On exit, Spotify starts 3 processes.

[SoundMan]

These processes do not terminate, and one of the processes takes almost 30% of the CPU on a Quad Core machine.

In trying to restart Spotify, a new process appears in the Task Manager, but it never completes.  It stalls.  Windows comes back with an error which has been attached.  My Task Manager readout is attached also.

I've tried reinstalling Spotify to no avail whatsoever, and also cleaning out all temp folders.  This is some kind of a bug.

In my Spotify settings I have Spotify set to close on exit.

I'm running Windows 10 pro.

[SoundMan]

Another file is attached.  Apparently the main process terminates, but the child processes do not and that is what remains behind.

I've found that unchecking hardware acceleration "fixes" this issue, but this likely shouldn't make a difference here depending on how this "feature" is coded.

I have an OLD nVidia GTS-450.  Maybe that is an issue, but it is still supported by software updates from nVidia wherein the CUDA interface is also updated.

I use a Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 firewire interface for audio. 

Other applications all work fine with these products. 

I have no idea what else the Spotify developers mean when they say "hardware" acceleration.

This is a bug report imo.

[user-removed]

Hello there.

I tried to reproduce your problem here and see if that would happen here too. Tried on both Windows 7 (x64) and Windows 10 (x64) with two different computer specs (Win7 in the slower, no graphics card and Win10 on a potent computer, with graphics card). It didn't happened in both systems, with Spotify and all it's processes being normally closed with the main app.

Well, searching for something related to hardware acceleration in Spotify I managed to find this thread, which is very complete on the subject. So, at this point, I don't think it's related with your graphics card, but I can't discard this possibility. Saying that, in order to try to solve your issue, you can try uninstalling the application and removing all traces of it, before reinstalling it again. You can do it following these steps:

1. Uninstall Spotify from the Control Panel applet;
2. Open this path in your Windows Explorer or Run Command: "C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME_HERE\AppData\" in which "YOUR_USERNAME_HERE" means your Windows logged user name, so choose accordingly;
3. In that AppData folder specified before you will find a "Local" and a "Roaming" folder. In both of them you may find (or not, considering if the uninstall completelly removes the app) a Spotify folder. If you find it, delete this folder in both locations;
4. Restart your computer;
5. Reinstall Spotify;
6. Restart your computer;
7. Open Spotify, configure it as you wish, then try closing it and watch if the problem persists.

I hope this works for you. If this works as a solution, may you like this post and mark this as solved, please? 🙂

Regards.

[SoundMan]

No, not resolved. To be sure, I have cleared Spotify off of my computer completely several times and done reinstalls from scratch.  I stated as much in my initial posting, just have to suss the particulars out of what I said and it is there.

Now, having hardware acceleration checked or unchecked makes no difference. On exit from Spotify one process now remains which will absolutely not go away. I have to kill the process in Task Manager. ALWAYS. The remaining and supposedly non-functioning process is also a CPU hog. It got to the point during Spotify upgrades that the computer would actually freeze with high CPU and memory usage, but now it just remains as a high CPU background process that won't go away properly.

This has been going on for quite a while now.  I would really like this to be fixed that when not reducing to the taskbar icon (from user point of view), to quit or use the Windows upper right corner (X) should send a cleanup and close signal to all processes, and not be leaving anything running.

[SoundMan]

Also, I didn't see before, but Spotify consistently opens 5 processes under the main heading of Spotify in Task Manager.  Earlier it was that Spotify would leave several processes behind upon "exit".  One of these would have very high CPU and memory usage.

Now upon "exit", only one process is left that won't terminate unless done manually in Task manager.  I'm including a few more system particulars below in the hopes this will help the devs to resolve whatever this may be that the one process will not properly terminate.

I'll point out that since the original posting I have reinstalled Windows 10 and all software on this machine from the ground up.

