Ever since I first installed WS 2008R2 i've been noticing its slow bootup time. Now it might just be my hardware (actually just the HDD, since im waiting for intel g3 SSDs i decided to just keep my 80GB WD SATA), but on my previous PC, WinXP booted up a lot faster than 2008R2 does on my new one. Is there anything i could do to boost this? I basically don't use any advanced stuff from server platform, i just use it as free windows 7 (via dreamspark).
For the purpose of this post i decided to stopwatch boot time from the moment i press the start button till disk activity stops (which is about a few seconds after MSN messenger loads). Almost exactly 3 minutes is kinda long isn't it?

Disable Unneeded Services

Services run in support of programs. Problem is not everyone will use every single program supported on a Windows Server platform when fitted into a decent working workstation. Here is a list of services I recommend you could potentially disable that you WILL NEVER USE to help boost your performance a bit. Also keep in mind that eliminating unnecessary services will reduce the footprint of attacks that can be used to exploit your machine. For example if someone finds an exploit to remotely attack your computer using the Diagnostic Policy Service and you have it disabled, you will not be victim to this attack.

Click on Start, and type in MSCONFIG:

Click on the services tab.

Go through my list below and disable the services you feel you will absolutely not need.
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Application Experience - It provides support for legacy applications, but Windows does not require this service to even be enabled to run. You can leave it on if you wish.

Application Identity - This service is only useful if you plan to use AppLocker. Don't use AppLocker? Disable this service.

BranchCache - If you don't do any site-to-site file sharing you don't need this. I assume you are a workgroup and NOT a domain. This is for businesses and you don't need this probably. Disable it.

Portable Device Enumerator service - If you don't plan to enumerate media sharing services in R2 disable this one.

Remote registry - Not going to have anyone else accessing your registry I assume? Disable this one.

Windows Defender - Useless waste of memory space and consumes boot time. Disable this.

IF YOU don't plan to use network sharing (share files between two or more computers) then you can disable these services:

Function Discovery Provider Host
Function Discovery Resource Publication
TCP/IP NetBIOS helper
Server
Workstation

I set those above services to manual (on-demand). I have a batch file that will turn on/off those services at will. By disabling those from starting up on boot time I was able to decrease my boot time on Server 2008 from 38 seconds to 30 seconds. Server 2008 32-bit btw. I refuse to run R2 anymore because of performance issues (even with all this tweaking)! LOL

Tablet PC Input Service - You don't have a "Tablet" PC so you have no need for this service. Disable it.

Diagnostic Policy Service
Diagnostic Service Host

These two services are used to troubleshoot problems with your network connection. I've used this feature before and I find its not very smart or its blantantly obvious what is going on (router acting up, cable unplugged *DUH!*..etc). If you don't need these services shut them down.

Resultant Set of Policy Provider - If your not in a domain this is useless. Disable this.

Special Administration Console Helper - If you don't play to use Emergency Management Services, this service is of no use to you. Disable it.

If you never wish to use any sort of Remote Access capabilites, (Remote Desktop, VPN, etc) disable these services:

Remote Access Auto Connection Manager
Remote Access Connection Manager
Remote Destkop Configuration
Remote Desktop Serivces
Routing and Remote Access
Windows Remote Management (WS-Management)

If you don't have a smart card reader these two services are useless (disable them):

Smart Card
Smart Card Removal Policy

Windows Font Cache Service - Caches fonts. Wow. Applications that loads commonly used fonts. I have really seen no performance hit with this service disabled. You can disable it if you wish.

Wired AutoConfig - Provides authentication for port based 802.1X services. Most of us use either 802.3 (wired ethernet) or 802.11 (wireless). This service is meaingless to you.
Wired ethernet will function fine without this service.

Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) - Used for imaging devices (AKA "scanners") if you don't have a scanner disable this. Keep in mind if you purchase a scanner in the future to
renable this service.

Print Spooler Service - Same thing with this service. Don't have a printer? No need for this service as well.

Link-Layer Topology Discovery Mapper - When you click on Network > Network and Sharing Center > "See full map", this service creates a network topology map of your internal network.
Whoopie! Like you can't just do it on a piece of paper. There are 3rd party software (zenmap for example) that will do that same thing for free as well! Useless. Disable it if you wish.

Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Service- You don't share files remotely on a 15,000 RPM SCSI drive (expensive $$$) do you? I thought so LOL. Disable this!

Network Access Protection Agent - Provides support for NAP servers. If you are using this as a standalone computer you don't need this computer. You can disable this.

Secondary Logon - Don't have multiple accounts on your R2 machine? Disable this service.

