Oct 16, 2017 To change process priority in Windows 10, do the following. Open Task Manager. Switch it to the More details view if required using the 'More details' link in the bottom right corner. Switch to the Details tab. Right-click the desired process and select Set priority from the context menu.
In Windows operating system, the CPU speed is shared by a number of processes and/or applications running on the computer. Each of these apps has a priority level that tells its processing speed.
Depending on your needs, you can set your preferred priority to execute the app faster. This feature is very useful to prioritize your needs.
In this guide, I’m going to share the details on how to change CPU priority level in Windows 10.
Let’s start with the introduction of priority level in brief-
Contents
What Do You Mean By Priority Level And Its Types?
In general, every Windows app runs on normal priority level. This means the execution of the processes will consider normal and CPU performs at its usual speed.
If you want to get a faster or realtime process from any particular app, you have to change the priority level from ‘Windows Task Manager’.
Interestingly, you can set the priority of any process in six different levels. This include-
- Realtime
- High
- Above normal
- Normal
- Below normal
- Low
By default, all apps run in ‘Normal’ settings and you can choose any one of the above levels to work it faster or slower.
In case, you choose ‘Realtime’ priority level for your app. There is a high chance that your computer’s CPU will give a response up to 100%. And, this may cause instability in running other apps. Thereafter, it makes your PC unstable.
It is advised not to set CPU priority windows 10 to ‘Realtime’ unless you need it so. Also, keep the other applications closed and finish your task first.
How To Change CPU Priority Level In Windows 10 Operating System?
As ‘Normal’ is the default priority level. Follow these instructions to set a different priority-
- Right click on ‘Taskbar’
- Go to ‘Task Manager’
- Select ‘Details’ tab in the dialog box
- Choose the name of the app for Windows 10 set priority
- Let it be ‘Notepad’
- Right click on it
![Windows Windows](/uploads/1/2/5/8/125877406/820177235.jpg)
- Go to ‘Set Priority’
- Choose the level you want, for instance ‘Above normal’
It will ask you for confirming the same.
- Click on ‘Change Priority’
It’s done. As I’ve chosen ‘Above normal’ level for Notepad, this can be reviewed by following these steps.
Review The Changed Priority
- Right click on ‘Notepad’
- Go to ‘Set Priority’
You can see the priority level has been changed from ‘Normal’ to ‘Above normal’.
Hope this information has cleared out how to set priority on Windows 10. Now, there will be no troubles if you want to change it for your purpose.
How To Set CPU Priority When You Start An App?
Do you want to set the priority level of any app at the time of its start? This can also be done so that there will be no need for visiting the Windows Task Manager.
Step-By-Step Procedure
Let’s start Notepad at ‘Above normal’ priority level-
- Type ‘command prompt’ in the search box
- Click on ‘Command Prompt’ Desktop app
It will open DOS window on the screen
- Type the command, start “” /AboveNormal “C:WindowsSystem32notepad.exe”
- Press ‘Enter’
This will open the respective app with ‘Above normal’ priority level.
In case, you want to check the same. You can follow the instructions explained in the above section and review the set priority level.
Note:
Remember that changed priority of any app is temporary. Once you close it and reopen the same, it will start with ‘Normal’ level.
If you want to make permanent changes to any particular app, you have to install priority tools on to your computer.
How To Set Process Priority Permanently For Apps?
There are a number of tools that can be installed to save the changed process priority. It is the best solution to make a permanent change for your working needs.
Some of these tools include-
- Prio (Process Priority Saver)
- System Explorer
- Process Hacker
All these tools have the feature to save the changed process priority for any app. It will help you in keeping the settings for your future needs.
Bottom Line
As of now, you get to know how to change CPU priority level in Windows 10. It isn’t a difficult task to perform but you must have a reason to do the same. Or else, keep it as it is.
Hope this information has helped you out! For more details or any suggestion, you are free to comment on the below box. It will be glad to hear from you!
In this article, we’ll briefly explain the kernel scheduler (also known as the process scheduler), and process priority, which are topics beyond the scope of this guide. Then we will dive into a little bit of Linux process management: see how to run a program or command with modified priority and also change the priority of running Linux processes.