Windows 10 Professional (x64) Version 1903 (build 18362.418)
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (United States)
Installed: 2019-07-29 04:26:13
Servicing Branch: Current Branch (CB)
Boot Mode: BIOS (Secure Boot not supported)

Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. EP45-UD3R
Enclosure Type: Desktop

2.80 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
64 kilobyte primary memory cache
4096 kilobyte secondary memory cache
64-bit ready
Multi-core (4 total)
Not hyper-threaded

8192 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory
Slot 'A0' has 2048 MB
Slot 'A1' has 2048 MB
Slot 'A2' has 2048 MB
Slot 'A3' has 2048 MB

c: (NTFS on drive 4) *	2198.10 GB	1654.90 GB free
d: (NTFS on drive 2)	500.10 GB	104.03 GB free
e: (NTFS on drive 3)	2000.40 GB	914.59 GB free
f: (NTFS on drive 1)	3000.46 GB	835.67 GB free
h: (NTFS on drive 0)	1999.87 GB	954.32 GB free

* Operating System is installed on c:

NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 [Display adapter]
DELL ST2421L [Monitor] (24.0"vis, s/n XX-0TPDTP-XXXXX-39O-08LU, September 2013)
Samsung SyncMaster [Monitor] (20.2"vis, s/n BR20HVDL900070, August 2006)

Windows Defender Version 4.18.1910.4

Scan Engine Version 1.1.16500.1

Virus Definitions Version 2019-11-01 Rev 1.305.1190.0

Last Disk Scan on Wednesday, October 30, 2019 20:46:21

Realtime File Scanning On

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Version 3.8.3.2965

Last Disk Scan on Friday, November 1, 2019 22:34:17

Realtime File Scanning On

Other Devices:

Texas Instruments 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller
Microphone (HD Pro Webcam C910)
Saffire Audio (Saffire Audio)
Speakers (Saffire Audio)
iLok
HID-compliant consumer control device (2x)
HID-compliant vendor-defined device (5x)
USB Input Device (4x)
HP Officejet 5600
Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910
HID Keyboard Device (3x)
HID-compliant mouse
Logitech HID-compliant G700 Gaming Mouse
Block device mounter
DocuCom PDF Driver
Fax
Foxit Reader PDF Printer
HP Officejet 5600 series
HP Officejet 5600 series fax
Microsoft Print to PDF
Microsoft XPS Document Writer
OneNote
PaperPort Image Printer
Root Print Queue
ScanSoft PDF Create!
Liquid56 MIDI (1)
Microsoft Device Association Root Enumerator
Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth
Microsoft Radio Device Enumeration Bus
Microsoft RRAS Root Enumerator
MIDI
Universal Audio UAD-1 DSP card (2x)
Universal Audio UAD-1 Powered Plug-Ins driver (2x)
UIM Bus Controller
UIM Direct Device Image Plugin
eLicenser
Generic SuperSpeed USB Hub (2x)
Generic USB Hub (2x)
HP Officejet 5600 series
Logitech USB Camera (HD Pro Webcam C910)
USB Composite Device (3x)
USB Mass Storage Device (2x)
USB Printing Support
USB Root Hub (8x)
USB Root Hub (USB 3.0)

[SoundMan]

Also, there is quite a difference between the Microsoft Store App, and the download app.  At least it appears to be.

The Store App on attempting to exit causes some other process and I cannot find it to start chewing up memory.  It looks like the problem I had at the beginning here, almost.  Task Manager however still shows all processes running but the CPU for Spotify itself does not change and neither does the memory usage.  All processes continue on as though I never asked it to quit but the music does stop playing.  I have to terminate the Spotify App though before Task Manager shows 100% memory and the machine starts heavy page file usage.  CPU usage is also going up, but I don't see Spotify CPU usage going up per se.  None-the-less, the app simply does not shut down as asked and all processes remain running.

I'm uninstalling the Microsoft Store App version and putting the download version back on.  At least it was more manageable in the misbehavior.

[SoundMan]

Gak!

I'm so tired just running around in circles on this.

The store app and the download app now appear to be one and the same with the exact same results.  I've only gone backwards by attempting to pursue this.

