Boot XP Faster!!

tek · Jun 15, 2003, 11:33 AM

First of all BIG PROPS to TweakXP for putting this out, I got this info from TweakXP (Boot XP Faster)
I just did this.. and it works like a charm, improved my boot speed by 20 secs.

First of all, this tweak only apply to those who only have one HDD on their primary IDE channel (nothing else on device 0 or 1) and a CD-ROM and/or DVD-ROM on the secondary IDE channel. Each time you boot Windows XP, there's an updated file called NTOSBOOT-*.pf who appears in your prefetch directory (%SystemRoot%\Prefetch) and there's no need to erease any other files as the new prefetch option in XP really improves loading time of installed programs. We only want WindowsXP to boot faster and not decrease its performance. Thanks to Rod Cahoon (for the prefetch automation process...with a minor change of mine) and Zeb for the IDE Channel tweak as those two tricks, coupled together with a little modification, result in an EXTREMELY fast bootup:

1. Open notepad.exe, type "del c:\windows\prefetch\ntosboot-*.* /q" (without the quotes) & save as "ntosboot.bat" in c:\
2. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "gpedit.msc".
3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Shutdown" in the right window.
4. In the new window, click "add", "Browse", locate your "ntosboot.bat" file & click "Open".
5. Click "OK", "Apply" & "OK" once again to exit.
6. From the Start menu, select "Run..." & type "devmgmt.msc".
7. Double click on "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"
8. Right click on "Primary IDE Channel" and select "Properties".
9. Select the "Advanced Settings" tab then on the device 0 or 1 that doesn't have 'device type' greyed out select 'none' instead of 'autodetect' & click "OK".
10. Right click on "Secondary IDE channel", select "Properties" and repeat step 9.
11. Reboot your computer.

WindowsXP should now boot REALLY faster.

tek · Jun 23, 2003, 08:17 AM

Has anyone else tried this on their system? Cause I see 65 views and no replies, hope nothing went wrong... my boot speed improved by at least 20secs

Gardinen · Jun 23, 2003, 08:23 AM

An easier way to get you XP comp. to boot faster is to use Microsoft Bootvis. A very small program which analyses the startup and clear up the boottime. Now my computer loads XP in about 3 seconds.

, which means that the little bar only scroll once.

Here is the download link BootVis Download

Although it seems that to hold the quick startup time, you have to use Bootvis once and a while. I use once in a week to keep my boot time optimal.

Dom · Jun 23, 2003, 08:45 AM

"Windows cannot find 'gpedit.msc'."

***craig5320*** · Jun 23, 2003, 08:50 AM

The group policy editor is only on 'Pro' editions not 'Home' if your on pro

Dom · Jun 23, 2003, 08:53 AM

Guess I'm sh*t out of luck then.

eyeguy616 · Jun 25, 2003, 11:14 PM

tek, I tried out that tweak and I've seen a dramatic decrease in the time it takes to get to the desktop! You know how that little blue bar scrolls around while WinXP is loading, well it only gets through one and a quarter revolutions before I get the desktop!! W00tacular W00T!!!

It's never been this fast! It used to take about four or five revolutions before the desktop appears, so this is a nice bootup speed boost.
Oh, I haven't even run bootvis and the harddrive was moderately fragmented. I saw no further decrease when I defragged and see no reason to use BootVis at this time.

~eyeguy616

mike2h · Jun 25, 2003, 11:33 PM

if you defrag with xp you only have to run bootvis every couple of months or if oyu make major program changes. xp defrag makes use of bootvis settings.

Gardinen · Jun 26, 2003, 02:52 AM

Well of course you can skip bootvis if you see yourself as an non-n00b

But Bootvis is so damn easy to use, and cus of my lazynes I used Bootvis.

JavaFox · Jun 27, 2003, 12:44 AM

One word: wow. I got the same result as eyeguy. The Windows loading screen flashes by. One thing: my computer shows a black screen before bring up Windows. Is this normal?

digerati · Jun 27, 2003, 01:04 AM

Er I'm not exactly sure what to do with this program. -.-;

~~Sourcer_2002~~ · Jun 27, 2003, 01:15 AM

Um me lost

Quote:

3. Double click "Windows Settings" under "Computer Configuration" and double click again on "Shutdown" in the right window.

i dont have a "shutdown" just a scripts logon / logoff, security settings, and internet something

eyeguy616 · Jun 27, 2003, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JavaFox
One word: wow. I got the same result as eyeguy. The Windows loading screen flashes by. One thing: my computer shows a black screen before bring up Windows. Is this normal?

Seems to be, I just forgot to mention it. I just got too used to seeing it since it lasts about a second or two.

Sourcer_2002: are you using XP Pro? I don't think Home edition has it, but you never know!
~eyeguy616

tek · Jun 27, 2003, 03:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JavaFox
One word: wow. I got the same result as eyeguy. The Windows loading screen flashes by. One thing: my computer shows a black screen before bring up Windows. Is this normal?

Thats completely normal JavaFox.
And I think this only works on Windows XP Professional, sorry to all the Home users

LowLevelOwl · Jun 29, 2003, 11:18 PM

O.K.

How do we undo this? It seems to have increased my boot time. It went from one revolution in the WinXP boot screen to five!!!

That's not cool!!!

So with what we did. Will it delete that file everytime we restart? How can we stop it from happening? Just delete the ntosboot.dat file?

JavaFox · Jun 29, 2003, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LowLevelOwl
O.K.

