Corrupt Windows profile? Slow logins

[zelmak]

So, I think I have a corrupted profile. My login time is up to about 30s. Its like its trying to run something but can't find it or its timing out or something. I turn off all startup processes via the Task Manager page, but no change. I've also done the dism/sfc two-step which found nothing wrong. I created a new user/profile and it logs in really quickly so its not system-wide.

I've been trying to find something that captures logs of the login process to see if I can figure out what's causing it and fix/remove the offending bit, but haven't been successful. I even used CCleaner to see if it found any registry or other references to things that don't exist. It did find some referencing my old NAS, but cleaning those out didn't do anything. I even did a regedit session manually looking for that old NAS and deleting the references. No change to login. I've run Windows Defender and MBAM scans in safe mode. Nothing.

And all the tips on "corrupt profile" and/or "slow login" -- even on Microsoft's "forum" -- recommend that if the dism/sfc two-step doesn't fix the problem, then create a new profile and copy files over and reinstall programs as needed.

Is this really the solution in 2024? We've been wiping/recreating profiles since ... since I don't even remember when? Windows NT?

Anyone think of anything else I can try before I wipe my profile and start over?

 

[Ardax]

30 seconds feels a whole lot like a network timeout. Is there anything in Network Locations in File Explorer? Or maybe that you can find in AutoRuns or Task Scheduler?

 

[zelmak]

In Task Scheduler, I have a few things for Dropbox, Microsoft Edge Update, and One Drive. If I disable things in "startup apps", does that affect the ones in Task Scheduler that are triggered at login?

Edit: well that didn't seem to matter; I disabled everything in Task Scheduler and tried the login again; still the long wait.

All my 'cached' network locations in the Windows Explorer address bar all appear to reference my current NAS, not the old one. I don't have network locations displayed in my default Explorer setup.

 

[zelmak]

The only auto run I have is Macrium Reflect's "ReflectUI.exe" Disabled, but no change.

30 seconds feels a whole lot like a network timeout.

Exactly what I thought too. For giggles, I actually timed it (before, it was just a feeling.) Exactly 30s.

 

[continuum]

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/analysing-boot-behaviour-something-is-slowing-down-windows-loading-by-at-least-30-seconds.11825/

That guy had an HP driver or package causing it. So maybe not network (you do mention a NAS so maybe disable references to that anyway, just to be through?) but could be another device?

 

[zelmak]

hrm... this is more login time rather than actual boot time. If my account is simply locked, I login instantly; if I'm logging in from a logout or reboot, 30s every danged time.

I found the sysinternals tool "autoruns" and I'm perusing it. Haven't found anything that directly references off-machine resources yet.

 

[zelmak]

I am using a rather oldish version of Click-to-Run Office 2016 and there are references to Lync for Business and such...

 

[tremere98]

Presumably this is single or home use pc, not domain joined or anything? GPO can murder a login quick.

 

[zelmak]

Presumably this is single or home use pc, not domain joined or anything? GPO can murder a login quick.

Yeah, my home PC. Probably going to take some time tomorrow to drop Wireshark on the network and see if I can catch any TCP timeouts or DNS timeouts or somesuch during login.

 

[zelmak]

bleh... couldn't find anything obvious, so, of course, my only recourse is to create another account and copy everything over.

 

[moosemaimer]

Maybe give this a shot and see if the problem follows the profile?

 

[Whittey]

I know it's possible to record everything you want to know using ETW, but holy crap the documentation is just generally terribad. Easiest way to get involved with it us using the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (WADK), which will include Windows Performance Recorder (WPR) and Windows Performance Analyzer (WPA). Back in ye olden days you'd use xperf, but that's been deprecated.

ETW is an incredibly useful tool in some scenarios. I'm on the Server/Storage side of things rather than desktops, but I've used it to dig down to individual disk IO's and their timing, queue sizes at various times, etc. It's a really neat tool. Spoiler is a screenshot of my storage "disk service time" being (mostly) under 1ms (service time is in µs also), but because of the huge queue the IOs are taking ~380ms.

Spoiler: Pic

Some links:
WADK
WPR
WPA