Hotfix for Windows 7 Extremely Slow Boot Performance
When our company first implemented Windows 7, the performance was quite good and we were impressed. However, now that Win7 has been in our organization for the last 1 1/2 years, we’re beginning to see a significant performance degradation in boot times. What was a 1 minute boot time can now be anywhere from 4 to 10 minutes for Windows to get to Ctrl-Alt-Del screen.
In performing analysis on extremely slow boot/login times, I identified both the cause and a Win7 hotfix to correct the issue. If you are having a similar problem, check out KB2505348 – High CPU usage or a lengthy startup process occurs during WMI repository verification when a large WMI repository exists in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2.
One has to chuckle at Microsoft’s titled description on the issue as “lengthy startup process” which in the real world means “so slow that you never want ever EVER shut off your computer because every time you do, you consider making a switch to Linux”.
** Update 10/2/12: there is a newer version for Windows 7 SP1 at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2617858 **
t3chn1ck 
July 2, 2012 at 3:31 am
Thanks a lot from portugal =)
July 2, 2012 at 7:36 am
You’re welcome! I hope it did the trick for you.
August 20, 2012 at 9:33 am
Thank you Nick. I’ve been struggling with this particular demon for months (since Feb 2012) and your’s is the first real troubleshooting I’ve seen; delivered in a witty way. Thank you so much.
August 20, 2012 at 10:10 am
Wow, thank you Susan! :-)