstation for several weeks with resource issues. Locking up, running out of memory, cpu running way with resources, fan that sounds like a jet engine, etc...

After a lot of research I stumbled upon this post as I was looking at Windows processes and Endpoint protection as the cause of the issues. However I have now unplugged my dock, uninstalled the current DisplayLink driver issued on December 18 and rebooted my machine. On reboot I inserted the dock USB into a different port and let it install the driver through Windows. I am happy to report that my machine has returned back to normal...so far...

Running Windows 10 Anniversary. After letting windows install the driver the display adapter appears as "USB3.0 Dual Video Dock" Driver Provider: DisplayLink Driver Date: 8/17/2016 Driver Version: 8.0.762.0 Along with the display adapter I have "USB Giga-Ethernet" Driver Provider: DisplayLink Driver Date: 5/20/2016 Driver Version: 8.0.403.0

Fingers are crossed but it appears to have solved my issue!

[AlbanRampon]

I have been fighting with my workstation for several weeks with resource issues. Locking up, running out of memory, cpu running way with resources, fan that sounds like a jet engine, etc...

After a lot of research I stumbled upon this post as I was looking at Windows processes and Endpoint protection as the cause of the issues. However I have now unplugged my dock, uninstalled the current DisplayLink driver issued on December 18 and rebooted my machine. On reboot I inserted the dock USB into a different port and let it install the driver through Windows. I am happy to report that my machine has returned back to normal...so far...

Running Windows 10 Anniversary. After letting windows install the driver the display adapter appears as "USB3.0 Dual Video Dock" Driver Provider: DisplayLink Driver Date: 8/17/2016 Driver Version: 8.0.762.0 Along with the display adapter I have "USB Giga-Ethernet" Driver Provider: DisplayLink Driver Date: 5/20/2016 Driver Version: 8.0.403.0

Fingers are crossed but it appears to have solved my issue!

Hello,

Would you please be able to share your CPU+GPU details?
Also what kind of resolution are you external displays?
If I can understand the CPU issue, I don't get the high memory usage...



As a general update, I have created support tickets with details from the different posters here in preparation to share a development build to test. However, during tests, an unrelated issue was found so I have not yet shared anything as I am not satisfied with the quality.


Kind regards,
Alban

[schmak01]

I have been fighting with my workstation for several weeks with resource issues. Locking up, running out of memory, cpu running way with resources, fan that sounds like a jet engine, etc...

After a lot of research I stumbled upon this post as I was looking at Windows processes and Endpoint protection as the cause of the issues. However I have now unplugged my dock, uninstalled the current DisplayLink driver issued on December 18 and rebooted my machine. On reboot I inserted the dock USB into a different port and let it install the driver through Windows. I am happy to report that my machine has returned back to normal...so far...

Running Windows 10 Anniversary. After letting windows install the driver the display adapter appears as "USB3.0 Dual Video Dock" Driver Provider: DisplayLink Driver Date: 8/17/2016 Driver Version: 8.0.762.0 Along with the display adapter I have "USB Giga-Ethernet" Driver Provider: DisplayLink Driver Date: 5/20/2016 Driver Version: 8.0.403.0

Fingers are crossed but it appears to have solved my issue!

Nice to see you are having some success. I just went through the steps you outlined here, and my problem persists. Just moving the mouse on the screen causes WUDFHost to still jump from 4-25% CPU.

It took a while for windows to recognize the display adapters, but my keyboard and mouse it had no issue with.

[Jouni]

1. OS Build Info

OS Build: 10.0.14393.0 (Debug = False)
OS Build Label: 14393.rs1_release.161220-1747

2. Monitors Connected:

SMS24A650 Manufacturer: SAM ProductCode: 082A Serial: HVRB900381 Built: 38/2011
SMS24A650 Manufacturer: SAM ProductCode: 082A Serial: HVRB900369 Built: 38/2011

3. CPU

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6600U CPU @ 2.60GHz

4. GPU Details

Graphics: Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 (Intel Corporation)
Graphics Driver: 21.20.16.4534 Dated 2016/10/07
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01

The Intel internal graphics is used to take the load off the CPU when streaming through Open Broadcast Studio.

5. CPU Usages
WUDF mainly 5-35%

6. Total CPU Usage
20%-100%

7. Analysis

7a: Content fully static: WUDF idles at around 0%-2% CPU usage.

7b: Same as 7a

7c: When just moving the mouse around the displays WUDF uses around 6-12% of the CPU.

7d: When moving a window around WUDF usage goes up to around 20-28% of the CPU.

7e: Not installed

7f: Full screen video on:
Opera = 15-22%
Edge = 14- 20%


7g: No games to test.

8. Display Link Driver Installed

DisplayLink Graphics Driver (8.1.848.0) on 2017/01/10 Status is Installed

[boardshorts]

1. Windows 10 Build Number
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home (x64-based PC), No Service Pack, English
OS Build: 10.0.14393.0 (Debug = False)
OS Build Label: 14393.rs1_release.161220-1747

2. Enumerate each display, its resolution and if it is connected to the graphics card or a USB adapter:

Manufacturer: AUO ProductCode: 139E Serial: 0 Built: 1/2009 - 1600x900 - AMD Radeon 6600M
ACER V243HQ Manufacturer: ACR ProductCode: 00B0 Serial: LG8080074221 Built: 20/2011 -1920x1080 -USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360
ACER V243HQ Manufacturer: ACR ProductCode: 00B0 Serial: LG8080074221 Built: 20/2011 -1920x1080 -USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360
ACER V243HQ Manufacturer: ACR ProductCode: 00B0 Serial: LG8080074221 Built: 19/2011 -1920x1080 -USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360
ACER V243HQ Manufacturer: ACR ProductCode: 00B0 Serial: LG8080074221 Built: 20/2011 -1920x1080 -USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360
ACER V243HQ Manufacturer: ACR ProductCode: 00B0 Serial: LG8080074221 Built: 20/2011 -1920x1080 -USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360
ACER V243HQ Manufacturer: ACR ProductCode: 00B0 Serial: LG8080074221 Built: 20/2011 -1920x1080 -USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360

3. The CPU ***full*** name including the numbers after iX (available from System_Details.txt as well). Generation is more important to understand the architecture rather than if it is an i3 or i7.

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz
Number of Cores: 8


4. The GPU details (available from System_Details.txt as well).

Graphics: AMD Radeon 6600M and 6700M Series (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
Graphics Driver: 15.201.1151.1008 Dated 2015/11/04
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01
WEI Base Score is 4.5, CPU 7.4, RAM 7.4, GPU 4.5, Gaming 6.1, Disk 7.9


5. What you include in your CPU usage (which processes: overall, WUDF, DWM...). Note: I really need WUDF more than the rest as DWM is a Windows process).

