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Why Does my System Have Fewer or Missing Cores?

Content Type: Troubleshooting   |   Article ID: 000056742   |   Last Reviewed: 06/03/2022

Environment

Operating System

Windows® 10 family

Description

  • While setting up a system and checking for the number of the cores, the system shows four cores instead of six cores in the Task Manager.
  • How do I activate the cores of my Intel® Core™ processor?
  • Why does the system have missing cores?
  • After enabling hyperthreading, not all processor cores appear to be active.

Resolution

Possible reasons fewer logical core or physical cores would be showing in Task Manager

  • The number of cores might be changed in Windows*.
    • Follow these steps to fix this issue in Windows using the msconfig
      1. Press on the Windows key Windows key + R at the same time on your keyboard to open the Run window.
      2. Type msconfig in the Run window, and click OK.

        Run window

      3. This will open the System Configuration window.
      4. Choose Boot tab.
      5. Click Advanced options.
        Advanced options
      6. Uncheck Number of processors, under BOOT Advanced Options.
        Number of processors
      7. Click Apply, then OK.
      8. Restart your system.
    • Try to reinstall the OS.
  • BIOS can modify the number of cores/logical cores shown.
    1. Try to reset BIOS settings, refer to How to Clear CMOS to Reset BIOS Settings in Systems with Intel® Desktop Boxed Processors.  (Note: The current BIOS settings before resetting the BIOS.)
    2. Update BIOS in your system.

Additional information

Check this link in Microsoft Community.

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