What is kernel_task and why is it taking up so much memory?

[mar4k]

Kernel task is your operating system.

1. Launch Activity Monitor
2. Change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes"
3. Click on the CPU column heading once or twice, so the arrow points downward (highest values on top).
4. Click on the System Memory tab at the bottom.
5. Take a screen shot of the whole Activity Monitor window, then scroll down to see the rest of the list, take another screen shot
6. Post your screenshots.

My kernal_task seems to be taking up a lot of memory- nearly a gigabyte at times. I found a few threads on it but they were old and didn't present any solutions. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I have a 2015 retina macbook 12.1

 

[richard2]

This is entirely normal; on my Mac, kernel_task is currently using 903.4 MiB of memory. If your Mac was low on memory, then the memory pressure graph wouldn't be green.

 

[Weaselboy]

...

I'm not seeing anything really abnormal there and your memory pressure at the bottom is still in the green, so everything looks okay. Is there a particular problem you are having?

 

[mar4k]

View attachment 632604

Oh I'm sorry guys, for some reason my message didn't go through. I'm just worried about kernel_task taking up lots of memory. But I just spoke with a friend and he said it's normal.

 

[mmagi]

Hey all, over the past week my iMac has been running high memory as well. Here is my screenshot. Not sure why chromehelper is in there so many times?! Yes I am running chrome and keep 4 gmail tabs open at all times (know thats not helping) but I still didnt have this issue before.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[chrfr]

Hey all, over the past week my iMac has been running high memory as well. Here is my screenshot. Not sure why chromehelper is in there so many times?! Yes I am running chrome and keep 4 gmail tabs open at all times (know thats not helping) but I still didnt have this issue before.
View attachment 644166

If you close your Chrome tabs you'll see your memory usage reduce. That your memory usage with Chrome was lower before means nothing; the pages you happen to have loaded are using different amounts of RAM than the pages you have had open in the past.
Chrome uses a lot of RAM, and that's just its nature.

 

[mmagi]

If you close your Chrome tabs you'll see your memory usage reduce. That your memory usage with Chrome was lower before means nothing; the pages you happen to have loaded are using different amounts of RAM than the pages you have had open in the past.
Chrome uses a lot of RAM, and that's just its nature.

So you think thats my only issue? I just closed a bunch of tabs and still having the same high memory.

 

[DeltaMac]

You would likely benefit from adding more RAM to your iMac.

 

[mmagi]

You would likely benefit from adding more RAM to your iMac.

I just ordered 16GB, 2X 8GB. Thanks

 

[mmagi]

Oh as well my problem is now solved for the most part. All I did was completely quit and close all tabs in chrome. It now has a slightly new look, so chances are my chrome updated on re-launch. But for some reason the update was not going with my tabs open?! Anyways maybe this was my issue as now, with even more tabs open its running great on the updated version of chrome. Just thought Id note that.

 

[jerwin]

The following page on stackexchange seems inordinately helpful in peeling back kernel_task's veil.

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/178281/how-to-investigate-high-kernel-task-memory-usage

for instance, skillful use of zprint can help one blame a particular driver.

 

[khaidir77]

is my MBP in good condition?? does this kernel task gonna affect my system? can i delete or unable it? or jz ignore it??

 

[Weaselboy]

is my MBP in good condition?? does this kernel task gonna affect my system? can i delete or unable it? or jz ignore it?

Ignore it. That is a core part of the OS and what you are seeing there is perfectly normal.

 

[khaidir77]

Ignore it. That is a core part of the OS and what you are seeing there is perfectly normal.

thanks sir...so i dont need to clean reformat & reinstall the os again?..just let it be....

 

[Weaselboy]

thanks sir...so i dont need to clean reformat & reinstall the os again?..just let it be....

Just leave it be. What you are seeing there is normal and nothing is wrong.

 

[khaidir77]

Just leave it be. What you are seeing there is normal and nothing is wrong.

thanks sir!!!

 

[jerwin]

Not a problem unless your memory pressure is in the red. Yes, this does sometimes happen.

 

[gslrider]

Not a problem unless your memory pressure is in the red. Yes, this does sometimes happen.