6. The value of CPU being used.
Total CPU
Total % but when I look at the resource monitor it is spread across all 8 cores
7. What happens on ALL indirect displays (indirect = through USB). If you have Task Manager on an indirect display, then it is NOT idling as content changes!!! This is really one of the most important point. Here are some examples:
7a. Content fully static: nothing changes at all, and I mean nothing, not the clock, not the mouse pointer.
With 3 x USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360 connected 5%
With 6 x USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360 connected fluctuates 12%
7b. Some little area changes: like for instance you only have some numbers on the clock or the numbers in Task Manager.
7c. Only the mouse pointer across indirect displays. (if you do this, please do NOT use the mouse trail accessibility feature or this is the same use case as 7b).
With 3 x USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360 connected fluctuates from 30-50% with 6 Word documents open on these screens
With 6 x USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360 connected fluctuates from 30-70% with 6 Word documents open on these screens

7d. Moving a window. Indicate an idea of the size of the window... I mean moving a 10x10 pixels windows is obviously fundamentally different to moving a 4kx4k one.
With 3 x USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360 connected fluctuates from 30-50% with 6 Word documents open on these screens
With 6 x USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360 connected fluctuates from 30-100% with 6 Word documents open on these screens, mouse and keyboard stutter and Windows starts reporting USB device errors

WUDF is always the top of usage list. Screens are landscape with each document occupying have of one screen. ie 960x1080
7e. Playing video on VLC
Not tested.
7f. Playing video on a browser (and the value is constant across browsers). Our driver CANNOT differentiate which browser is playing.
Not Tested.
7g. Game, full screen or windowed? Games do NOT use the same as video playback.
No games.
8. Which version of DisplayLink driver you are running as, like Windows builds, they don't all have the same features. (available from System_Details.txt as well).
Graphics Driver: 8.1.843.0 Dated 2016/12/01

With 6 x USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360 connected and the CPU above peaking across all threads when we resize, edit and copy/paste the CPU temp rises to over 90 degrees C and the CPU throttles and the documents drop back to the laptop. It is as though Windows has reset the USB port/s.

Current workaround is to use only 3 of the 6 x USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360 until patch available. The 6 x USB\\VID_17E9&PID_0360 have worked well for years under Windows 7 and then Windows 10 and started misbehaving with the Windows Anniversary edition.

[Domdus]

Hi all,

I'm following this thread since the lag & high load issues started with the Win 10 Anniversary Update and still waiting for the solution.

I have the same mouse lag (= screen update lag) that has been reported by others, and it especially appears when I launch my eclipse development environment or watch youtube videos etc. on the Displaylink screen.

Now the lag fix for me was the processes priority:

In the task manager, I go to services and I always see a single WUDFHost.exe, which behaves completely normal and has a process priority set to HIGH by default it seems.

As soon as the Displaylink monitor is attached I have a second WUDFHost.exe process in the task manager, so 2 in total.
This second "new" one always uses a lot more RAM than the first (40 - 50 MB) and causes high CPU load depending on the Displaylink screen changes.
Now I changed the proccess priority for this one from default NORMAL to HIGH and the mouse lag (screen update lag) was gone completely.

Note this does not lower the CPU load or something, but there is simply no screen lag any longer.
I hope this works for someone else.

Keep in mind that the task manager keeps this information only for the current session, the priority setting is back to normal at the next start of windows. There are some tools and command line scripts or batch jobs to trigger this for each startup.

#UPDATE#
Setup: Dell XPS 13 9350 + FHD Monitor (USB Displaylink) + FHD Monitor (USB C/HDMI via DA200)

Best Regards

[Novi]

Hi all,

I'm following this thread since the lag & high load issues started with the Win 10 Anniversary Update and still waiting for the solution.

I have the same mouse lag (= screen update lag) that has been reported by others, and it especially appears when I launch my eclipse development environment or watch youtube videos etc. on the Displaylink screen.

Now the lag fix for me was the processes priority:

In the task manager, I go to services and I always see a single WUDFHost.exe, which behaves completely normal and has a process priority set to HIGH by default it seems.

As soon as the Displaylink monitor is attached I have a second WUDFHost.exe process in the task manager, so 2 in total.
This second "new" one always uses a lot more RAM than the first (40 - 50 MB) and causes high CPU load depending on the Displaylink screen changes.
Now I changed the proccess priority for this one from default NORMAL to HIGH and the mouse lag (screen update lag) was gone completely.

Note this does not lower the CPU load or something, but there is simply no screen lag any longer.
I hope this works for someone else.

Keep in mind that the task manager keeps this information only for the current session, the priority setting is back to normal at the next start of windows. There are some tools and command line scripts or batch jobs to trigger this for each startup.

Best Regards

This dramatically reduced my input and system lag. It is not completely gone, but is by far not as noticeable as before.

Dell XPS13 and D3100 (2 x 2560x1440 screens)

[AlbanRampon]

Hi Domdus, and all,

Because of the delay in getting the development build out, I am changing strategy a bit.
I should have an 8.2 Alpha available around Friday and I'll create a dedicated forum board for it as it includes more than this.

Some priority changes has been done in the driver. There are other priority changes that can be done but they are not straight forward: the OS scheduler will penalise you with lower priority than low if you claim highest all the time... Unless, like some game, you decide to decrease the "responsiveness" index but we're not ready to do that.

The alpha has other changes around smoothness. We've been running them this week over dual-4K display setups.
As soon as the 8.2 Alpha is available, I will add a link to the thread about it.

Kind regards,
Alban

[AlbanRampon]

Good afternoon everyone,

Here are links to the 8.2 Beta forum I created for the feedback on that version.

8.2 Beta 1 - 8.2.1336 17th February 2017 (http://www.displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=65140) to get the file with its limitations.
Please create a new thread in 8.2 Beta for Windows (http://www.displaylink.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=54) with your feedback about that version.

The focus for that version has been addressing performance first. There is also CPU reduction for some tasks. The reduction will depend on the application being used. For instance, Windows Photo Viewer sends full screen updates even when displaying a static photo... Improving the behaviour with non-optimal applications will come later.

I'd like to attract your attention to the known bugs listed under the limitations.

Have a nice weekend,
Alban

[Davers]

The service was taking an average of 20% cpu for me until I disabled it then rebooted and then enabled it again as manual. I noticed that the original startup mode was manual (triggered) so I suppose it was constantly being triggered. Note that your displaylink monitors will not work after the disable reboot but set the service to manual and reboot again and you should be good to go.

I suppose this is more of a workaround but I have not seen any negative consequences yet so ignorance is bliss.

[fstx]

Hello,

If you don't use the video, then a high load would have a different reason. What is high?
Ethernet and audio are also going through the same physical DisplayLink chip.
Also, whether you use a video output or not, the chip is on the USB so Windows will talk to it.

Kind regards,
Alban

High load is anything that spins up the CPU fan. But I was relating behaviour that seems wrong to me. Your forum does not allow me easily include a screenshot, so I just paste some of the events from procmon below. Procmon keeps rolling with events like these,
about 5 loops per second.

