Posts Tagged ‘boot’
Defragment Boot Files on Windows 7
Apart from the usual file defragmentation on Windows 7, there is another undocumented function that rearranges boot files to grant faster access on them, resulting in shorter boot times. The usual boot options can be viewed by entering defrag -? into a command line window (this can be done in any command line window; to actually start the defragmentation however you need an elevated command prompt – therefore search for cmd in the menu, right-click it and choose Run as Administrator).
The one we need to use, the /b switch, is not listed there. This undoubtedly has its reasons and you should back-up files before you run it. Do not run it if you fear loss of data.
defrag /b C:
I hereby assume that C: is the drive you have your boot-files on. I ran the command on a Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit machine and it worked flawlessly.
If upon entering the defrag command you get the errorcode 0×89000017, stating that some registry entries are missing, run the following in an elevated command prompt, wait up to 20 minutes and try again afterwards:
Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks
This will initiate some services to start that usually only run when the system is idle, one of them being a service of Superfetch that needs to be run before the defrag /b command.
Save Time On Windows Start-up
To boot your Windows machine faster, it is possible to disable the graphical user interface used during system start-up (the Windows logo loading screen). To accomplish that, hit Windows key + R on your desktop to call a Run prompt and enter msconfig. On the appearing window, go to the Boot tab and activate the No GUI boot checkbox. Hit Apply and/or OK and reboot the machine afterwards for the changes to take effect.
Make Windows XP Boot a Lot Faster
There is a simple registry option in the Windows XP Registry that, if not altered, adds a delay time to the the XP boot process. However you can easily set this delay time to zero if you know where to look for it: Open the Windows Registry by entering regedit into a Run… prompt. The registry is parted in two frames, the one on the left containing a large list of keys and sub-keys, the one on the right displaying the keys’ values. In the list of keys, browse the following:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ContentIndex
Left-click the ContentIndex-key to see its values, look for StartupDelay and double-click to modify it.
The default value is the hexadecimal number 75300, which is the decimal number 480000. Leave the hexadecimal button active and just change the value to 0 (you can also pick another value; to see which hexadecimal value you have to take for a decimal number, just switch to decimal, enter the value and switch back again).
After making this change, close the registry and reboot Windows to see how fast it has become.
Set a custom boot message on Windows 7
On Windows 7 there is an option that displays a text message to the user of the computer on system start-up. This message is configurable in the Local Security Policy which you can access over the start menu’s program search bar. Once in there, expand Local Policies on the left frame of the window and select Security Options. There, find the two entries named message title for users attempting to log on and message text for users attempting to log on.
As the names say, the value of the title message is later displayed as the title, same goes for the text. The text can hold an infinite amount of lines and approximately 94 characters in one line. Close the window after you have specified your desired entries.
Both of these settings are also available in the Windows Registry. To find them, open the registry by typing regedit into the Run… prompt and browse the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\System key. There, the legalnoticecaption and the legalnoticetext values are stored. These are the registry storages for the values you entered in the Local Security Policy window.
Speed Up Boot in Windows 7
There is a simple option on Windows Vista and Windows 7 for multi-cored systems that allows you to greatly decrease the time that your Windows system needs to boot. This is accomplished by dividing the process up on more than one core. To use this function, open Run… by searching for it in the search bar and run msconfig through it:
The System Configuration window will open. Go to the Boot tab, select your Windows partition and click on Advanced Options…. Check the box titled Number of processors and select the number of cores you would like to use for booting in the dropdownmenu (I have only one core on the machine I am using, that is why there isn’t any option on the screenshot).
Afterwards, click OK on every window left open and the next time you boot, you should do it a lot faster than before.