[SOLVED] Win 8.1 very long boot time. FIX: dism startcomponentcleanup & clean invalid device data (iobit driver Booster function)

[Tezo]

Apologies for the delay, had to deal with some things.
No real change in shut-down/start-up after setting my paging file to 36000 MB, currently I'm in "slow to shutdown, quick to boot".

 

[xilolee]

Try 2400.

 

[Tezo]

Now it's back to quick to restart, slow to boot. This time *much* slower to boot in fact, 1159 seconds per Bootracer.

 

[xilolee]

• Enable the automatic system registry backup (to c:\windows\system32\config\RegBack).
  Read More:

  Open EITHER an elevated powershell instance (i.e. right-click on windows start, click windows powershell (admin)) OR an elevated command prompt instance (i.e. right-click on windows start, click command prompt (admin)) .
  In the new window, copy/paste/launch (with enter, if necessary) these commands:

  reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Configuration Manager" /v EnablePeriodicBackup  /t reg_dword /d 1 /f
  schtasks /run /i /tn "\microsoft\windows\registry\regidlebackup"
  taskschd

  A task scheduler instance will open.
  Navigate in the task scheduler library to microsoft, windows, registry and verify if the regidlebackup task status is Running.
  If it's not running, right-click it and click Run.
• Create a system restore point.
  Read More:

  Open an elevated powershell instance.
  In the powershell window, copy/paste/launch these commands:

  Enable-ComputerRestore c:
  checkpoint-computer -description "checkpoint 2023/05/01"

  Obviously, you can change the description.
  Only if you don't have powershell in the right-click menu (context menu), proceed with the elevated command prompt.
  In the command prompt window, copy/paste these commands:

  powershell
  Enable-ComputerRestore c:
  checkpoint-computer -description "checkpoint 2023/05/01"

  Obviously, you can change the description.
  The restore point creation needed just few seconds and occupies less than 100MB (I'm using an SSD).
  If you prefer, you can use windows GUI to configure restore settings, instead of using that powershell command.
  Click windows start, paste systempropertiesadvanced, press enter. Then change tab clicking on system protection.
• Create a system image, backup your important files, passwords, licence keys.
  Read More:

  If you are already using a system image software, this is the right opportunity to make a complete image of the operating system.
  If you aren't using a system image software, this is the right opportunity to learn and use one: Using Macrium Free to Backup or Image your drives
• In the command prompt (admin), type (copy/paste): cleanmgr /sageset:1
  A cleanmgr window will be presented, in which you can choose the items to be deleted. I'd select them all...
  To start the cleanup, you need to launch this other command: cleanmgr /sagerun:1
  And the cleanup will start: wait until it finishes.
• In the command prompt (admin), type (copy/paste): Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
  If the result is No component store corruption detected, then launch this other command: dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup /resetbase
• Download and install iobit driver booster free.
  Open it, click tools, click Clean invalid device data, scan, clean, close.
  Use only this function of it.
• In the command prompt (admin), type (copy/paste): chkdsk c: /scan /perf
  Wait until it finishes.
  If Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems, post the result:
  Read More:

   104313748 KB total disk space.
    41541556 KB in 299077 files.
      168376 KB in 133225 indexes.
           0 KB in bad sectors.
     1070948 KB in use by the system.
       65536 KB occupied by the log file.
    61532868 KB available on disk.
  
        4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
    26078437 total allocation units on disk.
    15383217 allocation units available on disk.
  Total duration: 45.62 seconds (45628 ms).

  Otherwise, post everything.
• Reboot and see if something changed.
  If It doesn't, launch SFC /scannow from an elevated command prompt, wait until It finishes and post its result.
• Post some logs: Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Posting Instructions - Windows 11, 10, 8.1 and 8

 

[Tezo]

Took a bit because I had to order a drive to backup my system onto, but it worked! Restarts, shuts down, and boots quickly now.

Commandline/powershell log here:

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.3.9600]
(c) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Configuration Manager" /v EnablePeriodicBackup  /t reg_dword /d 1 /f
The operation completed successfully.

C:\Windows\system32>schtasks /run /i /tn "\microsoft\windows\registry\regidlebackup"
SUCCESS: Attempted to run the scheduled task "\microsoft\windows\registry\regidlebackup".

C:\Windows\system32>powershell
Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

PS C:\Windows\system32> Enable-ComputerRestore c:
PS C:\Windows\system32> checkpoint-computer -description "checkpoint 2023/05/15"
PS C:\Windows\system32> cleanmgr /sageset:1
PS C:\Windows\system32> Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.19408

Image Version: 6.3.9600.19397

No component store corruption detected.
The operation completed successfully.
PS C:\Windows\system32> dism /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup /resetbase

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.3.9600.19408

Image Version: 6.3.9600.19397

[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.
PS C:\Windows\system32> chkdsk c: /scan /perf
The type of the file system is NTFS.

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...


  2147584 file records processed.

File verification completed.


  56751 large file records processed.


  0 bad file records processed.

Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...


  2411094 index entries processed.

Index verification completed.


  0 unindexed files scanned.


  0 unindexed files recovered.

Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Security descriptor verification completed.


  131756 data files processed.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...


  38187752 USN bytes processed.

Usn Journal verification completed.

Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
No further action is required.

1759175508 KB total disk space.
1428645640 KB in 1440901 files.
    796480 KB in 131757 indexes.
         0 KB in bad sectors.
   2322424 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
 327410964 KB available on disk.

      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
 439793877 total allocation units on disk.
  81852741 allocation units available on disk.
PS C:\Windows\system32>

 

[xilolee]

It was just a cleanup routine. ;-)
How much quickly?

 

[Tezo]

Last boot was just 89 seconds according to BootRacer.
I suspect clearing the invalid device data might have been what finally fixed it, but I have no way of knowing for sure. (I had like 70 entries in that)

 

[xilolee]

You can try also this one, it seems you didn't launch it: cleanmgr /sagerun:1

 

[Tezo]

Apologies for the delay again! Did that and also did a few more restart tests, the actual booting is currently like 1-2 minutes long on average (122 seconds last time I restarted), as good as it'll probably get.
I'd consider this issue solved.