Question Brand new Windows 7 install results in slower boot times.

[Rickie_2]

Hello there, all.

I run my PC as a dual boot system, Windows 7 Home Premium as my daily driver and Windows 10 Home for everything else that now requires it. This week I finally decided to wipe and reinstall my Windows 7 install, get it nice and zippy. Which it is...once it's running.

But boot times are slow now. Hangs on the Bios splash screen for quite awhile before loading the Boot Menu. Which is now back to the old school one rather than the Windows 10 one. Not that I mind. But after making my selection it takes forever now to load it. Monitors will even turn off during the long process.

Is this something simple to fix? One thing of note, after the reinstall of Windows 7 it straight up lost the boot menu entirely. I've managed to get it back, but perhaps that's an issue in itself.

For more info, Windows 7 is on one SSD and Windows 10 is on another SSD. Both run nice and quick, my boot times are now just shot due to me fiddling around. Would appreciate any tips on fixing this minor annoyance.

 

[Lutfij]

In order to appropriately perform a Dual Boot with Windows 10 as the secondary OS, you're advised to install whatever OS you want first and then install Windows 10 after that. Meaning you will need to reinstall the secondary OS(namely Windows 10). For all intents and purposes, you should stick to one OS and not dual boot.

Easier said than done, but it saves you all that headache. Also, might want to check and see that you're on the latest BIOS update for your platform.

 

[Rickie_2]

Ah, yeah, I had read as such.

And yeah, my bios is up to date. I may just reinstall Windows 10. Don't really have anything much on there yet anyway. If I do that will it fix my slow startup though? Suppose I could simply wipe Windows 10 and see what boot times are like after that.

 

[SkyNetRising]

In order to appropriately perform a Dual Boot with Windows 10 as the secondary OS, you're advised to install whatever OS you want first and then install Windows 10 after that. Meaning you will need to reinstall the secondary OS(namely Windows 10).

That's not a critical requirement.
You can recreate windows 10 bootloader with windows 10 install media and bcdboot command. No need to reinstall windows 10.

 

[Rickie_2]

Oh, that sounds a lot quicker. I'll give that a try then, thanks.

 

[onespeedbiker]

With a reinstall of Windows 7 it is likely updating on an hourly basis (there are about 200 updates after a fresh install of Windows 7 sp1), which may also be a reason for the longer boot times.

 

[Rickie_2]

That's not a critical requirement.
You can recreate windows 10 bootloader with windows 10 install media and bcdboot command. No need to reinstall windows 10.

How would I go about doing that? I looked up those commands but they're a tad confusing to me. Have got the Windows 10 USB all ready to go though and can boot from it. Oh and also, put up a video of my times. Takes around 30 seconds to get past the boot logo then over 2 minutes to get to Windows 7. And if I'd just used Windows 10 (which I had before making this video) it insists on running CHKDSK on every single one of my drives. So it takes even longer.

With a reinstall of Windows 7 it is likely updating on an hourly basis (there are about 200 updates after a fresh install of Windows 7 sp1), which may also be a reason for the longer boot times.

Nah, it's not that. Slowdown is way before that. Besides, as part of the new install I got it all updated with the essentials including the last big security update, before then disabling any hint of updates/update checking as I've always done.

 

[SkyNetRising]

1st - Check health of your drives first. Use HDtune health. Post screenshots. I'd suspect, there's some issue with your drives.

2nd - If you just reinstalled windows 7, then all the security updates need to be installed. For fresh win7 install this is going to be pain.

a) install windows 7 convenience rollup update​

https://www.howtogeek.com/255435/ho...l-at-once-with-microsofts-convenience-rollup/​

b) install hotfixes listed here manually (windows update service needs to be stopped, when you install those)​

http://wu.krelay.de/en/2016-07.htm​

c) then run windows update and install all security updates (lots of them, probably ~ 100).​

3rd - To get graphical windows bootloader, make windows 10 default boot option. If that doesn't switch bootloader to graphical mode, then boot into windows 10 and execute from elevated command prompt

bcdboot c:\windows​

 

[onespeedbiker]

Reading you entire post again, I seems obvious your Windows 7 install was corrupted, first it would not boot. BTW, did you mean the dual boot menu would not come up, or when choosing Windows 7 from the boot menu would not boot? The boot splash screen also takes a long time and you have lost the UEFI graphic. Finally chkdsk shows up when Windows 7 starts to boot. Have you tried disconnecting the Windows 10 drive and seeing if your PC boots normally?

Edit. If you could, show a print screen of your disk management screen. It's possible Windows put some of the Windows 7 install on your Windows 10 drive.

 

[Rickie_2]

Windows 7 is booting and running fine now. Only seem to run into the above issues when I boot into Windows 10 and then later boot into Windows 7. That's when it insists on running CHKDSK.

Drive Health Screenshots
Disc Management

As for the updates, I had followed a similar guide after the reinstall. Got the roundup and all the important stuff. Basically just skipped anything that added telemetry or upgrade nags.

 

[onespeedbiker]

It appears your Windows 10 install has no reserve partition, so the problem boils down to both drives (C: and F) are booting from the reserve partition on the C: drive. This occurs when you install Windows on one drive when there is another drive that also has a Windows operating system. Remove the Windows 10 drive and your Windows 7 drive should boot. reverse the process and it's doubtful the Windows 10 drive will boot. Assuming what I just stated is correct, you will need to reinstall windows 10, but make sure the Windows 7 drive is not attached.

 

[Rickie_2]

Weird. Last two times I installed Windows 10 I did so with the 7 drive still attached with no issues.

I've run into strife this time because I did it the other way around. Frustrating. Oh well. I don't need Windows 10 for awhile yet, so there's no rush. Will be annoying though. Thanks for your help.

 

[SkyNetRising]

It appears your Windows 10 install has no reserve partition, so the problem boils down to both drives (C: and F) are booting from the reserve partition on the C: drive.

That's not an issue. For dual boot systems this is normal.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Only seem to run into the above issues when I boot into Windows 10 and then later boot into Windows 7. That's when it insists on running CHKDSK.

Make sure fast boot in BIOS is disabled.

 

[onespeedbiker]

That's not an issue. For dual boot systems this is normal.

I can understand that for dual boot on the same drive, but this is two drives, which I would think would be problematic.

 

[Rickie_2]

simply running the bcdboot command from an elevated command prompt brought back my Windows 10 Boot Menu.

I also then disabled Fast Boot in Windows 10. Figured perhaps it not doing proper shut downs likely wasn't helping. after this I was able to boot into Windows 10 just fine, then 7 just fine. After shutting down 7 however, when I go to startup it hangs at the boot splash screen, then comes up with the Windows 10 logo and the spinning circle. Doesn't get any further than that. This is what my initial issue was I believe.

Guess I may just have to remove Windows 10 and reinstall it, after all.

 

[Rickie_2]

Although not ideal, reinstalling Windows 10 and renabling the Boot Menu yet again fixed my issue. Thanks for the advice, guys.

 

[onespeedbiker]

Great, glad you could figure it out!