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Level 1

39 points

macOS Sequoia Massive memory leak

So this seems to be an issue with all the recent macOS versions, the windowserver process just seems to eat more and more ram. Now when im running a single safari window with 5 tabs, mail, messages, notes, and onenote, the windowserver process i guess needs 5gb of ram to do its job. I rebooted, it started at 250mb, as soon as i start opening things it skyrockets. It seems to eat about 1gb per app window open. Closing the apps does not lower the processes ram usage. It will continue to grow with every app i open. I did a fresh reinstall of the OS, reinstalled all 3rd party apps by hand, of which i only use a few, and the issue persists. These numbers hold true on my m3 MBA with 16gb ram and my partners m1 base MBA. This is ridiculous Apple

Posted on Sep 19, 2024 4:38 PM

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Graig1122

Level 1

37 points

Posted on Oct 6, 2024 9:51 PM

I found the Reason！

When the mouse passes over the top window special effect every time, Windowser would be larger and larger and won't be erased.

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den.thed

Level 10

84,874 points

Sep 22, 2024 6:57 PM in response to Mac Jim ID

+1 I suggested using EtreCheckPro back on the 19th.

Sep 24, 2024 11:59 PM in response to jessatd75

This only occurs for me with Safari open. Writhing a few minutes it grabs more than 20gb of memory and I get click latency, screen flicker. When I close Safari, it calms down immediately.

cytan

Level 1

28 points

Oct 5, 2024 5:29 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks! I deleted those files and have run for the last 4 hours without crashing yet. I'll have to leave it overnight to be sure that those two files were the source of the problem. Stay tuned ...

BDAqua

Level 10

246,389 points

Oct 6, 2024 2:33 AM in response to cytan

Great to hear my friend, do take care!:)

Oct 6, 2024 4:45 PM in response to jessatd75

Same here

Apple Needs to fix iPhone mirroring windowserver memory issue!

horacelu

Level 1

20 points

Oct 7, 2024 6:42 PM in response to Graig1122

Hope apple guys could see this post and fix this. I love the new feature but I also found the leak is related to iPhone mirroring this morning...

Oct 14, 2024 10:55 AM in response to ahenk

I am astounded by the size of your Mail programme. Mine is:

I delete most communications except Family and Friends and my health, insurance, taxes and other personal business.

Are you the BBC or Microsoft or a spam factory? I am awed by the immense hoard of mail you have.

Perhaps you could move your historic, archival, emails to an external hard disk if you feel unable to bin them and that might free up more space for current work.

iTimod

Level 1

10 points

Nov 16, 2024 7:22 AM in response to jessatd75

So I had version 15.0 and everything was great. I'm now getting the problem after installing version 15.1. As someone here said, the problem is the OS in relation to USB-C and\or HDMI monitor connections. It's not one specific app. My particular problem is with the screensaver. My Citrix workspace App also but all that is irrelevant. I trying to figure out how to downgrade back to 15.0. No luck so far. Apple support said I would have to go back to Sonoma. Anyone found a solution yet?

MCC_Mac

Level 1

14 points

Nov 26, 2024 2:13 PM in response to jessatd75

My MacBook Air is now virtually unusable, since "upgrading" to Sequoia 15.1.1. Out of memory about every 5-10 minutes. Rebooting 3-4x per hour. Closing apps doesn't seem to help.

jessatd75 Author

Level 1

39 points

Sep 19, 2024 6:12 PM in response to Barney-15E

I haven't. Im able to do pretty much everything i need with the stock apple apps and a few app store apps and highly regarded non-app store apps like VLC player. Im an IT consultant so aside from normal office stuff i pretty much live in terminal for SSH and MS RDP.

jessatd75 Author

Level 1

39 points

Sep 22, 2024 4:23 PM in response to joelhz

Yesterday, again, I did a complete reinstall of the OS, had to restore it to Sonoma, upgrade to Sequoia, and the issue persists. Right now to test, I am not using ANY 3rd party apps, not even ones from the App Store. After 1.5 hours my windowserver process was 2gb.

So if this isn't a software issue it has to be a hardware issue. BUT I don't see how that's that case when in Sonoma with my current laptop I never say the windowserver process peak over 1gb and that was with 1 external 1440p displays and the integral display all running with tons of windows and apps open. Plus no other apps are running away, all are using only as much ram as they did in Sonoma. Maybe is a compatibility issue with my exact config? 13 MBA, M3, 16gb, 512gb.

Barney-15E

Level 10

118,830 points

Sep 23, 2024 4:47 AM in response to dragontorc

dragontorc wrote:

I too have the memory leak issue.

Also, the screen flickers intermittently without apparent reason.

Kindly hope a fix is in the works ahead of macOS 15.1 release next month.

Neither are problems with Sequoia. There won’t be a fix anywhere for your problems. Call Apple.

Mac Jim ID

Level 8

38,879 points

Sep 23, 2024 12:01 PM in response to jessatd75

Activity Monitor simply won't show the cause of the problem, it just shows the effects. There is no doubt you have a problem that is causing WindowServer to balloon. That is why it has been recommended to use EtreCheck.

AlWeir

Level 4

3,903 points

Sep 23, 2024 12:20 PM in response to jessatd75

I have had one thing seize on my Mac since installing a week ago and that was between Safari Setting and System Settings when I clicked on Advance Settings in Privacy, then and it opened Advanced>Proxies>Change Settings. It froze in System Settings in the Proxy Window.

John Galt

Level 10

150,036 points

Sep 25, 2024 6:39 PM in response to Mac Jim ID

Mac Jim ID wrote:

Yep, that was the correct approach to take. I just had to bring it forward since your suggestion seemed to be ignored.

We are left to assume none of this discussion's participants actually wants to fix their Mac.

macOS Sequoia Massive memory leak

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macOS Sequoia Massive memory leak