10:31:07.7011935 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKLM SUCCESS Desired Access: Maximum Allowed, Granted Access: Read
10:31:07.7012609 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegQueryKey HKLM SUCCESS Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0
10:31:07.7013444 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKLM\Software SUCCESS Desired Access: Read
10:31:07.7014379 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegCloseKey HKLM SUCCESS
10:31:07.7015207 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegQueryKey HKLM\SOFTWARE SUCCESS Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0
10:31:07.7016392 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink SUCCESS Desired Access: Read
10:31:07.7017298 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegCloseKey HKLM\SOFTWARE SUCCESS
10:31:07.7018942 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegQueryKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink SUCCESS Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0
10:31:07.7020779 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink\NivoManager NAME NOT FOUND Desired Access: Read
10:31:07.7021925 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegCloseKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink SUCCESS
10:31:07.7026075 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKU\S-1-5-19 SUCCESS Desired Access: Read/Write
10:31:07.7027246 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegQueryKey HKU\S-1-5-19 SUCCESS Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0
10:31:07.7029168 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKU\S-1-5-19\Software SUCCESS Desired Access: Read
10:31:07.7029901 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegCloseKey HKU\S-1-5-19 SUCCESS
10:31:07.7030455 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegQueryKey HKU\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE SUCCESS Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0
10:31:07.7031177 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKU\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink SUCCESS Desired Access: Read
10:31:07.7032101 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegCloseKey HKU\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE SUCCESS
10:31:07.7032718 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegQueryKey HKU\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink SUCCESS Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0
10:31:07.7035197 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKU\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink\NivoManager NAME NOT FOUND Desired Access: Read
10:31:07.7036576 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegCloseKey HKU\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink SUCCESS
10:31:07.7038434 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKLM SUCCESS Desired Access: Maximum Allowed, Granted Access: Read
10:31:07.7041241 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegQueryKey HKLM SUCCESS Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0
10:31:07.7045469 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKLM\Software SUCCESS Desired Access: Read
10:31:07.7047906 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegCloseKey HKLM SUCCESS
10:31:07.7049175 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegQueryKey HKLM\SOFTWARE SUCCESS Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0
10:31:07.7051393 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink SUCCESS Desired Access: Read
10:31:07.7052162 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegCloseKey HKLM\SOFTWARE SUCCESS
10:31:07.7052990 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegQueryKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink SUCCESS Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0
10:31:07.7055088 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink\NivoManager NAME NOT FOUND Desired Access: Read
10:31:07.7056492 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegCloseKey HKLM\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink SUCCESS
10:31:07.7058230 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKU\S-1-5-19 SUCCESS Desired Access: Read/Write
10:31:07.7059278 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegQueryKey HKU\S-1-5-19 SUCCESS Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0
10:31:07.7060480 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKU\S-1-5-19\Software SUCCESS Desired Access: Read
10:31:07.7062546 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegCloseKey HKU\S-1-5-19 SUCCESS
10:31:07.7063505 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegQueryKey HKU\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE SUCCESS Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0
10:31:07.7065572 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKU\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink SUCCESS Desired Access: Read
10:31:07.7067363 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegCloseKey HKU\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE SUCCESS
10:31:07.7068287 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegQueryKey HKU\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink SUCCESS Query: HandleTags, HandleTags: 0x0
10:31:07.7073661 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegOpenKey HKU\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink\NivoManager NAME NOT FOUND Desired Access: Read
10:31:07.7075117 WUDFHost.exe 13160 RegCloseKey HKU\S-1-5-19\SOFTWARE\DisplayLink SUCCESS

[fstx]

I installed DisplayLink 8.2 Beta For Windows 8.2 Beta 1.exe, and WUDFHost.exe is still misbehaving.

[bjallen13]

High Memory usage through the DisplayLink Driver. Has there been a fix or update to this issue yet? Thanks!

[DirkV71]

Same issue on a XPS13 with Dell D3100...do someone need some debuging stuff?!

Greetings, Dirk

[Domdus]

Hi,

I tested 8.2 Beta 1 - 8.2.1336 for last weeks which had a slightly better performance than versions before. I still applied the fix at the processes priority for WUDFHost.exe, I mentioned earlier here.

Now I found and tried out the 8.2 Beta 2 (http://www.displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=65198) and it resolves my issues completely.

In detail, it seems there is only one instance of the WUDFHost.exe in the list of processes (not many) and it does not show any high load behavior - no matter what I do in the display link screen.
Lagging is gone is well.

Best Regards

[jeremy]

We are seeing this issue across our organization. We have Latitude E5570 with Dell D1000 docks. We use these docks for two monitors, USB inputs, and Ethernet. Our display cables are Display Port and (can be any of the following) HDMI-to-DVI/VGA-to-VGA/HDMI-to-HDMI. We may also use audio if the users have the auxiliary speakers attached.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help or any additional details you need about our environment.

Here's my system info:
1. Windows 10 Build Number (available from System_Details.txt of our Customer Support Tool). Home/Pro/Enterprise is not needed.

OS Build: 10.0.14393.0

2. Enumerate each display, its resolution and if it is connected to the graphics card or a USB adapter (available from System_Details.txt as well).

DELL P2214H Manufacturer: DEL ProductCode: A097 Serial: KW14V478528L Built: 28/2014
DELL P2214H Manufacturer: DEL ProductCode: A098 Serial: KW14V4CF27KL Built: 51/2014

3. The CPU ***full*** name including the numbers after iX (available from System_Details.txt as well). Generation is more important to understand the architecture rather than if it is an i3 or i7.

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6200U CPU @ 2.30GHz

4. The GPU details (available from System_Details.txt as well).

Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.0.762.0 Dated 2016/08/17
Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.0.762.0 Dated 2016/08/17
Graphics: Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 (Intel Corporation)
Graphics Driver: 21.20.16.4574 Dated 2016/12/23

5. What you include in your CPU usage (which processes: overall, WUDF, DWM...). Note: I really need WUDF more than the rest as DWM is a Windows process).

WUDFHost.exe @ 30% when active. Using Skype, jumps to 70%.
Desktop Window Manager stays between .7% and 3%.

6. The value of CPU being used.

50-70% with normal usage.

7. What happens on ALL indirect displays (indirect = through USB). If you have Task Manager on an indirect display, then it is NOT idling as content changes!!! This is really one of the most important point. Here are some examples:
7a. Content fully static: nothing changes at all, and I mean nothing, not the clock, not the mouse pointer.

WUDF idles between .2% and 3%.

7b. Some little area changes: like for instance you only have some numbers on the clock or the numbers in Task Manager.

WUDF idles the same as 7a.

7c. Only the mouse pointer across indirect displays. (if you do this, please do NOT use the mouse trail accessibility feature or this is the same use case as 7b).

WUDF is active 26-33%.

7d. Moving a window. Indicate an idea of the size of the window... I mean moving a 10x10 pixels windows is obviously fundamentally different to moving a 4kx4k one.

WUDF is active 38-46% moving a Chrome window half the size of one of my monitors. Oddly enough, Chrome usage spikes.
WUDF is active 38-42% moving a Skype for Business 2016 window 1/3 the size of one of my monitors. Even more odd, the input lag from moving the single window is several seconds, whereas the Chrome window had very little.

7e. Playing video on VLC

WUDF is active 30-45%.

7f. Playing video on a browser (and the value is constant across browsers). Our driver CANNOT differentiate which browser is playing.

WUDF is active from 28-40%.

7g. Game, full screen or windowed? Games do NOT use the same as video playback.

No games are installed on our PCs.

8. Which version of DisplayLink driver you are running as, like Windows builds, they don't all have the same features. (available from System_Details.txt as well).

DisplayLink Graphics Driver (8.0.778.0) on 2017/03/20 Status is Installed
This is the driver available from Dell's site for the D1000 USB docking station. Will be attempting the same tests with the latest drivers as well after seeing this thread.