How do we undo this? It seems to have increased my boot time. It went from one revolution in the WinXP boot screen to five!!!

That's not cool!!!

So with what we did. Will it delete that file everytime we restart? How can we stop it from happening? Just delete the ntosboot.dat file?

Just back-track. Take out the ntosboot.bat file from shut-down under Group Policies, then delete the file.

BWX · Jun 29, 2003, 11:41 PM

I got my WIN XP Pro to boot up after blue bars going only 1/4 of the way across ONE time-

I did it with X-Setup- (here---> http://www.xteq.com/downloads/ ) about 6 months ago

here is the path in the program:

1) Default UI,

then

2) Sytem,

then

3) File system,

then

4) Windows Nt/2K/XP oprtions,

then

5) Boot Optimization

then defrag (I think it does the same thing, but I could be wrong)-- And you are off to the races. No messing around. It works great === less than 1/2 the way across w/ the blue bars-

there are 3 different places in X-Setup that you can turn this feature on. I could find them pretty quick too. This works with 2 Hard drives on my pri. IDE on my system.

C0NAN · Jun 30, 2003, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BWX232
I got my WIN XP Pro to boot up after blue bars going only 1/4 of the way across ONE time-

I did it with X-Setup- (here---> http://www.xteq.com/downloads/ ) about 6 months ago

here is the path in the program:

1) Default UI,

then

2) Sytem,

then

3) File system,

then

4) Windows Nt/2K/XP oprtions,

then

5) Boot Optimization

then defrag (I think it does the same thing, but I could be wrong)-- And you are off to the races. No messing around. It works great === less than 1/2 the way across w/ the blue bars-

there are 3 different places in X-Setup that you can turn this feature on. I could find them pretty quick too. This works with 2 Hard drives on my pri. IDE on my system.

I tried it but my boot time didn't change. Not that it is bad anyway, I boot in around 20-25 seconds.

Datagg · Jun 30, 2003, 02:11 AM

Holy crap, despite peeps only saying the pro version, im a home user, and i tried bootvis, good god from 15-20 sec loads before now im doing it in 5 -8 seconds..woot nice...

i have system works 2003 and run speed disk alot, how often should i use bootvis vs speedisk......??

Thanx

BWX · Jun 30, 2003, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by C0NAN
I tried it but my boot time didn't change. Not that it is bad anyway, I boot in around 20-25 seconds.

Did you defrag afterward? Sometimes you have to for it to work- then reboot a few times-- There is another tweak too, I'll post it in a sec- I know this one works too-
Try this one too- I know this works

X-Setup

File system

prefetch options

check box "optimize for fast boot"

Just an alternative to the bootvis and the first one.

C0NAN · Jun 30, 2003, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BWX232
Did you defrag afterward? Sometimes you have to for it to work- then reboot a few times-- There is another tweak too, I'll post it in a sec- I know this one works too-
Try this one too- I know this works

X-Setup

File system

prefetch options

check box "optimize for fast boot"

Just an alternative to the bootvis and the first one.

I figured it out! You have to delete all the contents of Windows/Prefetch before rebooting. Now I boot in 8 seconds!

Simonmckenny · Jun 30, 2003, 06:28 AM

have a look at this.

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

thanks to him winxp used 70mb less ram.

LowLevelOwl · Jun 30, 2003, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by JavaFox
Just back-track. Take out the ntosboot.bat file from shut-down under Group Policies, then delete the file.

Thats the thing I don't see it in the Group Policies anymore. Is this supposed to run everytime you shutdown? The entry I made in the "Shutdown" box is no longer there.

Yes, I will just delete the ntosboot.dat file and see if that will do it.

tek · Jun 30, 2003, 10:55 AM

LOL, BWX you confused me so much with your last couple of posts, but no matter.
By the way BWX, this startup guide that I posted boots even faster than your 1/4 through once, this guide made my thing go 1/5th or 1/6th through the bar and then startup, but whats killing me is my startup things, they alone take about 12 sec to load.

Here's what I got in my taskbar:
ZoneAlarm - NEEDED
MbM - NEEDED
Internet Connection - NEEDED (takes the most like 9 secs)
Soundstorm - Doesnt do shit
Plug and Play - Doesnt do shit

And some more things that dont show up in taskbar:
TCAUDIAG
SSTRAY
PCCLIENT
NEROCHECK

And I have about 10 others disabled.

BWX · Jun 30, 2003, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Simonmckenny
have a look at this.

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

thanks to him winxp used 70mb less ram.

Oh yeah, that' sa given- I did that about a year ago- but a good reminder for people who haven't yet! I have most of my services dormant.

BWX · Jun 30, 2003, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by C0NAN
I figured it out! You have to delete all the contents of Windows/Prefetch before rebooting. Now I boot in 8 seconds!

It awsome isn't it? Sometime, SOME, of you r programs wont' load QUITE as bit as fast- (I guess, mine always do though). But the speed you gain at startup outweighs that 10 times. You can also get XP to shutdown in about 1 second! X-setup style.

It's a services and programs timeout setting- they are default 20 and 10 or something like that-

There is just 2 settings, I set them to 3 seconds each- but I've tried it with one second and never had any problems. With all the tweaks, I got my machine to only take 22 seconds from the time I hit the shutdown button, to the time I was back on the desktop W/O an hourglass next to my pointer. It's slower than that now- But it could be that fast again in a few minutes of tweaks. That defrag boot-up optimizer does works too- Sometimes it takes a few startups to tell the difference.

I bet all that combined with some of the other tweaks would really smoke the startup phase.