Running Windows Server 2012 R2 I have noticed an annoying feature on RDP connections:
Windows keeps killing the Audio Service audiodg.exe if it is idle for more than 5 minutes.
The problem with this is that any new audio output will now suffer from a startup delay of 5-10 seconds, having to wait for audiodg.exe to spool up again before audio output can start.
I have seen audio delay problems being discussed with RDP connections numerous times on all Windows Server versions, but I have not yet seen anyone mention that this could be the cause of all these problems.
The spoolup time of audodg.exe will delay all audio on the server. It doesn't matter where the audio comes from. Interactive apps with audio feedback will be out of sync, and Youtube videos on Chrome will freeze until audiodg is running again.
On my server audiodg consumes 100% CPU at startup. I do not know what it is doing, but it does something at 100% CPU for about 5-10 seconds before normal audio resumes.
Once it is up and running all audio is instant. No delays or lag. Everything works fine as long as it keeps running.
The only way I found to fix this annoying "feature", was to create a repeating task that plays a few seconds of sound (silence) every 4 minutes to prevent Windows from killing audiodg.
It seems like a silly solution.
A couple questions comes to mind (in order of importance, I think):
How could I prevent audiodg from getting killed at all in the first place without resorting hacky solutions? Is there a registry setting for this somewhere? I have set the service to "manual" but that does not make any difference. Automatic/Manual..same problem regardless.
Why is audiodg startup so slow? I think this may also be some sort of bug or unintended feature.
Update
Looks like I found the answer to question 2 here:
The process audiodg.exe scans catroot and hogs IO
