Boot takes long time

[hcccs]

My Windows 11 desktop takes more than a minute before the Windows logo comes up. I created a log file with Process Monitor but the file is 2.16Gb and contains 5,289,985 entries and I simply don't know how to use it. What should I be looking for to pinpoint the problem?

Mobo: ASUS PRIME B350-PLUS
Cpu: AMD Ryzen 5 2600
Gpu: ASUS GTX670
Ram: Corsair CMK16GX4M2BB3200C16
Disc: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB

 

[ThumperTM]

My Windows 11 desktop takes more than a minute before the Windows logo comes up. I created a log file with Process Monitor but the file is 2.16Gb and contains 5,289,985 entries and I simply don't know how to use it. What should I be looking for to pinpoint the problem?

Mobo: ASUS PRIME B350-PLUS
Cpu: AMD Ryzen 5 2600
Gpu: ASUS GTX670
Ram: Corsair CMK16GX4M2BB3200C16
Disc: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB

When your Windows 11 desktop takes a long time to boot, it’s often due to slow startup processes, misconfigured services, or hardware issues. Analyzing a 2.16GB Process Monitor log file can be overwhelming, so let’s break this down step by step to identify and resolve the issue.

---

Step 1: Simplify the Problem​

Before diving into the log file, try these quick fixes to rule out common causes:

1. Disable Fast Startup:
   • Go to Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do.
   • Click Change settings that are currently unavailable.
   • Uncheck Turn on fast startup and save changes.
   • Restart your computer to see if boot time improves.
2. Check Startup Programs:
   • Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc).
   • Go to the Startup tab.
   • Disable unnecessary programs (right-click and select Disable).
3. Update Drivers and Windows:
   • Ensure your system is up to date with the latest Windows updates and drivers, especially for storage (e.g., SSD/HDD) and chipset.
4. Check Disk Health:
   • Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:
     
     
     chkdsk /f /r
   • This checks and repairs disk errors. You may need to restart your PC for the scan to complete.

---

Step 2: Analyze the Process Monitor Log​

If the above steps don’t resolve the issue, you can analyze the Process Monitor log. Here’s how to narrow down the problem:

1. Filter the Log:
   • Open Process Monitor and load the log file.
   • Use the Filter tool to focus on specific events:
     • Add a filter for Operation and include:
       • CreateFile
       • RegOpenKey
       • Thread Create
     • These operations are often related to slow boot processes.
2. Look for Long Delays:
   • Sort the log by Duration (longest first).
   • Identify processes or files with unusually long durations. These could indicate bottlenecks.
3. Identify Problematic Processes:
   • Look for processes that are repeatedly accessing files or registry keys.
   • Common culprits include:
     • Antivirus software
     • Third-party drivers
     • Misconfigured services
4. Check for Missing Files or Registry Keys:
   • Look for NAME NOT FOUND or PATH NOT FOUND errors. These indicate missing files or registry entries that could be causing delays.

---

Step 3: Use Built-in Windows Tools​

Instead of manually analyzing the log, you can use built-in tools to diagnose boot performance:

1. Performance Monitor:
   • Open perfmon /report in Command Prompt.
   • This generates a detailed system diagnostics report, including boot performance.
2. Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA):
   • Download the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) and use WPA to analyze boot traces.
   • Capture a boot trace:
     • Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run:
       xbootmgr -trace boot -prepSystem
     • Analyze the trace in WPA to identify slow components.
3. Event Viewer:
   • Open Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc).
   • Navigate to Windows Logs > System.
   • Look for errors or warnings during the boot process.

---

Step 4: Address the Root Cause​

Based on your findings:

• Update or Replace Drivers: If a specific driver is causing delays, update or reinstall it.
• Disable Problematic Services: Use msconfig or services.msc to disable non-essential services.
• Repair Corrupted System Files:
  • Run these commands in Command Prompt as Administrator:
    sfc /scannow
    dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
• Consider Hardware Upgrades: If your system is using an HDD, upgrading to an SSD can significantly improve boot times.

---

Step 5: Seek Professional Help​

If the issue persists and you’re unable to pinpoint the cause, consider:

• Consulting a professional technician.
• Using third-party tools like Autoruns or Soluto to analyze and optimize startup processes.

