How to fix your Mac's "kernel_task" error due to high CPU usage

It's never fun when your computer starts running slow, but it's even worse when you can't figure out why it's so slow. If you've closed every program you can and everything on your Mac still feels like it's moving through molasses, it could be a sign of the dreaded kernel_task causing high usage .

On your Mac, kernel_task is the name given to a bunch of low-level functions that make the rest of your computer work. This means that figuring out who is at fault can be difficult. We've seen this a lot, so we have some tips to help you get rid of this problem.

Diagnosing a Slow Mac

If your Mac is running slow, generating a lot of heat, or seems like it's about to take off due to high fan speeds, you need to open Activity Monitor and find out why. It's essentially the MacOS equivalent of Windows Task Manager. Activity Monitor is a useful tool. about resource and process management.

You can open Activity Monitor using Spotlight: just press Cmd + Space, then start typing "activity" and it should appear. You can also find it under Applications > Utilities , and you might want to pin it to your Dock for even quicker access when major problems arise.

The reason for your slow computer should be obvious from the CPU . % CPU column header to organize running processes by CPU usage. Anything that uses a lot of processing power will appear at the top; they will move around as your computer performs various tasks in the background.

High CPU usage is usually only a problem when you don't expect it. It's reasonable to expect your machine to chew up resources if you're running a game, watching a video in the browser, or editing a video. If a particular Safari tab or Mac process is using more than its share, it usually means something has gone wrong.

Who is straining the processor?

If everything is fine with the memory, but the computer is running at its limit, someone is putting a lot of stress on the processor.

And this information can be obtained in the System Monitoring application.

Launch
System Monitoring
.

Go to the
CPU
.

You can sort processes by the
% CPU
.

We see programs that load the processor the most.

The “glutton” Slack stood out here too. In the background, it needs 1-2% of processor power, and in active mode, together with other services, the messenger can request up to 30%.

Why is kernel_task the culprit?

You can kill most processes by clicking on them and then pressing the X in the top left corner of the screen. Unfortunately, you can't do this for one specific process: kernel_task . The reason for this is that kernel_task is actually part of macOS.

It's not so much a single process as it is a sequence of processes under one label. While you work, macOS performs all kinds of tasks in the background. These include sending and receiving data over the network, writing and reading data to disk, and indexing new folders or drives for Spotlight search.

This process often uses up a lot of the available RAM in the Memory , but it's much less of a concern. The amount of RAM used will increase and decrease as needed. However, high CPU usage can cause the entire system to grind to a halt and even cause the system to crash completely at random.

So how do you prevent kernel_task from negatively impacting your Mac's performance?

Does your computer slow down after the next macOS update?

After installing major updates, the system indexes the memory each time.
This process is necessary for features like Spotlight and Siri to function. Indexing can take several hours and the Mac will slow down during this time. You should always remember this and leave it on for at least 3 to 4 hours. The process execution time directly depends on the number of files on the disk, so do not turn off your Mac under any circumstances. What should I do? There is a solution? Of course you have to wait. It's best to leave your computer overnight so it can index files in the background. Everything will be ready in the morning.

Simple solutions to kernel_task problems

In many cases, simply restarting your Mac will solve the problem right away. This is not a permanent long-term solution if you have already had this problem for a while. Instead, it is a short-term fix that should provide immediate results.

Anything that causes a CPU spike may come back. Therefore, if you have had recurring incidents, you may want to try resetting the System Controller (SMC). It's easy to do and can fix a lot of macOS problems.

The instructions for resetting the SMC vary slightly depending on what model of Mac you have. Since this can solve so many problems, we have a complete guide detailing how to reset your Mac's SMC. perform a reset It also includes resetting your PRAM, another part of the Mac that can cause a lot of problems.

Reset the system management controller (SMC)

There are quite a few symptoms that indicate your Mac needs an SMC reset.
Perhaps the cooling of the computer’s internals is not working properly, there are problems with the keyboard backlight, status indicator, and so on. How to reset SMC settings on portable Macs:

How to reset controller settings on desktop computers:

Turn off your Mac
Disconnect it from the power supply and wait 15 - 20 seconds
Now you can plug it back into the power adapter
Wait 5 seconds, and then just turn on the computer.

Check the disk for errors, update the system

Mac installers are divided into two types: some do not update macOS and are guided by the principle “It works, don’t touch it,” while others install all system updates in the hope of fixing bugs and glitches.

