How to speed up boot process under Windows Vista or Windows 7

[MagicAndre1981]

ok, you have 2 issues:

1st: running the group policies takes 65s

2nd: restoring the network connections takes 137s.

so fix both and your boot is fast again.

[mvandoni]

First of all thank you for looking into it.

I imagined it could be something of this kind but I couldn't find the proof.

The problem is that actually I'm home working and my pc need to have the vpn activated to connect to the domain, and I can start vpn only after boot.

Group policies and the restoring of network connections is forced by the company through batches which i cannot delete (if I do the system will reinstall them next time I connect to the domain).

So I think I cannot do anything to solve this situation.

Just for curiosity, where do you see in trace which are the problems?

Bye

Michele

[MagicAndre1981]

A workaround for the network would be to disable a GPO:

Computer/Administrative Templates/System/Logon/Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon

This can reduce the time when Windows tries to restore network drives when you are not connected to the network.

When you generate the XML you can see that WinLogonInit takes most time:

And the GPClient takes 65s.

Now open the ETL with the viewer, select the WinLogonInit phase, clone the section and go to generic events, make a rightclick an select "summary table". Now expand the Microsoft-Windows-Winlogon entry and you'll see this:

This shows the other delay, here it is the Restoring of the network connections.

[mvandoni]

A workaround for the network would be to disable a GPO:

Computer/Administrative Templates/System/Logon/Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon

This can reduce the time when Windows tries to restore network drives when you are not connected to the network.

I tried this but without great results.

Next machine I'll disable GPO before inserting the machine in company Domain :-)

Thanks for all.

Michele

[MagicAndre1981]

Also activate GPO logging and check the GP log and ask the admin to optimize them.

[mvandoni]

Hi Andre,

just to let you know that I solved part of my problems.

I looked for a solution to the mapped network reconnect on startup and I found the registry:

in HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider I added a DWORD RestoreConnections set to 0.

This cut the login time from 320 to 170! It is still quite long but it is half the time then before!!

Now how can I activate GPO loggin? And where do I find the logfile produced? If I could solve also the second problem with GPO my reboot should have another boost!

Thanks

Michele

[MagicAndre1981]

this is a huge improvment

To activate GPO logging do this:

1.) create the folder C:\Windows\Debug\UserMode

2.) add this to a new .reg file and import it to the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Diagnostics]
"GPsvcDebugLevel"=dword:00030002

now reboot t capture the GPO run and analyze the file:

http://www.sysprosoft.com/policyreporter.shtml

Edited July 12, 2012 by MagicAndre1981

[clanderson]

Alright - I'd love to go through this tutorial and check out my results, but when it boots back up after the first reboot (processing the 2nd), it gets stuck at "Preparing System" and stays there for quite a long time. I got fed up with it and rebooted the computer manually, expecting the process to have stopped, but instead, it resumes logging and tries to go through the 2nd reboot process again. Still getting stuck at "Preparing System".

What can I do to solve this?

Windows 7 x64

8GB DDR3 RAM

2nd Gen Core i5 2450m

Intel HD-3000 Graphics

[MagicAndre1981]

During the preparation time Windows defrags the HDD. Open ProcessExplorer and look if the defrag service (defragsvc) still runs.

You can also always stop it and run

xbootmgr -remove

to stop the run.

[f1charlie]

It seems to be a bit quiet in here - perhaps Andre has fixed everyone's problems

Perhaps Andre or another magician could help me out. I have run the Readyboot training which did speed up my boot to the Windows login page (although it still takes about 90 seconds), but I still have a delay after that during which the disk is constantly accessed for several minutes. This means I have to wait until this phase is over before logging in, or if I do log in, the desktop is pretty much unusable until the disc accessing has finished. I have run a boot trace which I have uploaded here (hope it works as I've never used this before):

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=E92D72B8036206DE&id=E92D72B8036206DE!112

[MagicAndre1981]

Your Windows takes extremely long to boot:

<timing bootDoneViaExplorer="323656" bootDoneViaPostBoot="345356" 

this is 5min and 23s to only boot to the desktop!

The first delay is the PreSMSS phase.

 <interval name="PreSMSS" startTime="0" endTime="59993" duration="59993">

this takes nearly 50s.I can see that the enumeration of the IDE devices takes some time. Next starting some drivers takes a long time (6.7s for the HD Audio driver and Elby Clonedrive takes over 3s). The next big issue is that all your Wacom devices need each time 3s the enum and 3s to start.

This sums up to 50s.

Next delay happens in SMSS Init.

I can see that the smss:BootExecuteList starts at 60s and ends at 80 seconds.

So open regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager and look at the value BootExecute .

Which programs are started there?

Now WinlogonInit causes the longest delay:

<interval name="WinlogonInit" startTime="89076" endTime="305907" duration="216831">

Here RequestCredentials takes most time. So enter your password faster.

And finally starting all tools at login takes 11s. You can try to Disable the ATI Control Center and use other tools like ATI Tray Tools or MSI Afterburner. The ATI/AMD tools is coded in .Net and such apps can start slowly.

