Author Topic: Setting process priority not working with Windows 10? (Read 24541 times)

Erich56 · « **on:** July 05, 2018, 11:54 AM »

hi, I just downloaded and installed ProcessTamer on my Windows 10 64-bit system. The reason why I did this is that I need to set the process priority of one of my processes to "above normal" - and this should be remembered each time this process gets started. Hence, besides "above priority" in column "Priority, under "Explicit Rule" I put in "force above normal". I guess that's exactly what I am supposed to do.
However, whenever the given process ends and get's stared again, the process priority is "below normal" (the way it's been all time so far) - so ProcessTamer obviously does not do it's job in this case.
I guess I remember heaving read somewhere in a forum that as of the Windows 10 Creators Update, such changes to a process priority, by whatever tool, is no longer possible.
Is this correct?
Or do you have any specific advice to me as to how I can get this setting done effectively?

mouser · « **Reply #1 on:** July 05, 2018, 09:15 PM »

It sounds like you were using it properly..
If the app is running BELOW normal, that sounds like maybe it is forcing itself to be below normal, and it may be that it's changing itself after PT changes it. I'm trying to remember how PT works when an app changes itself after PT changes it.. whether it keeps trying to change it or gives up. It sounds like it may be giving up.

Can you try this beta version for x64 -- it may improve the behavior: https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=43293.0

Let me know either way.

I think there will be some improvements soon in PT..

Erich56 · « **Reply #2 on:** July 06, 2018, 08:41 AM »

hello Mouser,

the link you provided for downloading a newer beta version did not lead to a download page. Also, a search with other links, like:
Unified win32 and x64 setup betas:

http://www.donationc...rocessTamerSetup.exe

Or if you prefer portable version:

x64 version: http://www.donationc...sTamerPortable64.zip
and win32 version: http://www.donationc...sTamerPortable32.zip

did not work :-(((

how can I obtain the beta version you are recommending?

wraith808 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 06, 2018, 08:49 AM »

The link he provided leads to a post, which has some download links on it. Do those links not work for you? I see them as live, even though the forum munges the links.

quoting here (and altering the text so it doesn't show the munged URLs and it becomes a bit more obvious):

Unified win32 and x64 setup betas:
Unified Setup

Or if you prefer portable version:
x64 version: 64-bit portable
and win32 version: 32-bit portable

mouser · « **Reply #4 on:** July 06, 2018, 09:13 AM »

Ah it looks like they didn't make it when we moved sites..
I've reuploaded them -- please try again now.

Erich56 · « **Reply #5 on:** July 07, 2018, 12:59 AM »

hello Mouser,

the download now worked fine.

This version functions to some degree. What this means: it works when I set the priority to "normal". When I set it to "above normal" (what I'd wished to do), the priority stays "below normal", as set orgininally. This is strange, isn't it?
But, all in all, it's an improvement. Maybe, for my purpose, "normal" will work anyway, let's see, I have to watch things for a while.
The attachment shows the Windows notification which pops up at the lower left corner after starting the progem acemed.exe - the same notification is shown when I set to "above normal", except that in this case, the Windows Task Manager shows that the process is "below normal".

Setting process priority not working with Windows 10?

mouser · « **Reply #6 on:** July 07, 2018, 01:14 AM »

Let me check this out.. it sounds like something might be going wrong..

mouser · « **Reply #7 on:** July 07, 2018, 01:16 AM »

You say the Windows Task Manager shows that the process is "below normal" - does the Process Tamer GUI also show the process listed as running below normal and that it thinks it should force it to above normal?

And does everything work as expected if you try making an "above normal" rule for something like notepad.exe?

Erich56 · « **Reply #8 on:** July 07, 2018, 01:47 AM »

hm, I now tried to reproduce the situation as described by me above - however, now it seems to work properly: I set the Process Tamer to "above normal" for acemd.exe, and after stopping and restarting acemd.exe, the Windows Task Manager (as well as the Process Tamer GUI) show "above normal".
I will watch the situation for the next hours and days and let you know (whatever the outcome is).

Ath · « **Reply #9 on:** July 07, 2018, 01:49 AM »

@Erich56, have you already downloaded and used the latest PT as released this week?

Erich56 · « **Reply #10 on:** July 07, 2018, 02:03 AM »

@Erich56, have you already downloaded and used the latest PT as released this week?
-Ath (July 07, 2018, 01:49 AM)

no, I havn't - since two days ago Mouser has recommended me to try the x64 beta (which I installed an hour ago and which, at least at this point, seems to work) -I didn't even know that there was a new version released this week - I had not detected a download link for it either.

mouser · « **Reply #11 on:** July 07, 2018, 02:08 AM »

If I released a new version last week I must have done it in a trance -- it's news to me

Ath · « **Reply #12 on:** July 07, 2018, 07:22 AM »

It was a beta indeed, not a release, sorry for the confusion

Erich56 · « **Reply #13 on:** July 07, 2018, 11:02 PM »

unfortunately, I was too early when saying that everything works well now.
Last night, when a running acemd.exe got finished and a new one startet, the new one stayed "below normal".
The Windows Task Manager as well as the entry in the ProcessTamer GUI shows this - see screenshot attached.