I consider myself to be in the second group, so I recommend updating to the latest versions of the OS (check for updates in the App Store > “Updates”). They usually work faster, and I haven't experienced the opposite in years on a Mac.

Don't forget to also check for disk errors. They appear randomly during installation of applications and OS updates.

Just open Disk Utility, select the system drive and click on the First Aid button. The Mac will check itself for errors and try to fix them.

Digging a little deeper into high kernel_task CPU usage

Some have been able to remove kernel extensions, which are code modules capable of performing low-level tasks. Also known as “kexts,” the vast majority of these extensions are installed by Apple as part of the main macOS environment. Some programs install third-party extensions as drivers or to control hardware.

One quick way to check if your kext is causing problems with a third-party kext is to restart your computer in safe mode. To do this, restart your computer and hold down the Shift while booting. Safe mode only loads the necessary kernel extensions, so if the issue does not occur in this environment, it indicates an issue with the third party kext.

To dive into this, reboot your system as usual and launch Terminal . Then run the kextstat command to see which kernel extensions are currently loaded. All Apple extensions will look like com.apple.[etc] . Meanwhile, third-party drivers will contain the developer's name, such as com.paragon-software.filesystems and ch.tripmode.TripModeNKE .

The best way to remove them is to uninstall the corresponding software. For some apps, this simply means moving the app file to the Trash and then entering your admin password to allow the change.

Others may include a PKG removal file that you need to run. Otherwise, go to System Preferences and look for third-party settings panels. For example, the Paragon NTFS driver hides a Delete next to its settings.

Starting with OS X El Capitan, Apple introduced a new security feature that broke a number of third-party modifications. System Integrity Protection, or SIP for short, prevents applications from injecting code into Apple's own apps, as well as from writing to certain parts of the disk that Apple deems important to system security.

This results in better system stability, so you should see this issue less frequently in modern versions of macOS.

Still having high CPU usage? What to do when all else fails

The final solution here is a bit risky: removing Apple's own kernel extensions. This is not recommended. However, if you've tried everything else and still see kernel_task causing high CPU usage, this is a solution you can try.

Developer and blogger Viktor Petersson has written extensively about kernel_task and the issues surrounding it. In his case, it was probably caused by a dodgy sound card. Petersson's original post focused on Mac OS X Yosemite, although he later released updates for El Capitan and Sierra.

We haven't tested this fix and can't say whether it will work for you. If you're interested in this, here's what you need to do:

Back up your Mac using Time Machine or another backup solution.
Disable system integrity protection by booting into recovery mode and running the csrutil disable command.
Follow Victor's method. Start by searching for your Mac model using system_profiler -detailLevel mini | grep "Model Identifier:" system_profiler -detailLevel mini | grep "Model Identifier:" .
Run the following command: cd /System/Library/Extensions/IOPlatformPluginFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin.kext/Contents/Resources

Move and back up the file that matches your model. For example, if your ID is MacBookPro8,2 you should do:

sudo mv MacBookPro8_2.plist MacBookPro8_2.bak

Reboot into recovery mode and re-enable System Integrity Protection using the csrutil enable command.

Again, this is a last resort fix. Only try this if you are trying to do something because of the kernel_task making your Mac unusable. This is not a short-term solution - it persists even after reinstalling the operating system.

However, you will also have to repeat this process after every major software update or operating system update, as Apple will restore the file you moved.

If you can't remove the model ID

If you have MacOS El Capitan or higher, the system will not allow you to delete the identifier file, since you first need to remove the system integrity protection (System Integrity Protection, or SIP for short).

SIP can only be disabled from recovery mode. You need to reboot, access the “Terminal” and enter the shutdown command.

Turn off the Mac and when turning it on, hold down the ⌘R (Command + R) keys;
After loading we get to the recovery menu. Open the “Utilities” section and launch “Terminal”;
Enter the command: csrutil disable
Reboot the Mac.

To enable protection, you need to enter recovery mode again, open a terminal and enter the command:

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Is kernel_task error a new problem?

Typically, updating to a new version of macOS brings new features and functionality, but can also introduce bugs. This is especially true for older hardware models that are starting to reach their limits. If you're one generation away from a Mac that's no longer supported, it could mean your model isn't as important to Apple.

Have you recently updated your version of macOS? If only then did you start seeing problems with kernel_task on your Mac, this could be the cause. If you don't rely on the new features introduced in the latest update, you may be able to safely downgrade.

Want to try? We have a guide detailing several ways to downgrade from an older version of macOS to an older version of macOS to an older version