 

[hcccs]

Thanks for the info. I included a Duration column but don't know how I sort on it.
I filtered the log to find NAME_NOT_FOUND and there were 338,723 out of 5,580,138 items! That can't right, can it?

I filtered the log again with Result = CANCELLED and found a handful of lines with a Duration of 4-5 seconds. Adding them gives a total of 70 seconds.

 

[hcccs]

Here is another filtered copy of the Process Monitor file. Fetching the login picture (of me) takes 37 seconds. The others take 3-5 seconds. Is this normal? Any explanation for this behavior?

 

[DJShaggy]

time for a format my friend.....,..... this stuff gets outa control and is probably a virus. backup your most important files and reset. if the issue persists, consider a good antivirus. I use avast,l its been helping me........

PS..... microsoft wants you to pay every time you format.... so think about that.....

 

[DVDR_Dog]

time for a format my friend.....,..... this stuff gets outa control and is probably a virus. backup your most important files and reset. if the issue persists, consider a good antivirus. I use avast,l its been helping me........

PS..... microsoft wants you to pay every time you format.... so think about that.....

I agree 100%. Something has really scrambled up your startup procedure and who knows what else? Some days you eat the bear and someday the bear eats you. Sometimes cracks have a way of working against each other. Honestly with a log that size, all hell has broken loose in your registry and is beyond repair.
Such is the life of a pirate my friend. Always keep a copy of Revo handy and get rid of software you aren't using. Not necessarily a virus but sometimes you are sitting on a time bomb waiting to go off.
Don't forget, nothing runs as well as a nice new shiny fresh Windows install. Forces you to finally update all your software (or at least run the most current "fixed" edition of your stuff).
You won't regret it. Now you will have a blank slate to fiddle with.

 

[Diguelo]

My new Desktop on windows 11 isnt like my Windows 10 one I dont have time to get out of my chair before its up and running, used to make a coffee waiting on 10 to wake. 11 only takes 9 seconds from bios key in message to running.

Still it has cut my coffee intake.

Nice post all, very informative and archived for later use.

 

[hcccs]

I now think I've been concentrating on the wrong thing. If I look at the ProcMon listing then the item with the longest duration is taking 40 seconds but in the Time of Day column it takes no more than 7 seconds so what duration means is unclear, at least to me. The unfiltered ProcMon log contains 6.7 million events so the answer to the slow boot must be somewhere in there. We're talking about the needle in the haystack.
I ticked the fast startup box but the boot still took 70 seconds and when I checked the settings the box was unticked.

 

[Diguelo]

Ah DWM.exe

Now this animal I have come across a lot previously.

Ok, if its doing what I think its doing, instead of updating a window as the load progresses, its makiong up the game as it goes along. Main causes Ive cured it with in the past is Driver uninstall and reinstall on the Video, Sound, PCI Bus and stupily enough on a couple of occasions USB 3.0 and 3.1 drivers.

Somewhere along the line you have either had ot got a nasty little malware item thats been screwing with the settings in your machines system.ini and boot.ini settings. Not seen this in a while but my last encounter was in some downloaded software zip.

Cure, get your private stuff backed onto another drive or media off the PC. Do a full system reset back to basics. Now if its what I hope it isnt, all should be good and you will get your system back and loading / running as it was. If this doesnt cure it then downlaod a fresh copy of windows and put it on external media just in case.

Ok :-
1. Open CMD in Admin mode

2. At the prompt type sfc /scannow

3. it takes a minute or 5 depending on system. Go grab a drink and chill.

4. If it fails then give it a minute it does stuff in the background to an image backup. run it again if it failed.

5. After this you can try DISM as a major system sniffer.
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

If at this point it hasnt returned to working properly then:-

6. Simple but effective at the prompt type CHKDSK /r this will do a scan for corrupt drive areas and attempt to recover the data in them, takes a time so let it have a chew and go grab some sleep,, cook a meal and watch a film etc. This has been known to take a couple of hours, depends on system.

