"loginwindow" memory leak on 2019 iMac

[rm5]

First, let's get the screenshot out of the way:

Basically, on my 2019 iMac, which I just recently got, I'm experiencing ridiculous memory usage for the loginwindow process, and it's getting VERY annoying. I remember back on my 5,1 Mac Pro, this was an issue, and now it's an issue on my iMac. I've NEVER experienced this on my M1 MacBook Air, so maybe it's an Intel-only problem. I see the process start to creep up into the 1 GB usage range after only a few hours of use, and as I keep using the machine, the process starts to use more and more memory. In order to resolve the issue, I have to log out and back in again.

Any ideas why this is happening? I'm inclined to think it's a bug in Sonoma, which is why I've posted in this section, but I'm not entirely sure, because this did happen under Monterey on my Mac Pro back in the day.

Any ideas?

 

[rm5]

I'm going to try installing Catalina on a separate APFS volume to see if there is any difference. I've been extremely busy, so any testing/results will likely not happen until the weekend, or maybe even next week. But I'll be sure to update this thread with any new information.

Still though, any help/insight is greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[gilby101]

I tell Activity Monitor to show more memory columns. So my screenshot is:

This is 3 weeks running since reboot and login. My "Memory" is only 2.6 GB, and most of this is Compressed. Active RAM is better indicated by Real Mem.

Not that goes any way to explaining why loginwindow is using so much memory (even if it is mostly compressed).

Like for you, this is on a 2019 iMac. It has lots of physical RAM.

Just a possibility:
My wallpapers are from a folder on my Mac. Each photo is about 1MB and wallpaper changes every 15 minutes. Now 4*24 (changes per day) * 21 (days since login) * 1MB comes to 2GB. That is surprisingly close to the compressed memory used by loginwindow. Suggesting that loginwindow is not releasing wallpaper memory and instead it gets compressed following not being used. Note, I am even not sure that loginwindow displays the wallpaper but it seems reasonable.
Edit: I now think that wallpapers are a red herring.

 

[gilby101]

Deleted (I duplicated the post above).

 

[rm5]

@gilby101 The "Real Memory" column still shows the high number it says under "Memory." I have no clue what's causing this issue, nor how to resolve it.

My only guess would be to install an older version of macOS - perhaps Ventura or Monterey or something, but I don't have a thumb drive on me. Guess I could order one!

 

[gilby101]

My only guess would be to install an older version of macOS

I would only do that if the memory use was causing performance problems.

Since I rebooted 24 hours ago (after 14.3 update), memory use by loginwindow has remained minimal (Memory 54, Real Mem 114).

 

[rm5]

Y'know what? I've just decided to sit and watch the loginwindow process use more and more memory. It doesn't seem to be impacting system performance, but it just crossed 24 GB usage. It seems to be just cached files, it's really weird. Luckily the system isn't any slower than before.

 

[gilby101]

A week since last reboot, loginwindow is using 68MB. I don't think your problem will go away by magic. You could spend some time hunting down the issue. You say cached files, do you know which files?

 

[rm5]

A week since last reboot, loginwindow is using 68MB. I don't think your problem will go away by magic. You could spend some time hunting down the issue. You say cached files, do you know which files?

"Cached files' meaning the literal "cached files" section in Activity Monitor—below "Memory Used." So no, I don't know.

 

[gilby101]

From diagnostic point of view: In Activity Monitor, select the loginwindow process and double click on it (or select the i in the bar above. This opens the Inspector for the process. Select the "Open Files and Ports" button. There might be something unusual there - but not easy to sort out what is odd compared with normal!

But as potential solutions, I have seen mentioned on the web:
1) Do you use an active Memoji for your account avatar? If so, change it to one of the old-fashioned simple ones and reboot.
2) Some suggestions that active screensavers (and/or active wallpapers) can cause memory issues - but nothing definitive on that.

In my first post above #3, I said loginwindow was using 2.6 GB. I was using a Memoji avatar. I did turn it off and am now using a simple avatar. I then forgot to check if any difference in memory use.

In my post #8, I said that my loginwindow is now using 68MB. That was a surprise! Maybe this is due to disabling the active memoji avatar.

So I have put suggestion 1 in bold! After that try going for non-active wallpaper and screensaver. I have not run fancy wallpaper (or screensaver) on my 2019 iMac.