I give up.  Maybe the devs and Microsoft can figure it out, but this app is just one step from being utterly useless at this point for me.  It appears that some process, likely a part of the OS? is now leaking memory at the attempted shutdown of the app.  I cannot find where that process is, but total memory used in task manager just keeps climbing, and so does cpu usage.  Spotify shows some of the CPU increase, but not all, and none of the memory problem.  ALL of the processes remain intact with NONE OF THEM TERMINATING now.  When I tell the program or the app to exit, all that happens is that the music does stop and the gui goes away.  The app/program is still running however.

[pmotard]

I have the same issue, except it's 5 or more processes. I have to manually end each one in the task manager in order to relaunch spotify. The reason that I have to close and re-open spotify is that sometimes spotify isn't able to search, nor skip songs. It is resolved by closing spotify, manually killing the remaining spotify processes (5) in the task manager, and then re-opening spotify.

[Alex]

Hey folks,

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community!

We'd recommend running a clean reinstall of the app, following this Guide exactly.

If you're using the MS store version, try the one from our website or vice versa. The MS store version of the app is optimized for windows, however it causes issues on some machines.

Let us know if that helped.

[MarcDirven]

Disabling hardware acceleration fixed it. Nice.

[SoundMan]

I found on several Windows computers that I use that I had to write a "kill process" script to end it.  It no longer matters if the app is downloaded directly from Spotify or installed via the Microsoft Store.  I've given up on this problem ever having a true solution.  No internal setting has helped for me concerning this, including the hardware acceleration.  I rely on the Kill script to finish shutting down Spotify completely after exiting from the program.

This has now happened to me on 3 separate machines all running Windows 10 with 2 of them running Windows 7 years ago and with the same issue.  If you exit the program, processes are left behind and are not shut down, and you cannot restart Spotify.   

I also have my settings set so that Spotify does not start with Windows, and if I exit then Spotify is not to run in the background ie does not minimize to the taskbar notifications area. 

That is a telltale sign you've been affected by this bug, you cannot restart Spotify.

I've posted elsewhere concerning this very short script, but hesitate to repost it.  Site moderators should review it. 

%SystemRoot%\System32\taskkill.exe /IM spotify* /T /F

This command will utterly terminate Spotify and any child processes spawned by it.

The command must be run in a console and must have administrative privileges.

If you've not been able to restart Spotify, you will now be able to do so.

[SoundMan]

At the administrative level command prompt you will see something like this:
Command Prompt>%SystemRoot%\System32\taskkill.exe /IM spotify* /T /F
SUCCESS: The process with PID 12096 (child process of PID 4640) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 17532 (child process of PID 4640) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 13904 (child process of PID 4640) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 1560 (child process of PID 4640) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 4848 (child process of PID 4640) has been terminated.
SUCCESS: The process with PID 4640 (child process of PID 6924) has been terminated.

It is very easy to create a desktop link to make this easier to accomplish.
1. Right click your desktop in a clear area (no icons or windows)
2. Select "New" and then "Shortcut"
3. Where it says to type the location you will copy the command above and paste it in that box. Then Next.
4. Type in Shutdown Spotify, then left click on Finish.
5. Find the newly created shortcut and right click it.
6. On the Shortcut tab find Advanced and left click that.
7. In Advanced, left click to run as an Administrator and left click on OK.
8. Back at the shortcut tab at the lower right corner left click on Apply, and then left click on OK.
9 Click and drag the icon for the shortcut to place it where you want it.

[SoundMan · Accepted solution]

2022/07/27

It would seem with very recent updates that this problem has finally been corrected.

Spotify now exits properly when terminated in a normal manner by the user.  The console command is not needed anymore.

Spotify can now be subsequently restarted without issue.

All of this at least on my computers.

[TedLyngmo]

I still have the issue. If I start Spotify, and just close it directly, it will leave processes behind. It's not always the same amount and I usually don't even notice that they are there, but sometimes, I hear that the fans on my computer are working (which they shouldn't be unless I'm running some CPU/GPU eating program). 100% CPU usage - and there are the Spotify processes. Killing them brings the CPU back to 2-3% which is its normal idle usage. How hard can it be to not leave processes behind?