Solved SLOW SHUTDOWN - TAKES 3mins approx

[thenoo]

I have WIN 7 64-bit and recently shutdowns are taking over 3 mins - no other problems are showing so far .

What sort of things should be done to investigate this problem ?

 

[marsmimar]

This Microsoft forum answer may help you isolate the problem:

Windows 7 is very slow to shutdown - Microsoft Answers

 

[StalkeR]

Also take a look at this tutorial. Maybe it will speed up shutdown time.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/717-shut-down-speed-up.html

 

[Britton30]

Type msconfig into start(orb), select Startup and see what is running. Check Black Viper’s Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Service Configurations | Black Viper's Website | www.blackviper.com to see if you have a few thing which can be changed to disable or manual.

 

[gregrocker]

Let's create a clean boot to see if that helps:

In msconfig>Startup uncheck everything except AV and gadgets - all others are freeloaders on startup, shutdown, CPU/RAM and can spy on you. Startup Programs - Change

After restarts, check msconfig>Services, choose "Hide all MS Services" then see what's running without your knowledge and uncheck them.

After several restarts, check back in both places to see if anything writes itself back in, turn it off in it's Program Preferences or Uninstall it.

If this doesn't help, turn off your AV to restart to see if that is the problem, replace it with MSE or Avast6.

Finally use the tool the Pro's use to trace these issues: Trace Windows 7 boot-shutdown-hibernate-standby-resume issues - MSFN Forums

 

[Dwarf]

Check that you haven't got the paging (aka swap) file set to clear on shutdown. See Virtual Memory Paging File - Clear at Shutdown - Vista Forums

 

[cluberti]

Yes, get a shutdown trace with xperf. If you are willing to do so, I can give you a command to run that will get everything needed - however, it'll generate a decent size (a few hundred MB) file, and as such you'll need a place to put it (which I can also provide). Let me know if you're interested.

 

[thenoo]

Thanks for the reply and I am certainly interested .

 

[thenoo]

This Microsoft forum answer may help you isolate the problem:

Windows 7 is very slow to shutdown - Microsoft Answers

I tried the "Clean Boot" steps described here with no effect. The Shut down delay was unaffected by these steps.

 

[cluberti]

I'll have a command to run and tool install steps in a bit to gather a trace. Stay tuned.

 

[thenoo]

Also take a look at this tutorial. Maybe it will speed up shutdown time.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/717-shut-down-speed-up.html

Mine was intially set to 1000 ! With that setting I was getting 2.20mins to Shutdown!

Changed it to 2000 . This made no difference - still over 2 mins .

 

[cluberti]

OK, here goes. First, you need to download the Windows 7 SDK, and then run the SDK installer to download the Windows Performance Toolkit (WPT) redistributable files. Ignoring the fact that my system has the Debugging tools installed and thus "checked" in the "Common Utilities" node, you only need to check the "Windows Performance Tookit" box under the "Redistributable Packages" section, as shown below:

After you click next, it will download (only) the installation .MSI packages needed to actually install the WPT. Once the download of the files is complete and you exit the SDK installer, you will need to actually install the version of the WPT that matches the architecture of your OS (the x86 MSI on a 32bit Win7 machine, the x64 MSI on a 64bit Win7 machine). The downloaded .MSI files will be located (by default) in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Redist\Windows Performance Toolkit:

Install the correct .MSI that matches the architecture (32bit or 64bit) of your Windows 7 install, taking all the default options and performing a "Complete" installation.

Last, you need to execute this command in an ELEVATED (Start > type "cmd", right-click the "cmd" icon from the list and select "Run as Administrator") cmd prompt to create a shutdown trace:

Note that this command is *all one line*, so watch out for any sort of word wrap if you are copying/pasting from your browser:

xbootmgr -trace shutdown -traceFlags BASE+LATENCY+DISK_IO_INIT+DISPATCHER+DRIVERS+FILE_IO+FILE_IO_INIT+NETWORKTRACE+PERF_COUNTER+POWER+PRIORITY+REGISTRY -stackWalk CSwitch+DiskFlushInit+DiskReadInit+DiskWriteInit+Mark+ProcessCreate+ProcessDelete+Profile+ReadyThread+RegCloseKey+RegDeleteKey+RegDeleteValue+RegSetValue+SyscallEnter+SyscallExit -resultPath "C:\Shutdown_Trace"

That command will cause your machine to reboot. Once you log back in, you'll see a short (2 minute) delay, and then your machine will reboot *again*:

Once the machine has rebooted this time, you will be able to log on and the tool will then merge the kernel mode and user mode portions of the trace into one (very) large .etl file in C:\Shutdown_Trace (or if you changed the location folder, the location you specified):

This .etl file needs to be compressed (7zip, WinRar, WinZip, etc) before you will be uploading it. Let me know if/when you are able to get to this point, and I will PM you a location that it can be uploaded securely.

 

[thenoo]

SLOW SHUTDOWN - taking 3 mins approx- SOLVED !

This problem has now been solved thanks to a suggestion by Dwarf. I had the "ClearPageFileatShutdown" set to "1" in the Registry and have now changed that to "0" . Shutdown now takes about 12 secs.

I would like to thank all who have replied so promptly to my OP.

 

[thenoo]

Check that you haven't got the paging (aka swap) file set to clear on shutdown. See Virtual Memory Paging File - Clear at Shutdown - Vista Forums

I can't reply in "Yorkshirese" I'm afraid but please accept my gratitude in Standard English Dwarf. That was the problem - I've now set it to "0" and the problem has gone. Much obliged.

 

[Dwarf]

You're welcome, thenoo.

 

[Iainc]

Setting Page File Clear to Disable Fixed It

I had the same issue on slow shutdowns - 3 minutes on average. Went through every forum suggestion re msconfig etc. Nothing worked, and with a 3 minutes cycle for every fix attempt was beginning to look for a hammer.

Read Dwarf's advice re Page File

Shutdown time went to a few seconds immediately.

I am guessing that the delay is a function of RAM size, I have 8Gb.

Not sure if this is universal fix but worked for me - hammer back in toolbox.

Thanks Dwarf

 

[michaelmullen2]

very related question

This is for cluberti

I have the etl file generated by sdk and would very much appreciate you looking at it and enlightening me as to what is slowing the shutdown process.

 

[gregrocker]

I would ask him in the tutorial he wrote for the trace here: Trace Windows 7 boot-shutdown-hibernate-standby-resume issues - MSFN Forums

Zip the file and upload to a file-sharing service like Onedrive, then post the link for him there.

Until you hear you can try to sort it yourself using the information given.

 

[cluberti]

Post it somewhere I can download it (zip the .etl first) and I'll take a look at my next opportunity.