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Along with Intel USB 3.0 Host Controller drivers, a utility called "iusb3mon.exe" (Intel USB 3.0 Monitor) was installed at startup.

Its apparent goal is to "monitor" some USB 3.0 functions. My questions are therefore:

  • What USB 3.0 functions it monitors in particular?
  • What functionality will I lose if I elect to terminate this process?
  • Why did Intel deem it significant to run it on Startup?

To clarify the rationale for my question:

From what I can tell, all my USB devices work just fine without this process. When a kernel mode driver has an accompanying usermode process (that's a process within the session, not a service), it's usually to complement the kernel driver with some UI. Did anyone see any UI presented by iusb3mon?

Hennes
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Ilya
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4 Answers4

10

To directly answer your question,

The job of this utility was to monitor the functionality and system usage of your USB ports in the background and look for any possible problems. All Windows Operating Systems have a core USB Monitoring system already and the Intel Utility is not necessary in any way. Intel wanted to use a tool Intel Made to monitor USB related system problems etc. But it isn't necessary and can be stopped and removed.

Adovi
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5

Intel does not publish any information on iusb3mon, except to call it a "monitor". One has to go to the USB 3.0 implementation of Renesas Electronics in order to find the explanation.

In the release notes of D720201 & D720202 Design Resources Release it is described as :

The Monitor Application, if installed, alerts the user when a USB 3.0 device is connected to a USB 2.0 port. Performance normally will improve if the device is connected to a USB 3.0 port.

This is a monitor, not a driver. It is probably activated by the connect-device event, so should not take much resources. If it starts hogging resources, it can be uninstalled without any problem. Both USB 3.0 and 2.0 devices will continue on working correctly with or without this service, as this alert is not essential to their correct functioning.

harrymc
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4

According to Intel:

Intel® USB 3.0 monitor is part of the Intel® USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver and its main functions are:

  • Monitors plug and play status of all USB 3.0 ports.
  • Generates pop-up message for event notification.

After ending the iusb3mon task, my USB 2 stick doesn't appear to act any differently, though. Maybe it only affects USB 3 devices.

Community
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Cees Timmerman
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-2

Link to my answer regarding how to verify USB2 and USB3 connection speed - https://superuser.com/a/804856/205740

tl;dr In my case this monitoring app made me very surprised why my external hard drives started again to save files very slow, this time between 2-3MB/s and 33-34MB/s. Disabled it and now I'm capping around 85 to 90MB/s average write speed and 170MB/s read

1000Gbps
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