Windows Vista RTMWindows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2)
How to troubleshoot slow boot or slow startup or slow login on Windows Vista.
You might want to go ahead and read/go thru950684 How to troubleshoot performance issues during startup in Windows Vista http://support.microsoft.com/?id=950684950685 How to troubleshoot performance issues in Windows Vista http://support.microsoft.com/?id=950685
Before troubleshooting slow, we need to define what is slow?Exactly how long does it take?1 min2 min3 min4 min or longer?
- Post (Bios) to the CTRL-ALT-DEL (a.k.a. SAS)Result: HH:MM:SS _____________-CTRL-ALT-DEL to the Applying Personal settingsResult: HH:MM:SS _____________-Applying Personal settings to the desktopResult: HH:MM:SS _____________-Time unplugging the network cableResult: HH:MM:SS _____________ -Time after disk defragmentation Result: HH:MM:SS _____________ -Time Safe Mode Result: HH:MM:SS _____________ -Time Safe Mode with networking Result: HH:MM:SS _____________
-Time Disable 3rd party service and startup items 1. Make sure that you have all the Microsoft Security Updates installed.http://www.windowsupdate.com/
2. Slow disk2a. Low disk space, make sure that you have at least 10-12% of free disk space.Delete the entries in %temp%Delete c:\windows\temp
2b. Check the disk for any issuesStart, Run, CMDChkDsk.exe /f2c. Disk fragmentationUse the built-in Disk Defragmenter utility or Contig (Microsoft SysInternals tool)http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897428.aspx
2d. Most laptops are at a disadvantage compared to desktops if they have 4200 RPM and 5200 RPM disk drivesGet a faster disk disk i.e. 7200 RPM disk, drawback, uses more power.Additionally, SAS is faster than SATA and SATA is faster then IDE.Note: Most laptops nowadays ship with SATA based disk drives.
3. Delete the PreFetch that could have become stale or corruptClick on Start, Run, c:\windows\prefetchDelete the entries
4. Make sure that your antivirus kernel filter driver is up to date.Note: Not to be confused with the antivirus definition update.
5. Make sure that the hardware drivers are up to date.Older drivers could be slower to initialize or go thru it’s routine.
6. Make sure that the 3rd party applications are up to date. Check for updates on the ISV (Independent Software Vendor) website.7. If it is joined to a domain7a. Check for startup scripts or logon scripts7b. If you are using Windows Desktop Search (WDS) group policies with WDS 3.01, you will want to upgrade to:Windows Desktop Search 4.0
7c. If you have are using Group Policy Preference (GPP), you want the following hotfix installed:974266 Group Policy Preferences Client-Side Extension Hotfix Rollup http://support.microsoft.com/?id=974266
8. Tools:- Safe Mode- Safe Mode with Networking- MSConfigStart, Run, MSConfigServices tab, Hide All Microsoft Services > Disable AllStartup tab, disable allClick on ApplyClick on OkIt will ask you to restart
- Built-in diagnostics for Windows Vista.Applications and Services Logs --> Microsoft --> Windows --> Diagnostics-Performance --> Operational
Boot Performance events:Event ID: 101Event Source: Diagnostic-PerformanceDescription: An application took longer than usual to start up.
Event ID: 102Event Source: Diagnostic-PerformanceDescription: A service took longer than expected to startup.
942910 "Error, Warning, or Critical" events are logged in the Diagnostic Performance/Operational event log on a Windows Vista-based computer http://support.microsoft.com/?id=942910
- XBootMgr.exe a part of the "Windows Performance Toolkit" (a.k.a. XPerf)Windows On/Off Transition Performance Analysishttp://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/On-Off_Transition.mspx
- ProcMon Log Boothttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx
- Manual complete memory dump while it seems that is taking a long time or seems to be hung.969028 How to generate a kernel or a complete memory dump file in Windows Server 2008 http://support.microsoft.com/?id=969028
Note: The only thing that is different is the “BIOS-level server hardware recovery mechanism” which only server level hardware have and the alternate pagefile.