PWA Identity Proxy Host stopped working errors

In this post, we will help you fix PWA Identity Proxy Host stopped working errors in the Reliability history. Many users have reported this issue that they see multiple PWA Identity Proxy Host errors under the Critical events section of the Reliability Monitor program on their Windows 11/10 computer. The summary for such errors is given as Stopped responding and was closed.

PWA Identity Proxy Host Stopped responding and was closed

This issue is related to the identity_helper.exe application of the Microsoft Edge browser and the problem details of this error also show the faulting application path for that application present under the Edge folder. Because of some problem, the identity_helper.exe program stopped interacting with Windows which as a result generated PWA Identity Proxy Host error(s). Thankfully, there are some handy options that seem to fix this issue. This article covers all those options.

What is PWA Identity Proxy Host?

PWA Identity Proxy Host is an application file named identity_helper.exe. This application is associated with the Edge browser and it is digitally signed by Microsoft Corporation (if the application is legit). The application is responsible for helping integrate PWA (Progressive Web Apps) with Windows Shell to use web apps as regular desktop apps on Windows. You can locate this application using the following path:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge\Application\VersionNumber

Replace VersionNumber with the actual version number folder of the Edge browser installed on your system and then the identity_helper.exe file will be visible under that folder.

PWA Identity Proxy Host stopped working errors in Reliability History

If you see random PWA Identity Proxy Host stopped working errors in the Reliability Monitor history on your Windows 11/10 system, then the options given below can help you solve this problem. There used to be a Web Apps Identity Proxy setting (#edge-web-apps-identity-proxy) in the Flags page of Edge browser and disabling that setting helped a lot of users to fix this issue. But, it seems like that setting is no longer available in the newer version(s) of the Edge browser. So, use the following options:

Update Edge browser
Turn off the required options in Microsoft Edge Settings
Reset your computer.

Let’s check these options.

1] Update Edge browser

An outdated program or a browser can cause different security and other issues and therefore it is good to keep a program updated. The same goes for fixing this problem also. Some users find that PWA Identity Proxy Host errors stopped appearing in the Reliability Monitor history after updating the Edge browser. So, you should also do the same. For this:

Open the Edge browser
Press the Alt+F hotkey to open the Settings and more menu
Use the Settings option
Click on the About Microsoft Edge category present in the bottom left part of the Settings page
Microsoft Edge will start checking for updates and download and install them automatically.

Restart the browser after updating it to the latest version and this should solve the problem.

2] Turn off the required options in Microsoft Edge Settings

PWA Identity Proxy Host errors are also faced by users when the extensions are allowed to run in the background and Microsoft Edge is allowed to run with minimal processes in the background. So, you need to turn off the options associated with these features using the Settings page of the Edge browser. Here are the steps:

Open Microsoft Edge browser
Type edge://settings in the address bar
Hit the Enter key to open the Settings page
Access the System and performance category from the left section
Find and turn off the following options:
- Startup boost present in the System section
- Continue running background extensions and apps when Microsoft Edge is closed
- Set the Turn on efficiency mode when to Never using the available drop-down menu.

3] Reset your computer

If the above options don’t help in any way, then you should reset your computer using the built-in Reset this PC feature of Windows 11/10 OS. This feature is present under the Recovery page of the Settings app.

Before doing that, it is advised to back up your important data. Though the Reset this PC feature lets you restore your computer without losing the personal files, keeping a backup of the important items is always good.

In addition to that, you should also check for updates for your Windows 11/10 system. If the system update works, then it’s well and good. Otherwise, reset the computer.

Hope this helps.

Identity_helper.exe application hang

If you see PWA Identity Proxy Host stopped responding and was closed error in the Reliability Monitor history, then that means the identity_helper.exe application that helps in integrating PWA with Windows Shell was stopped from interacting with Windows. To fix this problem, you can use the options covered in this post above.