[dgreczyn]

I am having high CPU issues as well with a D3100

1. OS Build: 10.0.14393.0
OS Build Label: 14393.rs1_release.161220-1747

2. Monitors Connected:
DELL P2414H Manufacturer: DEL ProductCode: A09A Serial: 524N34CR7NJU Built: 52/2014 (1920x1080)
DELL P2414H Manufacturer: DEL ProductCode: A09B Serial: 524N34CR89FU Built: 52/2014 (1920x1080)

3. CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6300HQ CPU @ 2.30GHz
Number of Cores: 4

4. Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro M1000M (NVIDIA)

5&6. WUDF typically between 38% and 48%

7. Only using external displays (details above), all screen refresh is delayed. Minimizing/resizing windows, dragging windows around the desktop when not in full-screen mode, videos are always choppy (especially noticeable in browser, like youtube for example)

8. Graphics: DisplayLink USB Device (DisplayLink)
Graphics Driver: 8.2.1407.0 Dated 2017/03/06

Laptop is a Dell Precision 5510

My laptop often completely hangs to the point where I need to forcibly shutdown

[AlbanRampon]

Hello,

Thank you for those who have tested 8.2 Beta 2 and sent their feedback.
8.2 M0 has now been delivered (http://www.displaylink.com/downloads/file?id=751) and includes some performance improvements.

A team is allocated full time to looking at the CPU usage in some particular use cases based on your reports.
Some applications are not really good citizens and send us constant full screen updates when they show static content (like the inbox Photos application, or Spotify). Improving the behaviour for these suboptimal applications is a longer term feature.
The team has also identified particular situations with video playback where we can save some calculations and therefore lighten the load significantly.

We have had to build dedicated test rigs and code to make sure we can make reliable measurements instead of relying on subjective impressions.
A second team will join the effort when they have finished current commitments.

We keep putting significant money and development resource into delivering incremental improvements.

Kind regards,
Alban

[tbone]

Alban, thanks for your and your team's efforts on delivering this update and working with your users. I just installed it and although I have not yet put the computer through its normal paces, I can "hear" some improvement... meaning the fan is not spinning up as much due to high CPU use.

[tuath]

Is there a way to log which applications are not being good citizens and doing full screen refreshes ? maybe we can force their owners to modify.

Also, since the Indirect Display Driver stuff, how do we force Microsoft to take action on performance issues ? i.e. i think i understood that OpenGL isn`t accelerated anymore because Indirect drivers doesn`t yet have OpenGL passthrough...

Thanks, Erik.

[zephnn]

The Windows creator update finally fixed all my issues! No lag anymore and no high CPU usage for WUDFHost.exe :)

[AlbanRampon]

Is there a way to log which applications are not being good citizens and doing full screen refreshes ? maybe we can force their owners to modify.

Also, since the Indirect Display Driver stuff, how do we force Microsoft to take action on performance issues ? i.e. i think i understood that OpenGL isn`t accelerated anymore because Indirect drivers doesn`t yet have OpenGL passthrough...

Thanks, Erik.

Hi Erik, I advise you to use the Windows Feedback Hub to ask for the OpenGL ones.
I know they are working on it. There are two different aspects, OpenGL and OpenGL ES.

For the full screen updates, I don't know how you can get that without a development environment showing frames. I was wrong about the Photo app, it behaves correctly.

[fumtik]

I updated to Windows 10 1703 (Creators' Update) and now every time I connect to my HooToo DisplayLink Certified docking station my CPU pegs at 100%. Made sure all my drivers were up to date and even tried using the DisplayLink Cleanup utility to fully rip out the old DisplayLink driver(s) and install the most current (8.2) but the issue persists. The issue immediately goes away as soon as I disconnect the USB docking station. This same computer/docking station have been functioning just fine for over 2 years. I ended up reverting back to Win10 1607 and the issue has cleared up. Please advise..... Logs attached.

[Tweak3D]

While 8.2 M0 on windows 10 1703 is much better than before, its still basically unusable anytime video content is being displayed. If I am on a conference call using Cisco Jabber or Webex my CPU pins it self to 100% usage and makes everything like a slideshow. Screensharing does not have this effect. If I hide the video window, CPU usage drops back down to a much more reasonable level.

If I use a non-displaylink dock there are no issues. This has been tested on several vairants of Dell and Microsoft devices all with the same impact. using a higher end device with a top of the line I7, SSD, 32gb ram results in the same 100% cpu usage.

This was not a problem before anniversary update or back on windows 7.

[Patty]

8.2 M1 works great for me, CPU dropped significantly.
Thanks.
Machine is Dell XPS 13

[AlbanRampon]

Hello Patty and all,

We are delivering incremental improvements based on use cases reported at the time.
Some will see change, and some won't. That seems a better approach rather than not delivering anything to anyone when we have something beneficial to distribute.

8.3 will be bringing additional improvements in some use cases. There are also others planned for 8.4.
I'm trying to get an 8.3 Alpha version made available early June to get feedback on this, and other items. At that time, I'll create a dedicated forum board and post here.

Kind regards,
Alban

[kkris]

Hi

I have read the many posts about the WUDFHost.exe causing a high CPU-load and since I have this issue I have already tried like everything:
- Cleaning up the display link drivers
- Installing older versions of the display link driver
- Reinstalling all kinds of drivers
- and so on and so on...

I think this problem came up after the recent windows update last week, but I am not 100% sure.

My issue:
I am using a USB 3.0 docking station by Lenovo (ThinkPad USB 3.0 Ultra Dock, Driver version: 8.2.1952.0, but I have already tried with 8.3 too) and via HDMI I have connected a monitor to it. When I remove the HDMI cable from the docking station, the CPU-load goes down and the fans are going back to a normal noise level again. What I have also recognized is that when I stop "explorer.exe" the CPU-load of "WUDFHost.exe" goes down too (to around 0.2 - 0.8%), even though the HDMI cable is still connected to the docking station and the monitor is still working. When I close the most CPU-consuming "WUDFHost.exe" the load goes down as well but this time it (of course) detaches the monitor.
"Windows Explorer" and the "Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework Host Process" are together using around 50% of the CPU when the laptop is connected to the monitor through the docking station.

My hardware & OS:
Laptop: Lenovo Yoga 900-13 ISK
OS: Windows 10 Enterprise
OS Version: 1703
OS Build: 15063.483
Docking Station: ThinkPad USB 3.0 Ultra Dock

Any help would be highly appreciated! Thank you and have a great day.

Cheers,
Kris

[kkris]

Hi,

Yesterday I downloaded this version again:
DisplayLink USB Graphics Software for Windows - DEV BUILD NR-135298-LS-1 (8.3.1852)

First nothing changed but then, after a few minutes, all of a sudden the CPU-load went down. Both for "explorer.exe" and "WUDFHost.exe". Today the CPU-load is going crazy again: Both processes consume around 50% together. So I am back to where I was.