[f1charlie]

Thanks for the reply Andre.

this takes nearly 50s.I can see that the enumeration of the IDE devices takes some time.

I guess there is nothing I can do about this?

Next starting some drivers takes a long time (6.7s for the HD Audio driver and Elby Clonedrive takes over 3s). The next big issue is that all your Wacom devices need each time 3s the enum and 3s to start.

I assume I need the audio driver, but I will remove the Elby Clonedrive ( I can't remember why I installed it!).

I only have the one Wacom tablet, and I guess I need those drivers, so there will be no time saving possible there. I will look to see if there are more recent drivers to see if this improves the time taken.

So open regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager and look at the value BootExecute .

Which programs are started there?

BootExecute has the value 'autocheck autochk *'. Is that what you mean?

Here RequestCredentials takes most time. So enter your password faster.

For future traces I will use Sysinternals Autologon so that there will be no delay caused by me! However, there is something which is causing the heavy disk accessing which prevents reaching a useable desktop for several minutes.

With your assistance I am starting to understand the trace slightly, but cannot see anything there which would explain this disk accessing.

And finally starting all tools at login takes 11s. You can try to Disable the ATI Control Center and use other tools like ATI Tray Tools or MSI Afterburner. The ATI/AMD tools is coded in .Net and such apps can start slowly.

I don't use the ATI Control Centre, so I could look at uninstalling and installing only the driver.

11s I can put up with! It's the rest of the time that something is stopping me using the desktop that is the pain! Can this be identified with the boot trace or do I have to run something else?

Edited August 10, 2012 by f1charlie

[MagicAndre1981]

So open regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager and look at the value BootExecute .

Which programs are started there?

BootExecute has the value 'autocheck autochk *'. Is that what you mean?

yes, this is what I want to know. Check your HDDs for errors. I can see you use external USB drives. Disconnect them before booting your PC. Maybe this causes the delay.

And finally starting all tools at login takes 11s. You can try to Disable the ATI Control Center and use other tools like ATI Tray Tools or MSI Afterburner. The ATI/AMD tools is coded in .Net and such apps can start slowly.

I don't use the ATI Control Centre, so I could look at uninstalling and installing only the driver.

yes do this.

And yes, I can see high Disk IO usage. Avast has a large impact. It takes 50s to read the MFT of your HDD. I can also see that the Windows Search Service takes a long time to start.

Edited August 10, 2012 by MagicAndre1981

[f1charlie]

Thanks Andre.

For the latest trace this is what I did:

Scanned the disks - no errors

Uninstalled Elby Clonedrive

Uninstalled Catalyst Control Centre and installed only the video driver

Disconnected USB drives

Set Autologon

The boot is much quicker, obviously due to the USB drives, as when they are connected I can hear them spin up and down during the BIOS boot and again during Windows loading, but the delay getting to a usable desktop is still there. Latest trace here:

https://skydrive.live.com/#cid=E92D72B8036206DE&id=E92D72B8036206DE!112

Any further suggestions gratefully received!

UPDATE; As you had identified Windows Search and Avast as taking a long time to start, I tried disabling each in turn. Disabling Windows Search made no discernible difference, but disabling Avast got rid of the horrible delay and sluggishness for those first few minutes after logging on. It seems some other Avast users have reported the same problem, so I guess I either wait for an update to Avast or try another AV program.

Thanks for your help Andre and if you do have any other suggestions please let me know!

Edited August 11, 2012 by f1charlie

[MagicAndre1981]

the new trace is much, much faster:

<timing bootDoneViaExplorer="53824" bootDoneViaPostBoot="82624" osLoaderDuration="1769" postBootRequiredIdleTime="10000" postBootDisturbance="18800"

so booting to desktop takes 53 s and your Windows is filly booted in 72s.

PreSMSS is still slow:

<interval name="PreSMSS" startTime="0" endTime="23548" duration="23548">

The ATI driver causes a long delay:

<phase name="systemStart" startTime="9533" endTime="23490" duration="13956">

<pnpObject name="amdkmdap" type="Driver" activity="Load" startTime="10003" endTime="18224" duration="8221" prePendTime="8221" />

<pnpObject name="\REGISTRY\MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\amdkmdap" type="unknown" activity="unknown" startTime="10019" endTime="18224" duration="8204" prePendTime="8204" />

<pnpObject name="DXGKrnl" type="Driver" activity="Load" startTime="11361" endTime="18224" duration="6862" prePendTime="6862" />

<pnpObject name="amdkmdag" type="Driver" activity="Load" startTime="10019" endTime="11361" duration="1341" prePendTime="1341" />

Do you use the latest driver fro your ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT? if not try this one:

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/catalyst126legacyproducts.aspx

Starting the services and the Explorer takes very long. And this is mostly casues by Avast. When you doubleclick on the ETL and go to the graph

you see that avast causes a really high Disk usage. So, try a different Av tool.