Fix Slow Windows Startup Using Windows Boot Performance Diagnostics

Slow Windows startup is an issue faced by almost every PC user at one point in their computer’s life cycle. There could be various reasons as to why Windows take a long time to boot. Using msconfig to remove useless programs from the startup menu is one way of fixing the issue. However, a lot of times, more needs to be done to speed up the Windows startup process.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 come with Windows Boot Performance Diagnostics which can be activated from group policy settings. You can set Windows to automatically troubleshoot and resolve boot problems using this native tool.

Click on Start button and type gpedit.msc in the search box. Press Enter.

fix slow windows startup group policy editor

It opens the group policy editor window. Now Under Computer configuration, go to Administrative Template –> Systems-> Troubleshooting and diagnostics-> Windows boot performance diagnostics.

speed up Windows startup

Click on Windows boot performance diagnostics. On the right, you will find “Configure Scenario Execution level”. Right click on it and select properties.

group policy editor

“Configure scenario execution level properties” windows will open. You’ll notice that it is set to “Not configured”. Select the option “Enabled”. Now select the scenario execution level from the drop down to “Detection, Troubleshoot and Resolution”.

It means Diagnostic Policy Service (one of the services that runs in the background) will detect Windows Boot Performance problems and notify the user about the resolution if available.

If you select “Detection and troubleshoot only” then Diagnostic Policy Service will detect all the problems related to Windows Boot Performance and add an event (root causes) to the event log. Administrator of the computer can check the event log and troubleshoot the problem manually.

scenario execution level1

Note: For functioning of Windows Boot Performance Diagnostics, Diagnostic Policy Service (DPS) must be running in the background service. ( To check it is running or not click on “Start”, type services and press “Enter”. On services window check status of Diagnostic policy service and make sure it’s running).

If you computer keeps you waiting for the Windows logon screen, then you could try these steps and check the results. Let us know how it went for you.

Update: gpedit.msc feature is only present in Windows 7 Ultimate, Professional and Enterprise editions. If you own Windows 7 Home Premium or Basic editions then you might not get gpedit.msc after typing it on a search box.

Thanks to our readers kzinti1 and Micheal for this information.

Tagged as: PC maintenance, startup, Windows