[Fixed] Desktop Window Manager High Memory on Windows 11

Scenario: Get high memory from Desktop Window Manager

If you've upgraded your computer to Windows 11, you may have noticed some changes in the interface and features. One of these changes is the Desktop Window Manager or DWM, which is responsible for rendering the desktop background, window borders, and visual effects.

However, some users may encounter an issue with DWM consuming high memory usage, leading to sluggish performance and system instability. In this article, we'll explore the causes of DWM high memory usage and provide solutions to fix it.

👉Move Windows 11 to SSD to gain more memory space

Why is Desktop Window Manager using so much memory?

Desktop Window Manager (DWM) is a component of the Windows operating system that manages the graphical user interface (GUI) and visual effects. It was introduced in Windows Vista and improved in subsequent versions, including Windows 11. DWM uses the DirectX API to render and composites the desktop, windows, and visual effects.

While DWM is designed to improve Windows 11 performance and the visual experience, it can also consume a significant amount of memory. The following factors can contribute to DWM high memory usage:

Multitasking: If you have multiple applications open simultaneously, DWM needs to keep track of each window and its corresponding visual effects, resulting in higher memory usage.
Graphics-intensive applications: Certain applications, such as video editors or games, require more graphics resources from DWM.
Outdated graphics driver: A corrupt or outdated graphics driver can cause DWM to malfunction, leading to high memory usage and performance issues.
Malware or Virus: Malware or virus infections can cause your computer to use more memory than necessary, including DWM.

Knowing the possible reasons that may cause the DWM high memory issue, following are some possible reasons for you to fix it easily.

Desktop Window Manager high memory fix on Windows 11

If you're experiencing DWM high memory usage in Windows 11, there are several solutions that you can try.

1. Disable visual effects

1. Open Windows Search box and search for visual effects. Select Visual effects from the results list.

2. Turn off the toggle button next to the Transparency effects and the Animation effects.

2. Update graphics driver

1. Right-click on the Start menu and select Device Manager from the results.

2. In the Device Manager window, expand the Display adapters option and you will see your graphics drivers. Right-click on the driver and choose the Update driver option.

3. Select Search automatically for drivers in the pop-up window. It will find the new drivers and install them automatically for you.

3. Disable fast startup

1. Press Win + R to open Run dialog. Type control and click OK to open the Control Panel.

2. Go to System and Security and then click on Power Options.

3. In the left pane, click on Choose what the power buttons do. Next, click the Change settings that are currently unavailable link.

4. Under the Shutdown settings section, uncheck the Turn on fast startup (recommended) option to turn it off. Click Save changes to apply the changes.

Move Windows 11 to SSD to gain more memory space

After you try the above methods, you may have successfully remove the high memory issue. If you want to improve the performance of your computer or enlarge your storage space, it is recommended to migrate Windows 11 on a large SSD. It is well known that installing a system on an SSD can greatly increase the system boot speed, reducing the time from minutes to a dozen seconds. It can also speed up the Windows system while it is running, making the whole system faster.

AOMEI Backupper Professional can help you easily migrate your Windows 11 system to SSD with much larger memory space and ensure you can boot successfully from the new SSD. It is an all-in-one disk cloning software for Windows 7/8/10/11/Vista/XP, including "Disk Clone", "System Clone" and "Partition Clone" to meet the needs of different users.

Next, I will show you how to use this third-party software to move Windows 11 to SSD to avoid the problem of Windows 11 DWM high memory issue.

Preparation before you start system migration:

• Install the prepared SSD on your computer. If It is a new one, you will need to initialize it in Disk Management.
• Download and install AOMEI Backupper on your computer.

Step 1. Open this powerful system migration tool, and click Clone then select System Clone to copy system.

Step 2. System drive and related drives have been selected by default. Select the prepared SSD where you want to clone your OS partition on and then click the Next to continue.

Step 3. Now you can see the following interface. Check SSD Alignment to further accelerate the reading and writing speed of SSD disk and then click Start Clone to go on.

Step 4. When the system clone progress reaches 100%, click Finish to exit the interface. Now your system clone is completed.

Step 5. After cloning, you can enter into BIOS and set the new SSD as the first boot disk. Or just replace the old hard drive with the new one. Then boot computer from the cloned SSD.

Conclusion

Now you know the causes about Desktop Window Manager high memory on Windows 11 issue, from this page, you can learn how to fix it with several solutions to improve the performance of your computer. Meanwhile, you can try AOMEI Backupper to move Windows 11 to a large SSD, then the high memory usage error will not occur.

It is not only a powerful system migration tool, but also a reliable backup and restore software, which allows you to backup operating systems, then enable HP system recovery on Windows 11 securely. Come and try it to protect your computer now!