Multiple instances of "Microsoft Edge WebView2" constantly running while MailWasher is in the background

[Digerati]

I do not use Microsoft Edge browser.

Perhaps not. But Windows does.

So in the meantime - we are in a "hurry up and wait" state. As long as they close when you exit MWP, it really is a minor annoyance we may need to put up with, at least for now. The priority is V8.

[atiamplan]

I noticed that MailWasher Pro v7.12.125 was released today and I was quite pleased when i saw this in the changelog:

• Fix: WebView processes never close
• Fix: WebView control is no longer valid

So you can imagine my surprise when I saw this while MWP was minimised to the system tray:


Even I write this post, the Microsoft Edge WebView2 processes remain in Task Manager. Perhaps I am misinterpreting the changelog or I have a rogue setting in MWP causing this problem to persist?

[domzduzt]

I just ran C:\Windows\System32\taskkill.exe /F /T /IM msedgewebview2.exe and killed all instances of Webview2 and MWP kept right on running. I've checked, processed, and viewed several emails and there still are no running instances of Webview2. So why is MWP starting them when it starts if not needed? teatv apk

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[TrustFire]

For me . . . the HTML engine of MailWasher ceases to render HTML as soon as the Microsoft Edge WebView2 instances are terminated the very moment the process msedgewebview2.exe is blocked (as also demonstrated by the following 2 illustrations.)

At every subsequent MailWasher startup . . . if the process msedgewebview2.exe continues to be left blocked, my MailWasher comes crashing down (without warning . . . or, even a prompt to log the usual crash report) whenever I try to view an HTML content . . . at the stage where I click the Download Full Email button.

msedgewebview2.exe__(Allowed).png (529.97 KiB) Viewed 3121 times

msedgewebview2.exe__(Blocked).png (260.34 KiB) Viewed 3118 times

[gingbat]

I do not use Microsoft Edge browser.

Perhaps not. But Windows does.

So in the meantime - we are in a "hurry up and wait" state. As long as they close when you exit MWP, it really is a minor annoyance we may need to put up with, at least for now. The priority is V8.

Yes, exactly right, the use of the edge webviewer app really is just one of those things we need to put up with for now sorry, very likely we can get this working better in future after MWPro 8 is release, as while it is not ideal, now it is not causing any actual problems....

[WalterHawn]

Installed the latest: 7.12.125. Using Process Explorer, discovered that the seven instances of EWV are killed by taskkill, but six new ones appear instantaneously. A second taskkill gets them all gone to stay. Exited MW and tried it again, just to check and -- same behavior.


First run:
C:\WINDOWS\system32>C:\Windows\System32\taskkill.exe /F /T /IM msedgewebview2.exe
SUCCESS: The process with PID 1408 (child process of PID 12884) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 13640 (child process of PID 12884) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 9400 (child process of PID 12884) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 16676 (child process of PID 12884) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 14688 (child process of PID 12884) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 12020 (child process of PID 12884) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 12884 (child process of PID 6616) has been terminated.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>C:\Windows\System32\taskkill.exe /F /T /IM msedgewebview2.exe
SUCCESS: The process with PID 9708 (child process of PID 7432) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 12860 (child process of PID 7432) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 14188 (child process of PID 7432) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 9084 (child process of PID 7432) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 4240 (child process of PID 7432) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 7432 (child process of PID 6616) has been terminated.

second run:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>C:\Windows\System32\taskkill.exe /F /T /IM msedgewebview2.exe
SUCCESS: The process with PID 17344 (child process of PID 1548) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 14876 (child process of PID 1548) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 1072 (child process of PID 1548) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 484 (child process of PID 1548) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 10400 (child process of PID 1548) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 14636 (child process of PID 1548) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 1548 (child process of PID 6616) has been terminated.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>C:\Windows\System32\taskkill.exe /F /T /IM msedgewebview2.exe
SUCCESS: The process with PID 8236 (child process of PID 16460) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 9920 (child process of PID 16460) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 16212 (child process of PID 16460) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 9724 (child process of PID 16460) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 7424 (child process of PID 16460) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 16460 (child process of PID 6616) has been terminated.

(6616 is MW)
Hope this is helpful.

