Processor Priority Level - Set for Processes in Windows 8

How to Set CPU Priority Level of Processes in Windows 8 and 8.1​

   Information

Windows 8 shares the processor time between all running processes based upon their priority level. If a process has a higher priority, it gets more processor time compared to a process having a lower priority.

This tutorial will show you how to set priority of an application or process to run with a Realtime, High, Above Normal, Normal, Below Normal, or Low processor priority level in Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, and Windows RT 8.1.

This can be handy to have a task from an application or process finish faster by giving it a higher priority level, or by setting a non urgent task to a lower priority level to allow other tasks to have more priority.

   Note

You will not be able to set the processor priority level of Store apps.

The changes you make to the priority level of the current instance of an application or process are only temporary and not set permanently. Once you close the application or restart the PC, Windows 8 will automatically set the priority back to default for the process or application.

   Warning

You should not set processes to have a realtime priority since it could easily slow your system to a crawl by causing lower priority processes to not have the resources they need.

OPTION ONE

To Set CPU Priority of Process in Task Manager

​

1. Open the application (ex: CCleaner) that you want to change the processor priority level of.​

​

2. Open Task Manager with more details.​

​

3. If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.​

​

4. In the Processes tab, right click on the application (ex: CCleaner64.exe) or process from step 1, and click/tap on Go to details. (see screenshot below)​

​

​

​

5. In the Details tab, right click on the already highlighted name of the file (ex: CCleaner64.exe) for the process from step 4, click/tap on Set priority, and click/tap on the priority level you want to run this application or process in. (see screenshot below)​

​

​

​

6. Click/tap on Change Priority to apply. (see screenshot below)​

​

​

​

7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 above for any other applications or processes you wish to change the priority level of.​

​

8. When finished, close Task Manager if you like.​

OPTION TWO

To Run a Program with a Set CPU Priority in Command Prompt

​

1. Open a command prompt.​

​

2. In the command prompt, type the command below, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)​

​

cmd.exe /c start "Program Name" /priority "Full path of application file"​

​

For example: I would type this command below exactly if I wanted to run Process Monitor using a high priority, and it's .exe file is located at "E:\Programs\Process Monitor 3.05\Procmon.exe".​

​

cmd.exe /c start "Process Monitor" /High "E:\Programs\Process Monitor 3.05\Procmon.exe"​

​

   Note

Substitute Program Name in the command with the actual program's name within quotes.

Substitute Full path of application file in the command with the full path of the file within quotes.

Substitute priority in the command with the CPU priority level below you want the application file to run as.

• Realtime
• High
• AboveNormal
• Normal
• BelowNormal
• Low

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• View Processor Priority Level of Processes in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Add or Remove "Run with Priority" to Context Menu of EXE Files in Windows
• How to Set Processor Affinity for an Application in Windows 8 and 8.1
• How to Adjust Processor Scheduling for Best Performance in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8
• How to Create a Shortcut to Run an Application with a Specific CPU Priority in Windows

 

[ICit2lol]

Hello again Shawn sorry to be a nuisance but am wondering what I should set the priorities to as most are "normal" and I don't really understand what would happen if I changed this to say high or whatever?
John

 

[Brink]

It's no bother at all John.

Basically, changing the priority level to be higher for a program gives that program more of the processor's (CPU) time over the other lower priority level programs.

If the higher priority program needs more resources, the lower priority programs may have to wait until the higher priority program finishes before being able to continue.

Usually this is good to help a program finish faster than normal. For example, video converting.

 

[LMiller7]

The default priority for most processes is Normal, and for good reason. Giving a process higher priority will only improve it's performance if there are other CPU bound processes. That is not a typical situation. If it is the only CPU bound process it will receive almost all of the CPU time no matter what it's priority, even Idle. Setting a CPU bound process to High priority is risky because there are critical system threads running with lower priority and they could thus be starved of CPU time. The results of that are unpredictable. Real Time priority on such a process is asking for trouble.

Process priority and thread scheduling is very complex, even on a single core system. It is even more so with multiple cores.

 

[ICit2lol]

Thanask fo the replies I am only looking at raising the bar on certain thinhgs like my security which seems to have improver my boot time as it was onlt showing up as loaded well after the system was running. As I said I am not out to improve willy nilly but certain processes seem to take rather long times to fire up.

I haven't tried this on my 7 machines yet but the laptop does seem to be running a buit faster again after I noticed it was slowing to what it was whe I originally loaded the 8.