Extremely Slow Bootup? Restore Points Might Be The Enemy!

[Jack]

Microsoft recently caught my attention with the release of a performance-related hotfix. Blog readers should pay attention to KB2555428. It fixes an issue which can cause Windows 7 to boot extremely slowly. The culprit is System Restore with the slowdown occuring when many restore points have been created.

To quote Microsoft Support on the symptoms you’ll experience:

“Consider the following scenario:

You have a large hard disk installed in a computer that is running Windows 7.
You create many restore points on the computer.
You try to start the computer.

Given this scenario, startup time may be very slow.”

Unfortunately, Microsoft does not give a specific number of how many restore points actually lead to this issue, so it may vary from PC to PC.

Each restore point creates a snapshot that needs to be validated by “Volsnap.sys” during bootup. This is where the problem occurs. Once restore points exceed a certain number, ReadyBoot stops working properly because too many snapshots need to be validated. ReadyBoot, which is related to ReadyBoost, is a Windows 7 feature that improves startup times by pre-caching startup I/O operations—to do so, it needs a boot plan featuring the most commonly used system files.

However, due to a large number of restore points and snapshots, the boot plan will grow above the size limit of 512 KB, prevent ReadyBoot from functioning, and cause a slowdown in boot performance.

Read more...

 

[jamescv7]

One thing to also was keep in mind that restore points eat a lot of free space so cleaning this old restore points will increase your free space.

 

[Ink]

Every month I clean out the Restore Points using CCleaner (since I don't want to delete all of them).

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You could lower the disk space usage.

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Would it help? I don't know. I've never experienced any "extremely" slow boot up.

 

[jamescv7]

Me too, I haven't experience slow boot up in XP, at least my problem was solved why my hard disk ate a lot so it give a benefits on it.

 

[Deleted member 178]

i never use System Restore, i turned it off. prefer my back up image.

 

[Jack]

Microsoft said that the KB2555428 hotfix will be packed inside Windows 7 Service Pack 2 (SP2), and this is the best way for end users to get it.
Never experienced a slow boot up process but the degradation shoulve've been very high if the users become aware that something was going on. Right now my boot up process takes around 1 minute and 30 seconds....
I've also noticed that all the OS developers are now working on their boot times....so soon we should be able to boot up in under 30seconds
It would be a cool feature if the users could limit the numbers of restore points...And when that number is reached the older restore point is replaced by the newest.

 

[win7holic]

i know about this few month ago. i just create restore every 1 week (manually). but, if created by after installed windows update, i'll delete restore point what created before. always keeping 1 or 2 restore point (lastest)

 

[jamescv7]

For me I made one restore point as possible to be latest and removed other system restore since its eating a lot of free space.

I'm using Revo Uninstaller for uninstalling application since its produce restore points, so I straight ahead delete it or sometimes I leave it as latest.

 

[D Bone]

i never use System Restore, i turned it off. prefer my back up image.

Same here. Two system images per month for me, no way I'm going to trust system restore.

 

[win7holic]

you're right bone. do system images OS and data's more better than restore point.

 

[MrXidus]

I found System Restore is un-reliable for many. System Images saved to an EXHDD does me magic.

 

[jamescv7]

System Restore have an ETA of 90 days so yet you need to produce another Restore Points. Unlike System Image anytime you can use it.

 

[moonshine]

I usually only keep a single restore point ready because I rely on Windows Backup and Restore and on my System Image. So I don't experience slowdowns with my Bootups.

 

[Ink]

I must be only one using System Restore and works good enough for me, haha.

I don't have the resources to backup a system image for several computers.

 

[jamescv7]

Earth your not only the one even me I'm using Restore Points since I don't have an eternal HDD.

 

[moonshine]

But System Restore in Windows XP is not that reliable, Most things still get left out and not everything is restored, So a System Image is still the best option.

 

[Ink]

How about System Restore in Vista/7?

 

[win7holic]

vista and 7 is same ,storm.
vista is like a win 7 beta
windows 7 restore point not make me lag at all.

 

[moonshine]

Windows Vista and Windows 7 are NOT the same, And that Windows 7 Beta you're speaking of is not true at all, It's true that some Windows 7 features came from Windows Vista but Windows 7 contains a whole lot of new features so they cannot be the same OS, And lag doesn't have anything to do with System Restore, It's not called lag, It's your system that is freezing and lag is associated with gaming only.

@Earth, From what I know System Restore is much improved in Windows 7.

 

[jamescv7]

Well my OS is XP and I'm aware that the system restore may not reliable (I don't have a budget to buy (typo) an HDD) unlike the latest OS so far for Windows 7 since it made improvements for System Restore.