[PeterR]

I don't do HTML viewing of emails in Mailwasher - I wait till they are in Thuderbird for that. I know this because there are one or two lists that I'm on that don't tell me what is in the email as a result of my not using the HTML.

Is there any way I can disable the loading of Microsoft Edge? I have already gone to Settings, Display, Inbox, and "Disable Sticky HTML preview" is ticked there. But even when it was unticked there seemed to be a trail of Microsoft Edge instances. Is there anywhere in Windows that I can block Mailwasher loading Microsoft Edge?

[gingbat]

I don't do HTML viewing of emails in Mailwasher - I wait till they are in Thuderbird for that. I know this because there are one or two lists that I'm on that don't tell me what is in the email as a result of my not using the HTML.

Is there any way I can disable the loading of Microsoft Edge? I have already gone to Settings, Display, Inbox, and "Disable Sticky HTML preview" is ticked there. But even when it was unticked there seemed to be a trail of Microsoft Edge instances. Is there anywhere in Windows that I can block Mailwasher loading Microsoft Edge?

Hi PeterR, I assume you are talking about the Edge webviewer, not actually Microsoft Edge itself? (they're different processes)

If so, the no sorry, there is no way to prevent the webviewer app loading with MWPro, we had to move to using this as the old IE6 webviewer app was discontinued.

[Digerati]

Any closer to fixing this? This morning I noticed my computer getting sluggish. I opened TM and there were 32 instances of WebView2 running! I exited MWP, then sat back and waited about 20 seconds, then watched as every instance of WebView2 closed. At that point performance of my computer returned to normal.

This IS a MW problem, not a WebView2 or Edge problem.

[gingbat]

Sorry but no, wont be looking at this again until we at least get Gmail support worked out, or likely until MWPo 8 but we'll have to see how long this all takes sorry....!

[Wizcrafts]

I checked my task manager for msedgewebview2, and saw that simply opening Mailwasher Pro, without checking for mail, spawns 7 instances of that process, but draws 0 cpu. Closing MWP ends all 7 processes. Downloading the full HTML and remote images did not add any load at all.. But, I only have one email at this time.

I am doing this from regular my Standard User account, not an administrator account. I will have to log out and into an admin account to see if it makes any difference in cpu usage.

[TrustFire]

I am doing this from regular my Standard User account, not an administrator account. I will have to log out and into an admin account to see if it makes any difference in cpu usage.

Right for me, as well . . . on a decade-old (though meticulously configured) computer running on an Administrator account — Microsoft WebView2 consumes negligible resources:—

Very_Low__(Consumption).png (582.04 KiB) Viewed 1414 times

[Digerati]

Closing MWP does indeed terminates all the instances of WebView2. That's good, but not hardly good enough. No one is going to convince me leaving 32 instances of WebView2 running makes sense.

I just looked again at my TM. There are 14 instances of WebView2 running yet there zero, none, 0 messages in my MWP inbox. Why are they still there? Because MW is not letting go of those WebView2 instances. THAT IS NOT GOOD r-------(edited by gingbat)---------------. I happen to have gobs of RAM so the fact those 14 instances are "only" using just over 200Mb of RAM is, for now, negligible. But there are still many users out there running with just 4GB of usable RAM, or even less if using integrated graphics.

This is not right FT.

[gingbat]

Yep, does not make much sense to me either, and I'll be taking it up with the developer as soon as we get the other items sorted I mentioned, we really need to get MWpro 8 out so if a issue is not actually causing any problems, we'll leave it until afterwards, NOT ignore it....

[Wizcrafts]

I retested the process in my administrator account and there was no difference. The 7 instances of webview2 were there, but had no impact on my particular system. Closing MWP closed all 7 of them. MWP loads with Windows and checks mail on numerous accounts.

IDK how much it matters, but in case it does, here's my basic system setup.

Gigabyte AM4 Gaming 3 mainboard
AMD 2400G cpu/w onboard graphics, running at factory speed
32 GB Crucial Ballistix RAM in matched pairs
W10 Professional
22 inch LCD monitor
Samsung 500GB SSD
WD Sata 2 hard disk, 1TB, external Sata drive with 1TB.