If one can upgrade their ram, and memory usage is being an issue, they should spend the cash to jack it up. System will run more efficiently, and peppier.

 

[jerwin]

If one can upgrade their ram, and memory usage is being an issue, they should spend the cash to jack it up.

I don't have enough slots to keep Safari happy when it occassionally misbehaves. All I can do is start killing processes.

 

[khaidir77]

I don't have enough slots to keep Safari happy when it occassionally misbehaves. All I can do is start killing processes.

well nothing goes red at this moment...was wondering if can disable that kernel task but since u guys said that kernel_task actually the system in OS ..cant do much..even if i reformat clean reinstall it still gonna be there...am i right?

 

[jerwin]

well nothing goes red at this moment...was wondering if can disable that kernel task but since u guys said that kernel_task actually the system in OS ..cant do much..even if i reformat clean reinstall it still gonna be there...am i right?

It's an integral part of the system.

Your machine has 16 GB of memory. Your kernel_task consumes about 1.4 GB.

This is fine. Your memory pressure is in the green. It will likely stay that way for years of use--

unless

-- You use Adobe products, which, under certain conditions, can exploit multiple gigabytes of memory to speed up operations
-- You use virtual machines, which can be configured to take 4--8 gigabytes for windows/linux etc...
-- A application leaks memory, in which case adding more memory will only delay the inevitable crash.

Your machine is programmed not to waste memory.

Free Ram is wasted ram. Why not use it to cache frequently accessed files?

If a program needs to use the memory occupied by the cached files, the some of the cache is discarded. (This means that if the file is needed again, it's read from the SSD/hard disk, which is slower than using RAM)

If a program needs to use yet more memory, some of the other applications will be first compressed, or swapped to disk.

So I could be running four or five programs, each with a memory footprint of four or five gigabytes (already rather large, as far as mac applications go) on a 16 gigabyte machine, and I might notice a minuscule delay when switching amongst them.

I'm not going to get this sort of dialog unless one or more of those applications is demanding a lot more memory than that.

Look at Memory Pressure. If it's green there's nothing to worry about.

The days of upgrading RAM for that little bit of extra speed boost are essentially over--unless you know that a specific application can definitely use it.

 

[khaidir77]

It's an integral part of the system.

Your machine has 16 GB of memory. Your kernel_task consumes about 1.4 GB.

This is fine. Your memory pressure is in the green. It will likely stay that way for years of use--

unless

-- You use Adobe products, which, under certain conditions, can exploit multiple gigabytes of memory to speed up operations
-- You use virtual machines, which can be configured to take 4--8 gigabytes for windows/linux etc...
-- A application leaks memory, in which case adding more memory will only delay the inevitable crash.

Your machine is programmed not to waste memory.

Free Ram is wasted ram. Why not use it to cache frequently accessed files?

If a program needs to use the memory occupied by the cached files, the some of the cache is discarded. (This means that if the file is needed again, it's read from the SSD/hard disk, which is slower than using RAM)

If a program needs to use yet more memory, some of the other applications will be first compressed, or swapped to disk.

So I could be running four or five programs, each with a memory footprint of four or five gigabytes (already rather large, as far as mac applications go) on a 16 gigabyte machine, and I might notice a minuscule delay when switching amongst them.

I'm not going to get this sort of dialog unless one or more of those applications is demanding a lot more memory than that.

Look at Memory Pressure. If it's green there's nothing to worry about.

The days of upgrading RAM for that little bit of extra speed boost are essentially over--unless you know that a specific application can definitely use it.

thanks!!

 

[Weaselboy]

well nothing goes red at this moment...was wondering if can disable that kernel task but since u guys said that kernel_task actually the system in OS ..cant do much..even if i reformat clean reinstall it still gonna be there...am i right?

Yes... exactly.

 

[jerwin]

Just to sate your curiosity, this is what a memory leak looks like. Apparently I put way too much stuff in my reading list. Or I've mucked about with Safari's debug menu once too often. Ah well.

 

[2manygs]

Hi there, I had this issue on three separate macs last year, my mac mini, my MacBook pro and a work iMac. After trying to find a solution on line the only way I could get rid the kernel_task was to wipe the HD and do a fresh install on all three macs, so far the issue has nor made a re appearance