SNMP Trap - Don't have a simple network management program running? In most cases nobody does but businesses. Disable this.


Windows Card Space - Disables access to Windows Cardspace program. If you will never use this program, disable it.
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Alternative to Superfetch

Windows Server 2008 R2 lacks Superfetch a smart disk caching system that improves system performance in most cases. There is this great 3rd party software called eBoostr that I use that helps me greatly on boot time. Its a great program. Worth every penny.

http://www.eboostr.com
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Defrag To Improve Performance

Defrag your registry and hard disk to improve performance:

Here's two tools I recommend (free):

Auslogics Disk Defrag: http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/
WinMend Registry Defrag: http://www.winmend.com/registry-defrag/

AVG= LAME!

I recommend against using AVG antivirus. The latest builds since AVG 8.0 (including the new AVG 2010) have been known to cause sluggish boot times on my machine. If you have AVG installed I would highly recommend switching antivirus suites because this one is a total bloat when it comes to boot time performance. Click here!

Definitely give that eboostr program a try. It will definitely make a noticeable difference. When you install it, if you can use a flash drive as a caching device, use that first. After that use your system memory for caching. Here's my personal recommendation depending on your available system memory:

1GB: Allocate 128MB of RAM
2GB: Allocate 192MB of RAM
3GB: Allocate 384 MB of RAM
4GB: Allocate 512MB of RAM
8GB: Allocate 1024MB of RAM

Report back with your improved results and tell me what you thought about my tips!

Reference:

Here's a video of my Server 2008 box with eboostr enabled and those services mentioned disabled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cii7fxXYTgk

i think the big problem is 80GB WD SATA
which is old and kinda slow vs the new hdds

if u have 1tb or 500gb for data u should use it boot and not the 80giga

It definitely does have an impact on performance but it should still boot up in under 3 minutes. My laptop which has a 60GB 5400RPM drive boots Server 2008 in a 1min 5 secs. We are talking a lower capacity drive and low performance drive (5400 RPM = SLOW). I can understand 2 minutes max but 3 minutes is a bit long for any drive capable of running R2.

Apart from disabling BranchCache which does not appear on my services list, disabling network share/printer services and remote access which i need and installing eboostr i did everything on the list, and honestly i can't tell the diff. Might be a second of two faster but far from being noticeable.

Might be time to bench the HDD. Can you reccomend a program to use, and maybe you could do the same on your notebook?

u forgot that ur os is 32bit which have less stuff to load to memory

my modded server 2008 r2 on w510 with ssd can do full restart/booting in 32 secs
and the services tweaking is not so aggressive
in my pc which have less power cpu got 38 secs with the ssd

so mostly to bring up windows faster is HDD

if u have long black screen its should be other thing
i had it long ago its was the power supplier
i change it and its got fixed

I now disabled some more services, and managed to get boot time to 2:30. However, i'd like to point out that this is from the moment i press the power button on the PC, not from the moment i press enter in the windows boot menu (like in the youtube vid).

I should also point out to you that my machine has a quad core processor and 4GB of DDR2 800Mhz memory (not slow) with 2 500GB 7200RPM drives. Tweaking these services will have a better tangible gain then your machine. If doing all of this stuff only warrants you a 30 second gain then your bottleneck is obviously your hardware (80GB HDD). Part of the reasons why I run 32-bit on my desktop and laptop is: 1) I won't ever utilize the full 4GB 2) I can use the 32bit enviornment using eboostr to my advantage. Having a laptop with 1GB and a 5400RPM boot up server 2008 in 32 seconds is not bad at all!




True, there are more files to load in a 64-bit operating system on boot time. I was trying to point out that whether 32-bit vs 64-bit shutting down some useless services and using eboostr can warrant a noticeable gain. In his first post he said his computer took over 3 minutes to boot. Now he claims a boot time of 2:30. I remember when I had R2 on my machine the regular "Up time" was around 1:20... when tweaked it went down to 43 seconds. While 15 seconds slower than my current 32-bit rig it still showed marked improvement which is the point of my post.

Lets use some consistent readings. Grab a pad and paper or record your times in notepad in a text file.

Download this utility: http://download.cnet.com/PC-Boot-Timer/ ... 45234.html

Every time you make changes to your computer (disable service this, uninstall program, defrag, whatever)...run this program to record your restart time. This way everything is consistent and you can see whether what you just did had any noticeable effect or not.

Here's the BootTimer utility example below on my machine:

nice time with this app i get 15secs

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/140247- ... me-issues/
try this its might help