UPDATE:
I just disabled the visual effects in windows and the CPU-load went down immediately. Does this mean that the docking station + the display link driver does not work well when the visual effects are enabled?
This is my setting for now but I will keep an eye on it to make sure if this really was the solution to switch to "Adjust for best performance":

http://manibela.ch/performance_options.PNG

Cheers,
Kris

[Tweak3D]

Hi,

Yesterday I downloaded this version again:
DisplayLink USB Graphics Software for Windows - DEV BUILD NR-135298-LS-1 (8.3.1852)

First nothing changed but then, after a few minutes, all of a sudden the CPU-load went down. Both for "explorer.exe" and "WUDFHost.exe". Today the CPU-load is going crazy again: Both processes consume around 50% together. So I am back to where I was.


UPDATE:
I just disabled the visual effects in windows and the CPU-load went down immediately. Does this mean that the docking station + the display link driver does not work well when the visual effects are enabled?
This is my setting for now but I will keep an eye on it to make sure if this really was the solution to switch to "Adjust for best performance":

http://manibela.ch/performance_options.PNG

Cheers,
Kris

This helps a little bit, but it is part of a bigger problem. we've found that pretty much any app that uses fades, transitions, or animations can bring the driver framework (and thus displaylink) to its knees. Its really unfortunate there isn't a good fix though at the moment though as we heavily rely on video conferencing and the experience is pretty much that you get choppy video and cannot really do anything else with your machine.

Currently trying out the 8.4 alpha, and its not much difference performance wise on the machines i've tried it on which is unfortunate.

[AlbanRampon]

Hello,

Here is an answer with numbers taken using an Intel 6th generation Core m5.
Measurements were automated with moving cursors, moving windows, browsers... to make them repeatable and comparable.

From 8.0 to 8.1, the CPU usage was decreased by ~20% during idling and moving mouse cursor.
From 8.1. to 8.2 M3, the CPU usage was decreased by about ~25%, in conditions like moving browsers.
From 8.2 M3 to 8.3, the reduction is about ~5% with applications and web browsing.
The work continues for 8.4 and beyond. We're doing both short term and long term investments.

Interesting find about the transitions (and things like that in browsers). I don't believe the issue is with the UMDF, but could be OpenGL pass-through not working correctly on Windows 10 indirect displays. Microsoft is pushing hard to get engagement with Intel but Intel has been unresponsive (http://displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=65194).
This means that some activities which could be hardware accelerated are done is CPU. This stays on the agenda of my weekly call with the MS graphics team. Microsoft or DisplayLink have no intention of giving up!
The next step though will be OpenGL ES to be optimal on browsers like Chrome and their WebGL. That engagement is also in progress.

For the video conferencing, I think this could potentially be something else. You need to do real-time transcoding. In a use case like that, the bottleneck might be around memory bandwidth (moving data). There's work ongoing on video playback too.

Kind regards,
Alban

[Manuel]

Just got a new Dell Latitude E7480 with a D6000 docking station. And then I had to find about this annoyance.
Playing full screen video on my external 2560x1440 monitor is with one exception impossible without getting eye cancer because of stutter, tearing etc.

For detailed log see attachement.

1. Windows 10 Build Number
W10 1703. But it was the same in the previous version. I only got the update to 1703 today and even did uninstall DisplayLink, used the cleaner and reinstalled. No difference.

6. The value of CPU being used.

?

7. What happens on ALL indirect displays (indirect = through USB). If you have Task Manager on an indirect display, then it is NOT idling as content changes!!! This is really one of the most important point. Here are some examples:
7a. Content fully static: nothing changes at all, and I mean nothing, not the clock, not the mouse pointer.

Actually with a cursor blinking and the clock changing every minute, the CPU load is 1%, just as expected for an idle system.

7b. Some little area changes: like for instance you only have some numbers on the clock or the numbers in Task Manager.

With the task manager maximized and high update frequency, CPU load is 7% with the CPU graph and 10% with the detailed process list.

7c. Only the mouse pointer across indirect displays. (if you do this, please do NOT use the mouse trail accessibility feature or this is the same use case as 7b).

6-7%

7d. Moving a window. Indicate an idea of the size of the window... I mean moving a 10x10 pixels windows is obviously fundamentally different to moving a 4kx4k one.

Standard CMD window 20%. Explorer with file list about half the size of the monitor: 20-40%, depending on speed.

7e. Playing video on VLC

Standard settings: 70% but choppy, laggy playback with tearing.
With OpenGL as output renderer the playback is almost ok, but CPU goes up to 90% total.
Other renderers are not a noticable improvement in playback quality.
With MPC-HD all renderers yield bad results.
Interestingly the built-in Windows 10 player ("Filme&TV" in German) and the WMP both manage to play the video fine, since they seem to use incredibly little CPU for playback, around 5%. Still WUDF uses about 40%. Total is between 40-50%. Looks like with these players, the PC isn't choked, but it is still unacceptable.

7f. Playing video on a browser (and the value is constant across browsers). Our driver CANNOT differentiate which browser is playing.

Firefox and Chrome both choke with 90-100% load when playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eminWvN1O88. Playback quality is unacceptable.
Edge seems to cope well. 50-70% CPU load and playback is not as back as with the other browsers, still it is not as good as playing a local copy. But still MS software seems to use a different pipeline than other programs. And while this mitigates the issue, it doesn't solve it.

7g. Game, full screen or windowed? Games do NOT use the same as video playback.

No games available, but just zooming in Photoshop CS4, which is OpenGL accelerated, yields 30+% WUDF load.


Overall the issue is proportional to the amount of changed screen estate. Playing videos in smaller windows works. Using the mouse sometimes feels like dragging it through honey when the system is peaking.

So, when can we expect usable drivers? The reports are going on for months and DisplayLink isn't around since yesterday. I'm using the latest release drivers and there aren't even newer alpha or beta drivers to test. We were promised the devs are working on the issue, but I've yet to see any breakthrough on the issue. Please don't test this with external FullHD monitors and announce that everything works fine. DisplayLink advertises 4K@60 and I assumed this included changing screen content, not static images.

[Manuel]

Updated to 8.3.1905.0. Still the same bad performance.

[CSystems]

I wanted to post a reply to this thread that I've been watching for almost a year now. As many of you have experienced, since the Anniversary Update (v1607) of Windows 10, and now the Creators Update (v1703), performance over DisplayLink has been very poor.

Although improvements have been made through various driver releases, they never could reach the performance seen with Threshold 2 (v1511) of Windows 10.

To make this short, on the advice of a support representative of one of the major suppliers of docking stations running DisplayLink technology, we tested the Windows 10 Insider Preview (which is deploying the Falls Creators Update or v1709) as word was Microsoft had made a change to the driver framework that might help. I'm happy to report that indeed the Insider Preview for the Falls Creator Update of Windows 10 is showing some drastic difference in CPU utilization in comparison (both on 8.2 M3 and 8.3 M0.)

We've done some extensive testing and it looks like the performance is now more inline with what was experienced in v1511.

The only bad news is you'll have to wait until October for the official release as Microsoft delayed the intended release a month to work on some additional issues.

For those that have been holding off from going from v1511 to v1607 or v1703 because of this issue, I hope this is as much of a relief for you as it is for us. This is especially important because Microsoft will not release any new security updates for v1511 past the final cumulative update slated October 10th.

I also hope DisplayLink continues to work with Microsoft in regards to the Driver Framework changes they introduced back with v1607. It's very possible that what was introduced then will reappear down the road with any future upgrades.

