100+ second Session Init during bootup

[originalname]

I attached a picture from the windows performance recorder boot recording.

The main thing I am looking at is the smss.exe (504), which seems to start at 3.63 and end at 101.97 which is around the same time as the 100 second long Session Init boot phase that is causing my slow boot.

I've looked online specifically for the long session init and smss.exe issues but I couldn't find anything that fits my case exactly. I can provide more information if that would narrow the search further.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

 

[Colif]

have you changed any hardware in PC recently? Added a new hdd or anything?

I can see a similar thing for windows 7 but the resolution there was to install a windows update - that doesn't help you.

what are specs of the PC?

try to boot into safe mode and see if it boots in a reasonable time. if it does then reboot back into your normal windows and download and run
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb9639...

it is a Microsoft tool that will show you what is being started on your computer, often you can disable start up of apps that you don't need.

if the machine has problems in safe mode then you might have some hardware conflict.
it can be something like a device plugged into a USB port that is causing the problem. Generally you want to be systematic about fixing the problems.

do a Malwarebytes scan,
then start cmd.exe as an admin and run
sfc.exe /scannow
then
Dism.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

after that you would want to go to your motherboard vendors website and update the BIOS and the device drivers for your motherboard.

then reboot and see if the system still has problems. if it does you have to try to isolate the problem or run specific tests on various hardware.
the autoruns program will let you disable or remove programs from automatically starting. if is useful in isolating startup problems.

you can have hard drives that are starting to fail, or solid state drives that are full and take a long time to start up. you can run cleanmgr.exe and have the system remove unneeded files.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3267879/windows-slow-boot-times.html

 

[originalname]

Specs are

I haven't changed anything recently, this has been an ongoing problem since I upgraded to windows 10 from 7 back when the upgrade was free. Funnily enough it didn't occur this time and my bootup was 5 seconds. However it has fixed itself in the past only to resurface again so I was hoping for some kind of permanent solution. I'll try the steps you provided later today when I have time.

Thanks.

EDIT: I just tried to get another WPR to find out what changed to allow for a fast bootup and it became slow again.

 

[Colif]

hmm, I have a Z97 Pro Wifi. Do you have BIOS version 2702? Do you have newest Sata drivers (though new is relative, Asus don't update Z97 boards anymore).

have you clean installed win 10 at all? Many of the problems with smss.exe are win 7 related so could be an old win 7 driver getting in the way

 

[originalname]

I actually did the upgrade from 7 to 10 initially and it totally buggered everything. I was actually forced to do a fresh install of windows 10 from day one and I've had this issue since then. I will have to check the sata drivers and possibly flash the bios of the motherboard, i'll do that after I complete this system backup.

EDIT: So now I have tried everything listed in your first comment, the safe mode, fsc, dism, bios, sata. The only thing I have yet to do is another fresh install of windows 10, but I'd like that to be my last resort. I also experienced a fast boot followed by a slow boot randomly, so its not something that occurs all the time, just the majority.

 

[Colif]

press win key + R
type winver and press enter

Are you on version 1703?

when is it slow? just after boot or after the login screen? I had never seen the program you linked to before your post

i think the init stage is where PC is checking hardware is all active. How many extra USB devices do you have plugged in? Do you have any external hard drives attached?

 

[originalname]

Yup, im on 1703.

It is slow as soon as POST completes, it hangs for 100+ seconds on the black screen with the windows logo and the circle of loading dots.
The program I used in the beginning is Windows Performance Recorder, it allows me to document the bootup process to see exactly what is happening to the whole computer during that time.
Keyboard, Mouse, Vive, DAC, Steam Controller dongle.
No external hard drives.

This issue has been occurring ever since I installed windows 10, its just I've mainly been using hibernate since then as a pseudo shutdown to avoid the issue.

 

[Colif]

does it happen on a restart? If it doesn't happen on a restart, have you tried turning fast startup off? http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4189-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-10-a.html - shouldn't really need it on with an ssd anyway. It speeds up booting off hdd though.

if that helps, it is likely a driver doesn't like the new way win 10 shuts down. Since shut down to win 10 = hibernate. Its never really off except when you do a restart

If you sure you have latest drivers from Asus, I don't know why it would do this apart from a hardware fault. Can you check you have latest firmware for both ssd? might help to run Western Digital data life guard on the hdd as they are good at slowing down launch as well.

 

[Colif]

Sub phase 2 - SMSSInit : Session Initialization
The SMSSInit subphase begins when the kernel passes control to the session manager process (Smss.exe). During this subphase, the system initializes the registry, loads and starts the devices and drivers that are not marked BOOT_START, and starts the subsystem processes. SMSSInit ends when control is passed to Winlogon.exe. [1]

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/11341.the-windows-7-boot-process-sbsl.aspx

It looks like I was right, its loading devices and if a device doesn't answer, windows just sits there. DO you have superfetch turned on?

I wonder if running chkdsk would help

What i would do is ask on here as if you look in this thread they clearly know how that analyser works - I would start new thread though: https://superuser.com/questions/1159192/slow-windows-booting-and-performance

 

[originalname]

Damn, i'll start up a thread over there then.
Thanks for all your help!

 

[originalname]

Just found out the issue was with Intel Management Interface. Disabled it and everything is back to normal.