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XP Boot Logger

C

crazychicken

Platinum Member
Is there any free software that will show me where the time is spent during boot? I've seen all the tutorials on how to reduce it, but I'm curious where it is actually being spent.

Thanks,

David
 
Well, such a thing DID exist. It was called BOOTVIS. I believe Microsoft stopped making it available because people were getting in to so much trouble with it. For some reason a lot of people didn't understand the multiple-boot procedure it went through when doing the analysis. They would think it was done and go on their merry way. Problem was, if logging was still going on the system would wind up losing gigabytes and gigabytes of disk space due to the growing log.

I've never understood the fascination in making systems boot quicker. I mean, I realize that faster booting is nice. But most people don't have to do it all that often. I guess I'm just lazy. If I have to work on a system that takes a while to boot, I start it cranking up and go grab a cup of coffee.

On the other hand, a non-responsive user interface is a whole other matter. Is it just your boot time that's bugging you?

Anyway, BOOTVIS might have worked for you (though I think MS said not to use it post SP2). It gave a nice list of how long it took each driver to load, each service to start up, etc. But I'm pretty sure it's not available any more.

Good luck.
 
I am not trying to get the boot time from 10 seconds to 7 seconds - for some reason it started taking about 5 minutes - that seems plenty excessive haha and I just thought I'd look into it.

So you say not to use it Post SP2, but that means I can use it with sp2, right? Post SP2 = vista, no?
 
MS recommends not to use it on XP after installing SP2.
Thats what he meant by Post SP2.


 
Yup, thepladfad is stating it the way I understand it. BOOTVIS was safe (kind of) to use prior to SP2 for XP. After application of SP2, no.

Five minutes is a pretty long boot time. Did you install some new software (or hardware) on the system just before the boot time got to be so much longer? Did you change the networking configuration?
 
thats the thing, its not my computer - a friend of mine has a small business and who knows what they do to those things. I am not in the same state so i cant go over and poke around myself, so i thought i'd have him run something like this and then i could look at the results

 
Five minutes is a lot. A jillion things can cause this. It's often spyware or poorly-written, marginal, applications.

I recommend:

1) Reformatting the hard drive and re-installing the OS and applications. That can be done overnight. Most business PCs don't have THAT many applications installed.

2) Install active anti-virus and anti-spyware applications and keep them up-to-date.

5) Make sure that safety rules are followed in installing new applications. Only install trusted applications and check the reboot time after each major software installation.

4) To make sure this NEVER happens again, set up ongoing image backups of all office PCs. Windows Home Server can do this with near-zero setup and can provide fast, automated total system restoration of up to ten PCs with no expertise required.
 
Oh, ugh! Yeah, that changes things, doesn't it?

Well, if you're going to be stuck doing long-distance maintenance for this friend, it might be a good idea to do something along the lines of what RebateMonger is suggesting, though there are many, many alternatives. Most, or all, of them involve a lot of work up front to save a lot more down the road.

If you're not entering a regular, long-term arrangement with your friend, then I'm thinking he should probably get someone local. Trying to handle something like this long-distance is fraught with peril, unless you're familiar with the processes and have good remote admin software. There's a lot of it out there, and some of it is even free -- but it all requires some preparation and knowledge to make it work. There are some variations on VNC that might work for you, but it's probably going to be tedious at best.

Friends often call when they run into a spot of trouble like this. It's natural to want to help. And you may very well be able to do so. But please remember that you may be able to do your friend a greater service by having him consult someone who can put his/her hands on the system in question. (Of course, finding some local tech qualified for this can be a trial, too. I know.)

I really hate trying to do long-distance diagnostics and maintenance on systems that I don't "know", and for which I have no reliable history.

Good luck.

Originally posted by: crazychicken
thats the thing, its not my computer - a friend of mine has a small business and who knows what they do to those things. I am not in the same state so i cant go over and poke around myself, so i thought i'd have him run something like this and then i could look at the results
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