Thanks

C

[CodeKiller]

Hello,

To see how big the impact is, you can just run a 2D games that does not require graphic card.
Then you will see that the System is using more ressources than the game itself !

Check that :
https://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/697629CPU.png

Same thing for the 3rd process, if I just move the window game on the main monitor (laptop) the CPU decreases.

Everything is updated on my side.

[Novi]

Unfortunately, even in current Windows 10 Insider Preview fast ring (version 1709) we have bad performance on Dell XPS 13 with D3100 dock . Although the experience has changed like CSystems mentioned in his post.

CPU usage by the Windows Driver Foundation has decreased and actual graphical processes have improved (more fluent). All in all CPU usage is still unstable and very high. Mouse movement has lag on high CPU usage moments.

[toywrc]

just wanted to share my observation regarding this problem... I also had the high CPU and memory usage, downloaded and installed latest update from displaylink (i have Lenovo USB 3.0 Ultra dock running dual monitors) still the same problem.

So adjusted performance settings to custom and just checked smooth edges on screen fonts and smooth scroll list boxes. Immediately upon applying settings CPU usage went down from 75% to 4%. So I guess thats a good workaround for now.

However when I let my wife log into her account (both are admin accounts) to check whether the performance settings were carried over to her profile... to my surprise it was still on the default "Let windows choose whats best" setting. Went to check CPU usage and they are all low usage 4%. Thought thats weird. basically we have identical profile and same apps loaded. Now I wonder if there is something wrong with my profile and all these problems are related to it.

I will try to create a new profile and log on to that.... will be reporting back.

[Manuel]

8.4 Alpha
DisplayLink Manager 8.4.2262.0

Same bad performance.

[gball]

just wanted to share my observation regarding this problem... I also had the high CPU and memory usage, downloaded and installed latest update from displaylink (i have Lenovo USB 3.0 Ultra dock running dual monitors) still the same problem.

So adjusted performance settings to custom and just checked smooth edges on screen fonts and smooth scroll list boxes. Immediately upon applying settings CPU usage went down from 75% to 4%. So I guess thats a good workaround for now.

However when I let my wife log into her account (both are admin accounts) to check whether the performance settings were carried over to her profile... to my surprise it was still on the default "Let windows choose whats best" setting. Went to check CPU usage and they are all low usage 4%. Thought thats weird. basically we have identical profile and same apps loaded. Now I wonder if there is something wrong with my profile and all these problems are related to it.

I will try to create a new profile and log on to that.... will be reporting back.

We have a user here that found a similar response to a new profile. Their profile, the CPU jumps up and the Windows Foundation service goes up to 30% as soon as you plug in the second monitor on the docking station. If you unplug that second monitor, it drops back down to normal.

If another user logs into their Dell XPS 1300 laptop (new profile) there is no issue with two monitors attached.

UPDATE: One of my co-workers has been working with tech support for the USB to DisplayLink port replicator. Their tech support could not figure out what was happening. However, it was suggested to try to a different monitor. We swapped out the Dell monitor for one that did not have USB extension ports on the monitor itself. Now the system is working fine with two monitors and no issues with high CPU usage.

[AlbanRampon]

Hello,

To see how big the impact is, you can just run a 2D games that does not require graphic card.
Then you will see that the System is using more ressources than the game itself !

Check that :
https://img15.hostingpics.net/pics/697629CPU.png

Same thing for the 3rd process, if I just move the window game on the main monitor (laptop) the CPU decreases.

Everything is updated on my side.

I don't believe the 2D game can decide if the graphics card is going to be used or not.
The Desktop Window Manager will compose your desktop through the graphics card. Then the pixels have to be encoded through DisplayLink Manager hosted in the WUDFHost process. One must not confuse computing graphics and encoding graphics...
The fact the game is 2D or not is not relevant. What is relevant is the image complexity and how often it changes and how efficiently it communicates changed zones to the OS. You may actually see lower performance on the native screen with lower appearance settings than some full screen 3D games because the latter will sometimes bypass DWM, cutting some time.

Having said this, there are still ongoing efforts on this front. We've done all the "quick wins" already and you will see the feedback confirms it. The remaining activities are long term investments. Long term as we started with the analysis a while back and I still don't have a releasable product... Yet, I have 2 teams in my programme dedicated to that feature. When we are closer to release time, I will be able to share details.
Microsoft is also working on improvements on the OS side.

But deep changes require careful planning, development and roll out not to break the millions of people using the product every day with corporations relying on it to work.


DisplayLink driver gets computed pixels. Driver doesn't see the Windows appearance settings, driver doesn't see windows, driver doesn't see icons: driver gets pixels. I will feed back that Windows appearance settings have an influence on WUDFHost CPU usage to try and understand why. Maybe some animations being removed means there is less to encode.
This needs to be reviewed.

[HYauser]

Moin!

Maybe this is another clue:

same issue happens while using Microsoft Wireless Display Device with an Acer Switch Alpha SW-A271

High load of memory from wudfhost.exe when streaming video over this device until system crashes. No difference if display is mirrored or extended...

[AlbanRampon]

Moin!

Maybe this is another clue:

same issue happens while using Microsoft Wireless Display Device with an Acer Switch Alpha SW-A271

High load of memory from wudfhost.exe when streaming video over this device until system crashes. No difference if display is mirrored or extended...

Which technology is it using? Miracast?

[tophee]

Are the engineers still working on this issue?

I can add one detail that might be relevant: I noticed that whenever "Windows Driver Foundation" is high in CPU (around 40% in my case), Windows explorer is too (around 17% in my case). When I restart windows explorer, Windows Driver Foundation's CPU usage goes down to normal (about 5% or even less). It stays like that for a while and then it goes back to 40% (and windows explorer 17%).

[CodeKiller]

One interesting thing could be to force the refresh rate on monitors plugged in. If less images to process then less ressources to use I guess.

[Ccher]

is this fixed yet ? i am still getting high CPU utilisation when using with Dell D6000 docks

[Manuel]

is this fixed yet ? i am still getting high CPU utilisation when using with Dell D6000 docks
Is your dock also noisy and has coil whine?

And I have little faith that they will fix it.

Too bad, Dell didn't continue with their old docks. They worked great. With DisplayLink there are speed issues, stutter and the hardware seems to be less well tested.

[AlbanRampon]

Yep, most was addressed as comments testified. It sounds like sometimes new builds from the OS have an impact as was also commented by third parties.

There was also still a longer part we have to deliver, as the last comment I posted exposed as well. That feature progresses well and we demonstrated it at the Consumer Electronics Show last month with visitors surprised by the low CPU impact driver dual 4Kp60 with one display playing a 4K video, even on a famously underpowered Intel Core M machine.
I hope that we can deliver a preview in the next major release for people who wishes to test. The feature will not be ready from prime time and therefore a registry switch will be used. Then, when the feature is ready, it will be enabled by default, like the previously delivered features.


A computer driver update won't fix a coil whining somewhere else, if someone promises you something like that, I'd recommend you stop listening to him/her straight away. If you're unit is defective, please contact Dell, the manufacturer/seller of the end products, to discuss a replacement/hardware support
DisplayLink does not manufacture end products, we are a semiconductor company providing one chip in the box and the driver going with it.


