See how you can change the execution priority of a process through Task Manager, PowerShell, and the command line.
When you run apps on your Windows 10 system, they all share your processor resources to run. The priority level determines the number of processor resources that uses every single application that runs.
Windows applications and processes have execution priority based on the following levels:
- In real time.
- High.
- Larger than normal.
- Normal.
- Less than normal.
- Low.
The higher the priority level assigned to the process, the more resources the processor uses. Therefore, the better the performance of the application.
Windows automatically assigns priority levels to current processes, but you can change them manually. This guide will show you three ways to perform this function.
Note that although you can easily set the priority of a process, the setting is temporary because the process returns to the default priority level when you close the program or restart your computer.
How to change the priority level of a process in Windows 10
There are three ways to change the priority level of the processes running on your machine. You can do this using the following methods:
1] Change priority with Task Manager
1.a To set the priority with Task Manager (Task Manager) right-click the Start button and select “Task Manager”. Click the down arrow at the bottom of it screen of Task Manager, where it says “More details”.
1.b Go to the Details tab located at the top of it window. Here, find the process for which you want to change its priority, right-click on it and put the cursor on “Set priority”.
1.c From the menu context of the Set priority, select the priority level for the selected application or process. You can choose between six priority levels.
1.d In the question "If you want to change the priority in the process…" press the button "Change priority" and close the Task Manager.
2] Prioritize a process using PowerShell
Unlike the Task Manager method, PowerShell does not name priority levels in English. Instead, you must set the priority level using defined identifiers.
The following table shows the different priority levels and the corresponding IDs:
Priority level | Corresponding identity |
In real time | 256 |
High | 128 |
Larger than normal | 32768 |
Normal | 32 |
Smaller than normal | 16384 |
Low | 64 |
Follow these steps to change the program / process priority levels using PowerShell.
2.a Press the Windows key and look for PowerShell . Click on the program from the search results.
2.b In the PowerShell window, enter the following command and press ENTER.
[pastacode manual=”Get-WmiObject%20Win32_process%20-filter%20'name%20%3D%20%22ProcessName.exe%22'%20%7C%20foreach-object%20%7B%20%24_.SetPriority(PriorityLevelID)%20%7D” provider=”manual” lang=”php”/]
In the above command, replace ProcessName.exe with the name of the process or application for which you want to change the priority level.
Similarly, change the PriorityLevelID to the priority level number.
3] Set the priority level using the command line
3.a Press the key combination Windows + R to display the Run dialog box. Here, type cmd and press ENTER.
3.b In the Command Prompt window, enter the following command and press ENTER.
[pastacode manual=”wmic%20process%20where%20name%3D%22ProcessName%22%20CALL%20setpriority%20%22PriorityLevelID%22″ provider=”manual” lang=”php”/]
NOTE: In the above command, replace ProcessName with the name of the process whose priority level you want to change.
Also, this command, as in PowerShell, uses the specified priority level IDs. Thus, when entering the above command, be sure to replace PriorityLevelID with the corresponding ID from the table in case 2 (PowerShell solution).
You can, if you wish, use real English priority level names, as we did in the Task Manager method. The order will then be:
[pastacode manual = ”wmic% 20process% 20where% 20name% 3D% 22ProcessName% 22% 20CALL% 20setpriority% 20% 22PriorityLevelName% 22 ″ provider =” manual ”lang =” php ”/] In this command, remember to also replace ProcessName with the name of the application / process and PriorityLevelName with the English priority level you want to use (Realtime, High, Above normal, Normal, Under Normal or Low).
Having learned the three ways to set the priority levels of a process in Windows 10, we must warn you not to set "real-time" priority programs. This allows the process to use the maximum amount of resources and will impede the performance of other applications.