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Why Does my System Have Fewer or Missing Cores?

Content Type: Troubleshooting   |   Article ID: 000056742   |   Last Reviewed: 06/03/2022
Description Resolution Additional information

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.

Related Products

This article applies to 81 products.
Intel® Core™ i7 processors (14th gen) 5th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor 3000 Series 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors Intel® Pentium® Silver Processor Series 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Core™ i5 processors (14th gen) Intel® Celeron® Processor J Series 8th Generation Intel® Core™ m Processors Intel Atom® Processor Z Series Intel Atom® Processor E Series 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor D Series 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor 4000 Series Intel Atom® Processor N Series Intel Atom® Processor D Series Intel Atom® Processor X Series Intel® Core™ Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor 2000 Series 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor N Series Intel® Pentium® Processor 3000 Series Intel® Pentium® Processor G Series 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor N Series Intel® Pentium® Gold Processor Series 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor 1000 Series Intel® Core™ X-series Processors Intel® Core™ processors (Series 1) 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 12th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors 7th Generation Intel® Core™ m Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor 5th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor 2000 Series 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor 5000 Series Intel® Core™ i3 processors (14th gen) Intel® Core™ processors (Series 2) 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors 6th Generation Intel® Core™ m Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor G Series 5th Generation Intel® Core™ M Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor J Series 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 13th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors Intel® Core™ i9 processors (14th gen) 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 11th Generation Intel® Core™ i9 Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Pentium® Processor 1000 Series Intel Atom® Processor C Series Intel Atom® Processor 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 Processors 6th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors Intel® Celeron® Processor 4000 Series Intel Atom® Processor S Series Intel® Core™ Processor N-series 5th Generation Intel® Core™ i3 Processors

Discontinued Products

Legacy Intel Atom® Processors Legacy Intel® Pentium® Processor Legacy Intel® Celeron® Processor Legacy Intel® Core™ Processors

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