Setting process priority not working with Windows 10? (although the Explicit Rule says "fore above normal".
So, sometime it works, sometime it doens't. Too bad

mouser · « **Reply #14 on:** July 07, 2018, 11:17 PM »

Does it seem most likely that what is happening is something else is forcing acemd.exe to low priority AFTER PT forces it above? (possibly itself).

IainB · « **Reply #15 on:** July 07, 2018, 11:33 PM »

If the user had enabled "Tame applications based on CPU usage" and modified the threshold settings for that, then could that possibly explain the symptoms described?
Just a thought. I've not really used that functionality, except to test that it works.

mouser · « **Reply #16 on:** July 07, 2018, 11:59 PM »

When you set a force rule, PT should try to force that priority on the app when it sees it.. But what I can't remember is whether PT continually monitors the app to see if anything else changes it afterward, or will leave it alone after the first time it changes it. I suspect that the latter is what's happening in this case. PT is changing it, and it is changing itself back.

Erich56 · « **Reply #17 on:** July 08, 2018, 01:55 AM »

It's too bad that I can't tell whether one of the following two scenarios happened during last night:

1) acemd.exe stopped after finishing a job, then restarted with a new job, PT changed the priority to "above normal", and lateron, at some point of time, acemd.exe changed the priority back to "below normal".

2) acemd.exe stopped after finishing a job, then restarted with a new job, and - for whatever reason - PT did NOT change the priority to "above normal". Although I had seen PT already once (some time yesterday) changing the priority right when acemd.exe started.

The thing is that these jobs take between 10 and 14 hours, so I don't always have a chance to watch what's happening when a job gets finished and a new one starts. Some time this happens during the night, some time I am not at home exactly at that moment, ...

mouser · « **Reply #18 on:** July 08, 2018, 05:24 AM »

Enable the Process Tamer log file, and check that from the GUI.

Erich56 · « **Reply #19 on:** July 08, 2018, 05:27 AM »

...
The thing is that these jobs take between 10 and 14 hours, so I don't always have a chance to watch what's happening when a job gets finished and a new one starts. Some time this happens during the night, some time I am not at home exactly at that moment, ...
-Erich56 (July 08, 2018, 01:55 AM)

5 Minutes ago, I was lucky and could watch what was happening when acemd.exe was closed because a job got finished, and a new job (and hence acemd.exe) started:

There was the Windows Notification below on the right hand side, saying that Process Tamer is changing the priority of acemd.exe to "above normal" - but when I checked this seconds later, the priority was "below normal". As shown in the Windows task Manager as well as in the PT GUI - see here:

Setting process priority not working with Windows 10?
so something is going wrong

mouser · « **Reply #20 on:** July 08, 2018, 05:30 AM »

What's probably happening is acemd.exe is changing its own priority to below normal soon after it starts a new job.
And PT is only trying to change it once.
I can fix that -- I can make PT try multiple times.

Erich56 · « **Reply #21 on:** July 08, 2018, 05:37 AM »

Enable the Process Tamer log file, and check that from the GUI.
-mouser (July 08, 2018, 05:24 AM)

okay, I did that, and re-started the process. The Log file says:

Sun Jul 8 12:31:32 2018 -> Forcing priority Above Normal due to explicit rule | acemd-918-80.exe

Erich56 · « **Reply #22 on:** July 08, 2018, 05:40 AM »

I now tried the whole thing with "force to normal" - and this worked (yesterday I had the same situation, and then I tried it with "above normal", and for a short while this worked, too).
So meanwhile I'll let it run on "normal" and see what will happen.

Erich56 · « **Reply #23 on:** July 14, 2018, 09:03 AM »

What's probably happening is acemd.exe is changing its own priority to below normal soon after it starts a new job.
And PT is only trying to change it once.
I can fix that -- I can make PT try multiple times.
-mouser (July 08, 2018, 05:30 AM)

hello Mouser, further testing has shown that it might indeed be the case that acemd.exe is changing it's own priority back to below normal, at least sometimes, and in totally different intervals.
So if you could adapt the PT to try changing the priority regularly (I don't know: in intervals of 1 minute, or so), it would be great. Please let me know.
Many thanks for you help.

IainB · « **Reply #24 on:** July 14, 2018, 09:52 AM »

@Erich56: I'm intrigued by this: Why would the process acemd.exe be changing (lowering) its default priority? This would likely be a deliberate design feature, rather than an error, yet you - the user - clearly don't want it to do that.
I wonder - would it make any difference to the default priority if you set the process to "Run as Administrator"? (Not sure whether that is relevant.)