I have an issue on our Windows 2003 x64 Build Server when invoking shell commands from a script. Each call causes a "memory leak" in the page file so it grows quite rapidly until it reaches the maximum and the machine stops working.

I can reproduce the problem very nicely by running a perl script like

for ($count=1; $count<5000; $count++) { system "echo huhu"; }

It is independent of he scripting language as the same happens with lua:

for i=1,5000 do os.execute("echo huhu") end

I found somebody describing the same issue with php at

http://www.issociate.de/board/post/454835/Memory_leak_occurs_when_exec%28%29_function_is_used_on_Windows_platform.html

His solution: Firewall/Virus Scanner does not apply, neither are running on the machine.

We can also reproduce the issue on other Developer Machines running XP 64, but not on XP 32 Bit.

The guilty guy for the allocation is C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs which runs all the basic Windows services.

Does anybody know the issue and how to resolve it ?