Sudden slow boot (maybe due to BootSmssInitTime?)

brownbat · 26 Oct 2013

This one's pretty typical, though we're getting under 100 seconds, which is improvement, it's nothing near the 40 second boot times I'm used to. Post boot time is pretty big too, I was probably wrong to pin all this on SMSS. (Also note the boot events and boot trace linked in the first post for more info.)

I'm working myself up to a clean install, making a list of all the programs I'll want, making sure my copy of 7 (which was originally an upgrade copy) will let me reinstall without complaining too much... I think it means I have to manually disable the request for registration or something funky, I forget.

Code:

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
  <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Diagnostics-Performance" Guid="{CFC18EC0-96B1-4EBA-961B-622CAEE05B0A}" /> 
  <EventID>100</EventID> 
  <Version>2</Version> 
  <Level>2</Level> 
  <Task>4002</Task> 
  <Opcode>34</Opcode> 
  <Keywords>0x8000000000010000</Keywords> 
  <TimeCreated SystemTime="2013-10-26T14:11:09.935072500Z" /> 
  <EventRecordID>6730</EventRecordID> 
  <Correlation ActivityID="{03511C40-F800-0000-50C2-6C7654D2CE01}" /> 
  <Execution ProcessID="1608" ThreadID="4920" /> 
  <Channel>Microsoft-Windows-Diagnostics-Performance/Operational</Channel> 
  <Computer>Cthulhu</Computer> 
  <Security UserID="S-1-5-19" /> 
  </System>
- <EventData>
  <Data Name="BootTsVersion">2</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootStartTime">2013-10-26T14:05:44.624800200Z</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootEndTime">2013-10-26T14:11:07.115911300Z</Data> 
  <Data Name="SystemBootInstance">1330</Data> 
  <Data Name="UserBootInstance">1103</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootTime">91375</Data> 
  <Data Name="MainPathBootTime">58375</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootKernelInitTime">14</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootDriverInitTime">350</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootDevicesInitTime">5668</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootPrefetchInitTime">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootPrefetchBytes">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootAutoChkTime">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootSmssInitTime">48431</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootCriticalServicesInitTime">484</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootUserProfileProcessingTime">1155</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootMachineProfileProcessingTime">172</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootExplorerInitTime">897</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootNumStartupApps">13</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootPostBootTime">33000</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootIsRebootAfterInstall">false</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootRootCauseStepImprovementBits">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootRootCauseGradualImprovementBits">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootRootCauseStepDegradationBits">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootRootCauseGradualDegradationBits">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootIsDegradation">false</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootIsStepDegradation">false</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootIsGradualDegradation">false</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootImprovementDelta">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootDegradationDelta">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootIsRootCauseIdentified">false</Data> 
  <Data Name="OSLoaderDuration">726</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootPNPInitStartTimeMS">14</Data> 
  <Data Name="BootPNPInitDuration">5706</Data> 
  <Data Name="OtherKernelInitDuration">649</Data> 
  <Data Name="SystemPNPInitStartTimeMS">6350</Data> 
  <Data Name="SystemPNPInitDuration">312</Data> 
  <Data Name="SessionInitStartTimeMS">6668</Data> 
  <Data Name="Session0InitDuration">46574</Data> 
  <Data Name="Session1InitDuration">812</Data> 
  <Data Name="SessionInitOtherDuration">1044</Data> 
  <Data Name="WinLogonStartTimeMS">55099</Data> 
  <Data Name="OtherLogonInitActivityDuration">1049</Data> 
  <Data Name="UserLogonWaitDuration">174220</Data> 
  </EventData>
  </Event>

carwiz · 26 Oct 2013

Session 0 Duration = 46.574 seconds. That's just over half your boot time. All of Windows' primary services start in Session 0 as does many application services. Some app services include hardware discovery drivers. The page file is also initialized in Session 0 so an extra large page file could take longer. And never put page files on drives other than the system drive unless boot time is of no concern.

I also noticed you have almost six seconds in PNP device boot time. If you leave USB devices plugged in all the time, this adds to startup. I realize that some are necessary such as keyboards, etc. but flash drives or other devices left plugged in requires Windows to check their use at boot.

If you want to see the services that are running, start Task Manager right after booting and click on the Services Tab. Most All those with a PID number (or have a status of Running) were probably started in Session 0.

You have 13 startup apps. While not in Session 0, they are in a user session and account for about 33 seconds of your boot time. I like to see no more than 4-6 but some users like all the desktop gadgets and don't mind Google snooping. :)

gregrocker · 26 Oct 2013

Did you try a Clean Boot from Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7? This will tell you a lot.

If not you can determine the cause with certainty by Gathering a Startup, Shutdown, Sleep, Hibernate, or Reboot Trace - Windows 7 Forums

brownbat · 05 Nov 2013

A day or so ago, despite making no additional changes to my system, boot times are back to normal.

Just weird.