Ok so youve checked the file system, youve checked the main drive and its still taking an eternity to load. At this point I would be looking at a restore of the system, assuming the restore image isnt faulty. Id adise a customer of the situation and let them decide what to do, backup anything of importance wipe the drive and reinstall windows. The Microsoft account attache dto windows will negate the use of a key so it can be reactivates or use the key on the machine.

You could be tracking this down for days. But if its necessary uninstall each piece of software you have put on the machine until the problem goes away. After that its got to be system fog, crashed drivers or just plain old busted drive, once it passes three years of runtime the lifetime is random.

Ican think of a couple of recues of any lost data but for the sake of efficiency and sheer time element, Save what you can and reset the disk back to the start. Im thinking corrupt system drivers and various other signs of somethings gone upside down on the main drive.

Let us know how it pans out please.

 

[hcccs]

I'll struggle on with this - I'm reluctant to reinstall Windows.

 

[Diguelo]

Reinstalling windows ALWAYS has to be a last resort.

The issue you are receiving is being caused by something you have either installed or by a storage device going through a self repair/diagnostic.

The paths I have laid out for you are primarily there for you to follow.

Youve gone through a "Dry boot" with no non windows drivers installed, then you go through the installs one a t a time until something starts causing the issues.

Ive seen this on old systems that have worked faultlessly for decades, then all of a sudden Monday morning appears and damn, what went wrong?

Im hoping at this point that you have followed the path I spoke of and run the tests.

If Windows installation is proved to be successful then the added software is where the fault lies.

If youve run the:- "DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth" and then followed this up with "SFC /SCANNOW" and yes I am aware they are time consuming. I have a friend that thinks updates are only wasting his time and consequently has windows Update turned off. Then when his machine stops working I have to go and run all the updates to which I receive the usual "Oh updates, NO, I dont do updates" speech and he turns the machine off if one tries to boot in.

Ok, so once we have a FULL tested and working windows playground, start looking at Peripherals. Unplug ALL USB stuff just leave the Keyboard and Mouse connected and see if this helps the issue.

After that you have redone the windows health check and scanned for any System failures and issues using SFC, youve now tried all the USB devices and come up wioth nothing.

SO all thats left now is the Installed extra software. I am assuming at this point that you have Malware and Anti Virus stuff installed. If so run a complete deep scan on both one after the other.

And so we arrive at what is now the final step I can suggest which is the Software you have installed, its update point and validity (coughs lightly whilst mentioning unlicensed and possibly (coughs loudly to mask a word Hacked)) software.

So installed software has a tendancy to thing ok this systems mine to do as I like with lets get to it. As you install items and uninstall items your system ends up with bits or bytes left behond and it has been known that one programs bits left behind mess with another programs Bits being installed and failing to overwrite a file. One reason why all software you put in needs to be done so using ADMIN mode so the installed files overwrite the existing ones.

Now at this point as Ive said we are on the last step beofre a reset or reinstall is going to be needed. To quote Sherlock Holmes "When you have gone through the possible and found it to all be fine, then what you are left with is the impossible" so each of your programs you have installed I would advise, you downlaod the installation files, reinstall them using admin mode one at a time and see if the problem goes away..

This pretty much exhausts the chain "Is it the machine, Is it the SYSTEM, Is it the drivers, Is it the hardware, and finally is it the software ive put in" AFter that Im afraid either reset your machine or reinstall windows.

I do hope this chain of symptoms ive laid out for you to do is going to fix your problem. The only other option I can suggest is that you have a local specialist take a look at the machine.

(goes back to pondering on the meaning of life and existence etc )

 

[AFFASocial]

If CMOS has a fast boot option make sure it is enabled, and turn off any boot screens that appear then problem solved. Otherwise a bios update may fix it as well. It depends on your CMOS / Bios

 

[Diguelo]

AFFA has a point, there is however another side to it. If your using HDD, fast boot kind of works but does have issues on speed. Personally I would take a look at what happens with Fasty boot and with it disabled.
Generally the fast boot is for SSD / M.2 drives that can fly across busses. But give it a try and let us know what happens.

 

[hacxx]

Downgrade to win 10 and install all updates