But without any tangible data, use case description, and machine details, then maybe what you're seeing won't be addressed. When we have a new thread with details of the use case, logs and objective data (=what "high" means doing what), then we might be able to progress your particular use case(s).

Kind regards,
Alban

[Manuel]

Looks like my comment was misunderstood.
Me asking the other user if they also experience coil whine was unrelated to the driver issue. I just wanted to ask this another user of this dock.

The "little faith for it to be fixed" is actually addressed towards the software issue described here. This thread is two years old and I haven't noticed any improvements in the driver versions of last year since I reported my system. Maybe it is better in some artificial benchmark in the lab, but it surely isn't noticeable when using it on an everyday work computer.
Like I reported, video replay on WQHD isn't fluid and stutters. Anything changing significantly the screen content will hog the CPU and the fans start to work overtime as a side effect.

Nice that everything worked great at the CES last month, but significant improvements are promised here for the last year and they have yet to reach the users. If it works so well, why not release it now as an alpha? Worst case it that it doesn't work and we have to go back to the version we use now. Why tease us without delivering an update? A probable reason not to do this is that it is a version specifically tuned for the CES demo but not everyday use, where it would fail.
As a user I feel like I'm a beta tester, but for a commercial products that was released years ago.

[AlbanRampon]

Good morning,

If you actually wish to see which improvements were delivered, and for which use cases, I invite you to read the material (forum posts, or public release notes). Each time, what was changed was communicated.
Here is just one example with comments from other users who saw the benefits (https://displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=64887&page=7).

A computer using Windows 10 does not select the driver the machine owner wants. If the device manufacturer has decided a driver version is to be distributed by Windows Update, the machine will receive it.
You can remove it and then within minutes or even less, the other versions will come back, depending on network access and severity of the update.
Windows 7 update model is different than Windows 10. Windows 10 OS was designed with software as a service in mind.
I can't predict which driver version a specific manufacturer will decide to want on Windows Update for their product, or when they will want it pushed. Microsoft can also decide to override vendor wishes if they have a reason, like they did with the Intel patch which started to create BSoDs everywhere in the last few weeks. The OS built-in telemetry is very useful for Microsoft to monitor reliability and request vendors make improvements.
That's why us using a registry entry is the most viable solution for a feature preview in the next release for a feature which I'd like enabled at the release this summer, if of acceptable quality. This will allow to selectively enable a feature only some really want, whilst keeping the bug fixes and other improvements the release will deliver.


The current state of that driver showed at CES is that it works on specific hardware (which includes the Dell D6000). This is how agile software development work: start with smallest scope possible to deliver something and then build on it. It has no safeguard or fallback for yet unsupported configuration. So, if with an unsupported configuration, at best, garbage will show on displays. As stated before, the number of crashes is monitored by the OS and unhelpful actions could be taken.
Also, the software needs to pass security tests before it goes out.
It is simply not ready for release. No conspiracy, just responsible software development practices and I already transparently stated this.

Playing videos on VLC has much worse performance than the inbox Windows Film and TV because it doesn't have similar hardware acceleration.
You stated it yourself that the video will "play fine" (https://displaylink.org/forum/showpost.php?p=83989&postcount=78) on the properly accelerated players.
Also since then, Intel has fixed their graphics driver for OpenGL so applications can benefit from hardware acceleration again. That improved performance greatly in some cases.

Improvements were delivered in the OS, in GPU drivers and more importantly DisplayLink side, and feedback proves it.
More improvements are still being worked on, as already exposed.

Regards,
Alban

[CodeKiller]

Is your dock also noisy and has coil whine?

And I have little faith that they will fix it.

Too bad, Dell didn't continue with their old docks. They worked great. With DisplayLink there are speed issues, stutter and the hardware seems to be less well tested.

Problem is that Dell wants money and most of pro users are using docking station just to open word or excel files.
So for them a small, light, docking station is all they need and Dell pleases them as they make more money...

End of story, this problem will never be solved as there is no software solution because you cannot compress 30 images par second without using CPU.

[AlbanRampon]

Hello,

The 8.5 beta is now posted.
Details on the 8.5 beta forums (https://www.displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=65998) on how to check the preview of the feature I have been mentioning, proving it is possible.
It explains scope, what to expect, and how to test for people who wish to test.
When it is ready, it will be released enabled by default.

Feedback is welcome there, rather than on this severely overloaded thread.

Regards,
Alban

[CloudEPDB]

After assuming this problem, I was about to throw the Docking and buy another one. But I realized that if you use another administrator account everything is fine. There is no lag or CPU at 100% / 85 degrees Celsius.

Today, i'll go to make a backup from my account and create another one. W10 is a piece of shit, always fucking with drivers or graphics issues.

Sorry for my english, i am spanish.

[CodeKiller]

After assuming this problem, I was about to throw the Docking and buy another one. But I realized that if you use another administrator account everything is fine. There is no lag or CPU at 100% / 85 degrees Celsius.

Today, i'll go to make a backup from my account and create another one. W10 is a piece of shit, always fucking with drivers or graphics issues.

Sorry for my english, i am spanish.

Because, obviously, when something is going wrong it always comes from Windows 10... :rolleyes:

[An_old_dude]

Below are my graphics specifications - the "USB Device" is a Plugable USB-C Triple Display Docking Station (https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Charging-Delivery-Specific-Thunderbolt/dp/B01FKTZLBS/ref=pd_cp_147_1_encoding=UTF8%26pd_rd_i=B01FKTZLBS %26pd_rd_r=WJ9JYJ8Q0504M91Z27KG%26pd_rd_w=higSX%26 pd_rd_wg=fHW1l%26psc=1%26refRID=WJ9JYJ8Q0504M91Z27 KG)

I have three 4K monitors attached - the main one (Dell 27" using one of the two USB-C ports on my Yoga 920 laptop); two Dell 24" are attached to the Plugable dock.

The delay caused by the high CPU usage of the Windows Driver Foundation is maddening! I really hope you fix this soon...


Graphics

DisplayLink USB Device
Adapter Compatibility DisplayLink
Resolution 3840 x 2160
Bits Per Pixel 32
Number of Colors 4294967296
Refresh Rate - Current 60 Hz
Refresh Rate - Maximum 75 Hz
Refresh Rate - Minimum 24 Hz
Driver Provider DisplayLink
Driver Version 8.5.3459.0
Driver Date 5/11/2018
Availability Running at full power
Status This device is working properly.
Location 0037.0000.0000.004.003.002.000.000.000
Device Id USB\VID_17E9&PID_6012&MI_00\B&2E50C5CB&0&0000

DisplayLink USB Device
Adapter Compatibility DisplayLink
Resolution 3840 x 2160
Bits Per Pixel 32
Number of Colors 4294967296
Refresh Rate - Current 60 Hz
Refresh Rate - Maximum 60 Hz
Refresh Rate - Minimum 60 Hz
Driver Provider DisplayLink
Driver Version 8.5.3459.0
Driver Date 5/11/2018
Availability Running at full power
Status This device is working properly.
Location 0037.0000.0000.004.003.002.000.000.000
Device Id USB\VID_17E9&PID_6012&MI_01\B&2E50C5CB&0&0001

