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WindowServer memory leak on High Sierra?

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What's the name of this utility? And what configuration did you put on it?
I'm using this https://github.com/th507/screen-resolution-switcher
I set it to 2048x1280 (it's a commandline utility).
There's also RDM on github, which also allows HiDPI resolutions, but those cause the same problems for me. The other ones work fine and it has a GUI if you prefer that.

Worth to note: After changing the resolution and plugging in my thunderbolt screen, it reverted to Apple's scaled resolution on the MBP, but after changing the resolution again using that utility, my mac remembered to use that whenever my external screen was plugged in.
 
SOLVED: I think is an nvidia driver problem. Unistalled 387.10.10.10.25.158 (using nvidia driver manager, AlinPopa) and used nvidia-update https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/nvidia-update-simple-way-to-install-nvidia-web-drivers.244987/ .It installed 378.10.10.10.25.106 and no more windowserver memory leak, process remain around 64mb since last boot.

Edit: After reboot everything os Ok, no more lags using the system and windowserver process is under 80mb instead the second per second incremental of ram use until reaching more than 10gb making unstable and force me to restart. Now the 16gb of ddr4 feels like that.

Thanks a lot! This helped me with the exact same problem.
 
So I was having the same issues on my hackintosh. I have about 48GB total memory, and the WindowServer would quickly creep up to 40GB consuming most of my memory.

Ever since I updated to High Sierra, I've noticed my system was very sluggish, e.g. slow typing text in various apps, slow flipping windows, slow flipping tabs in Chrome, moving windows around the screen, etc...

I noticed no other app was consuming a lot of CPU or Memory. But eventually realized it was the WindowServer, which led me to believe it had something to do with the nvidia driver. I found this thread and used the solution from post #43 to solve my problem.

Here are the critical links:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/nvidia-update-simple-way-to-install-nvidia-web-drivers.244987/
https://github.com/moonlight16/nvidia-update

Follow the instructions from github. You run the script from a terminal window (command line), enter root password when prompted, and reboot your system. It only took a couple of minutes and it took me from version 387.10.10.10.25.158 back to 378.10.10.10.25.106. After rebooting everything feels like its back to normal, so far.

This thread helped a lot! (and it took me a while to find the solution)

Thx everyone!
 
SOLVED: I think is an nvidia driver problem. Unistalled 387.10.10.10.25.158 (using nvidia driver manager, AlinPopa) and used nvidia-update https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/nvidia-update-simple-way-to-install-nvidia-web-drivers.244987/ .It installed 378.10.10.10.25.106 and no more windowserver memory leak, process remain around 64mb since last boot.

Edit: After reboot everything os Ok, no more lags using the system and windowserver process is under 80mb instead the second per second incremental of ram use until reaching more than 10gb making unstable and force me to restart. Now the 16gb of ddr4 feels like that.

I am fixed, thanks for this, window server is down like it should be...
 
I can confirm that the NVIDIA web driver 387.10.10.10.25.158 caused a similar problem on my system.

Every time I scrolled up and down in the Activity Monitor, the memory usage for WindowServer would go up another 30 MB. It was up to 7 GB in a couple of hours!

The temporary solution for me was to uninstall the web driver and go back to the stock High Sierra driver. The problem with that solution, though, is that the NVIDIA CUDA driver won't work in my system with the stock driver. It wants the web driver.

Diagnostic notes:

I had installed the web driver following the instructions on this page: https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...s-high-sierra-10-13-3-387-10-10-10-25.243857/

I did the config.plist modification as described. The only thing I didn't do was use MultiBeast to install the UEFI boot loader with emulated NVRAM. MultiBeast failed when I attempted this and the driver and switching application seemed to run anyway. So, I didn't bother.

Could skipping this step be the cause of the problem or is it simply a problem with 387.10.10.10.25.158?


Hardware: Gigabyte Z77x-UD5H, i5 3570k, EVGA GTX 760SC.
OS: High Sierra 10.13.3 (17D102)
 
I just tried the suggestion posted by moonlight16. The script ran, but somehow my EFI was erased and now I can't reboot. In fact, at this moment my system appears to be totally bricked. I can't even get the BIOS. Not sure what happened.

Update

Okay, I have the system back again. Not sure what that was all about. But I recall reading a warning somewhere about running third-party scripts you find on the Internet ;-)

The script wanted to update me to 387.10.10.10.25.161, which is now the latest driver for my build. And I see at https://www.tonymacx86.com/nvidia-drivers/ that 387.10.10.10.25.158 is no longer available. Good riddance! I'll try the 161 driver (without the script) and report back.

Preliminary Report on 387.10.10.10.25.161

This driver is working in my system and it appears to be releasing memory. It hasn't exceeded 130 MB. Too early to say problem solved but things are looking up. Disabled auto-updating of the NVIDIA driver in Control Panel for now.
 
Last edited:
Preliminary Report on 387.10.10.10.25.161

This driver is working in my system and it appears to be releasing memory. It hasn't exceeded 130 MB. Too early to say problem solved but things are looking up. Disabled auto-updating of the NVIDIA driver in Control Panel for now.

Thanks, keep us posted!
 
Okay, I've been running 387.10.10.10.25.161 for a few days now. Seems fine. The memory goes up to 300-400 MB sometimes, but not into the GB range like I was seeing before.
 
I've been running 161 for a few days now. WindowServer memory stays around 1.5 - 3gb, but that is nothing compared to the 50+ gb that was common previously. It goes up and down as well, so it's definitely releasing memory.
 
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