bootoptimizefunction is missing values

Some background:
This Windows 7 Ultimate x64 os was migrated from a failing SSD to the current WD160G some time ago. Migration went without issue and the system has been running fine, albeit booting more slowly as time goes on.

When it got to 300,000ms I took notice!

It turns out SuperFetch was never turned on, so by carefully switching that on in it's registry value, then starting the service it's working. The folder is getting files and the ReadyBoot folder is taking traces. Boot time is down to 190 seconds, but I feel there's more in it somewhere.

There is no layout.ini file in the prefetch folder and no amount of rundll32.dll advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks will make it appear.

I checked the registry entry for bootoptimizefunction and there is no Enable switch and I suppose without that there's going to be trouble optimizing the boot up.

Here is the question:

If I by some magical means were to get the bootoptimizefunction string in the registry to have an 'Enable' function and I were to enable it, would the bootoptimzefunction then function normally, or would I be restoring to that restore point I created a hour ago?

Well, I guess I can answer my own question - at least in part.

Over the last couple of days I have discovered that when I enabled SuperFetch I didn't enable PreFetch. Apparently that's important. Having found no information about what happens when you don't enable PreFetch I took a shot and enabled it along with the previously enabled SuperFetch.

Suddenly I was able to run ProcessIdleTasks and successfully create and populate the layout.ini file in the PreFetch folder as required. There was a lot of disk activity, so I assume while the idle tasks were processing a defrag of the boot cache was underway and this was borne out when on my next restart I had an astounding boot time of 48 seconds. Quite an improvement from the 300 seconds I started with many days ago.

As you can see, the bootoptimizefunction area in the registry now contains the necessary information without errors, but you can also see that there is STILL no 'enable' value.



I have another question and then we can move on to bigger and better things. Even though I don't have an 'enable' option in the registry and it seems the disk was optimized as if by magic (I knew magic was going to work it's way in here somewhere) is there any hope that as time goes on the disk will optimize normally and automatically without further input from me in cmd?

Hopefully this little foray into the inner workings of the dreaded registry - which is about a light year beyond my comfort zone - will help someone else. I've worn my fingers to the bone searching for an answer and have found precious little. At least I learned a few things... enough now to most likely get myself in even deeper trouble.

Thanks

Tony

I can now confirm that the automatic bootoptimizefunction works normally. When I got home from work a little while ago I booted the machine (in 52 seconds) then let the machine idle for 10 minutes. Disk activity indicated something was happening.

Checking the registry entries I still have no 'enable' value for bootoptimizefunction, but the last recorded, successful optimization took place about 03:20 on this date. The last one happened on the 28th when I Process(ed)IdleTasks.

The most recent restart completed in 43 seconds.

I'll call it solved.

Apparently, even if you have no enable value in your bootoptimizationfunction registry key, when you set up all the parameters of PreFetch and SuperFetch properly the process completes by default.

Many thanks to all the members that came rushing to my aid. I do feel welcome here.