Intel® UHD Graphics 620
Adapter Compatibility Intel Corporation
Video Processor Intel® UHD Graphics Family
Resolution 3840 x 2160
Bits Per Pixel 32
Number of Colors 4294967296
Refresh Rate - Current 60 Hz
Refresh Rate - Maximum 60 Hz
Refresh Rate - Minimum 60 Hz
Driver Provider Intel Corporation
Driver Version 23.20.16.4849
Driver Date 10/27/2017
Adapter DAC Type Internal
Adapter RAM 1.00 GB
Availability Running at full power
Status This device is working properly.
Location PCI bus 0, device 2, function 0
Device Id PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_5917&SUBSYS_380217AA&REV_07\3&11583659&1&10

[AlbanRampon]

Hello Old_Dude,
Have you tried to enable the reg key?
I see you are using hardware which would be covered by the new encoder path. At this stage, this is to check the CPU only, as the performance is low. It will be correct performance when released.
Details in https://displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=65998
Kind regards,
Alban

[David B>]

So I've only very recently noticed a performance issue with this product connected to my laptop.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ECDM78E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

In the past there has never been a noticeable problem with performance. However, now I notice in task manager that the the title of this thread, is using A Lot of CPU usage.

From what I've been able to research it's something with a driver and the "peripheral." I've tried completely uninstalling the driver and software, restarting and reinstalling it. Even resetting my machine.

It is connecting VIA USB 3.0 and when I do file transfer speeds it even reflects that, unless I"m watching a movie at the same time. Please note that in the past it never did that.

I'm reaching out to see what suggestions/recommendations people can make.

Again please bare in mind that one this performance issue has only recently -- within the last week -- happened. Also that I've completely reset my machine.

It is running Windows 10. It has a AMD A12 processor that has a 2.5 GHz rate with 3.5 over clock rate. According to task manager the culprit consumes 20-40 % if not more of the CPU. According to AMD manual and automatic checks I am running the latest driver. I also tried a slightly older driver and the problem remains.

If there's any other information you need, please let me know.

[David B>]

I did more testing and I believe I stumbled onto the solution. Oddly enough it was the BIOS of the computer -- there was an update that I was having a hard time finding a solution to. For now it seems to be working. I'll see about more thoroughly testing it this weekend. If I have different results I'll post back.

[HappyHighwayman]

It's embarrassing they haven;t fixed this. My work machine has the fan going full time and the windows foundation drive is using 20%+ of my CPU because I have the audacity to use external displays?

WHat the hell

[nismoau]

I didn't think it would help, but flashing the BIOS firmware to the latest ver. on my work's Toshiba Portege x30D actually seems to have helped resolve this!

CPU usage way lower, and DL screen responsiveness is much improved.

Hope it stays this way!

[nzi95001]

Have they not developed a fix for this? I use ASUS mb169+ external monitors and merely moving the mouse on them can cause cpu to spike to 50%. Same as the others any video pegs the cpu to 100%

[UserX]

Hello,

The 8.5 beta is now posted.
Details on the 8.5 beta forums (https://www.displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=65998) on how to check the preview of the feature I have been mentioning, proving it is possible.
It explains scope, what to expect, and how to test for people who wish to test.
When it is ready, it will be released enabled by default.

Feedback is welcome there, rather than on this severely overloaded thread.

Regards,
Alban
Same problem with HP universal dock 2UF95AA and Envy x360. Input lag, latency and 2-5% CPU usage. 1440p@60Hz display port connected display. If i connect monitor directly with the on-board HDMI, everything runs smoothly. I'm waiting for the official release with impatience.

[iionas]

Updated link here:

https://pcgamesbeat.blogspot.com/2012/08/enable-power-saving-mode-on-nvidia-gpus.html?m=1

[stvlada]

I'm not sure if I see any difference. I have tried to update nVidia graphic drivers to the latest drivers but since then I can hear fan constantly spinning.
I'll try to uninstall the drivers and install the default version (I think it was v391.something).

Beside that I have attached picture with my findings while using nVidia inspector.

Can you have a look on it and see if there is anything wrong?
http://www.profystudio.com/images/displaylink/dl_nvidia_inspector_20190812.jpg

[stvlada]

I'll have to test more on this... Doesn't look I can see big difference... I'm not that familiar with P0, P5 and P8 performance settings. Therefore, not sure which one I have do downclock and how this affects the laptop itself.

Laptop is not that old. It was brought from USA, 1.5 years ago.
I do have another laptop, HP ZBook 15G, on Windows 10 1703, with ATI graphic card, and there I don't have any issues with using the same docking station.

There must be something between DisplayLink, nVidia and Windows...

[stvlada]

I think it is sufficient that we have provided information to DisplayLink team with the findings we have made. This should be enough information to trigger deeper investigation and troubleshooting process of the DL drivers, graphic card vendors and Microsoft.

We shouldn't spend much time troubleshooting this ourselves, as DL products should be functioning with "plug and play". I hope that DL support team reads this forum and posts on a regular basis.

[AlbanRampon]

Hello,

I am going to split the thread. It is just an unmanageable mix, with root causes investigated via 2 different streams.

DisplayLink driver for the device stvlada and iionas have is not using the GPU.
So the fact the GPU clock is higher from Windows 10 19H1 v1903 is a problem, but not a problem of WUDFHost.exe using higher CPU from Windows 10 RS4, which could be power management rather than graphics (and 2 different versions of Windows . This thread was created for RS1, which was then subsenquently acknowledged as addressed.

There's already a different thread for GPU complaint since Windows 10 v1903 and I will be moving relevant posts there.
I will also be creating a thread specific to the fan from RS3 to RS4+.
When these threads are created and threads moved, I'll update this post with links to the current threads and close this one.

1. dGPU is hotter/clock is higher since I upgraded to Windows 10 19H1 v1903 (https://www.displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66729)
2. CPU fan usage has increased between Windows 10 RS3 and RS4+ (v1709 to v1803+) (https://www.displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66741)

Kind regards,
Alban
PS: I may tweak this post when I do the sorting if another theme is found, or to precise title better.

[iionas]

Hello,

I am going to split the thread. It is just an unmanageable mix, with root causes investigated via 2 different streams.

DisplayLink driver for the device stvlada and iionas have is not using the GPU.
So the fact the GPU clock is higher from Windows 10 19H1 v1903 is a problem, but not a problem of WUDFHost.exe using higher CPU from Windows 10 RS4, which could be power management rather than graphics (and 2 different versions of Windows . This thread was created for RS1, which was then subsenquently acknowledged as addressed.

There's already a different thread for GPU complaint since Windows 10 v1903 and I will be moving relevant posts there.
I will also be creating a thread specific to the fan from RS3 to RS4+.
When these threads are created and threads moved, I'll update this post with links to the current threads and close this one.

1. dGPU is hotter/clock is higher since I upgraded to Windows 10 19H1 v1903 (https://www.displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66729)
2. CPU fan usage has increased between Windows 10 RS3 and RS4+ (v1709 to v1803+) (https://www.displaylink.org/forum/showthread.php?t=66741)

Kind regards,
Alban
PS: I may tweak this post when I do the sorting if another theme is found, or to precise title better.


Cheeers bud.

If you need help with anything let me know, keen to get this issue sorted. Appreciate you chiming in.