Read Also:How to Monitor Linux Processes and Set Process Limits on a Per-User Basis
Understanding the Linux Kernel Scheduler
A kernel scheduler is a unit of the kernel that determines the most suitable process out of all runnable processes to execute next; it allocates processor time between the runnable processes on a system. A runnable process is one which is waiting only for CPU time, it’s ready to be executed.
The scheduler forms the core of multitasking in Linux, using a priority-based scheduling algorithm to choose between the runnable processes in the system. It ranks processes based on the most deserving as well as the need for CPU time.
Understanding Process Priority and Nice Value
The kernel stores a great deal of information about processes including process priority which is simply the scheduling priority attached to a process. Processes with a higher priority will be executed before those with a lower priority, while processes with the same priority are scheduled one after the next, repeatedly.
There are a total of 140 priorities and two distinct priority ranges implemented in Linux. The first one is a nice value (niceness) which ranges from
-20
(highest priority value) to 19
(lowest priority value) and the default is 0
, this is what we will uncover in this guide. The other is the real-time priority, which ranges from 1 to 99 by default, then 100 to 139 are meant for user-space.One important characteristic of Linux is dynamic priority-based scheduling, which allows the nice value of processes to be changed (increased or decreased) depending on your needs, as we’ll see later on.
How to Check Nice Value of Linux Processes
To see the nice values of processes, we can use utilities such as ps, top or htop.
To view processes nice value with ps command in user-defined format (here the
NI
the column shows the niceness of processes).Alternatively, you can use top or htop utilities to view Linux processes nice values as shown.
Check Linux Process Nice Values using Top Command
Check Linux Process Nice Values using Htop Command
Difference Between PR or PRI and NI
From the top and htop outputs above, you’ll notice that there is a column called
PR
and PRI
receptively which shows the priority of a process.This, therefore, means that:
NI
– is the nice value, which is a user-space concept, whilePR
orPRI
– is the process’s actual priority, as seen by the Linux kernel.
How To Calculate PR or PRI Values
Nice value range (NI): -20 to 19
But if you see a
rt
rather than a number as shown in the screenshot below, it basically means the process is running under real-time scheduling priority.How to Run A Command with a Given Nice Value in Linux
Here, we will look at how to prioritize the CPU usage of a program or command. If you have a very CPU-intensive program or task, but you also understand that it might take a long time to complete, you can set it a high or favorable priority using the nice command.
The syntax is as follows:
Important:
- If no value is provided, nice sets a priority of 10 by default.
- A command or program run without nice defaults to a priority of zero.
- Only root can run a command or program with increased or high priority.
- Normal users can only run a command or program with low priority.
For example, instead of starting a program or command with the default priority, you can start it with a specific priority using following nice command.
You can also use the third method which is a little confusing especially for negative niceness values.
Change the Scheduling Priority of a Process in Linux
As we mentioned before, Linux allows dynamic priority-based scheduling. Therefore, if a program is already running, you can change its priority with the renice command in this form:
Change Process Priority
From the sample top output below, the niceness of the teamspe+ with PID 1055 is now
-12
and for all processes owned by user apache is -2
.Still using this output, you can see the formula PR = 20 + NI stands,
Any changes you make with renice command to a user’s processes nice values are only applicable until the next reboot. To set permanent default values, read the next section.
How To Set Default Nice Value Of a Specific User’s Processes
You can set the default nice value of a particular user or group in the /etc/security/limits.conf file. Its primary function is to define the resource limits for the users logged in via PAM.
The syntax for defining a limit for a user is as follows (and the possible values of the various columns are explained in the file):
Now use the syntax below where hard – means enforcing hard links and soft means – enforcing the soft limits.
Alternatively, create a file under /etc/security/limits.d/ which overrides settings in the main file above, and these files are read in alphabetical order.
Start by creating the file /etc/security/limits.d/tecmint-priority.conf for user tecmint:
Then add this configuration in it:
Save and close the file. From now on, any process owned by tecmint will have a nice value of 10 and PR of 30.
For more information, read the man pages of nice and renice:
You might also like to read these following articles about Linux process management.
In this article, we briefly explained the kernel scheduler, process priority, looked at how to run a program or command with modified priority and also change the priority of active Linux processes. You can share any thoughts regarding this topic via the feedback form below.