Sometimes in support you’ll be asked to collect a boot trace to help troubleshoot slow boot or slow logon scenarios. The symptoms are a long time passes from startup to the CTRL+ALT+DEL or from CTRL+ALT+DEL to a usable desktop experience. This blog will walk you through the steps needed to do this. While you can… Continue reading How to collect a boot trace on Windows 10 using xbootmgr
Tag: Slow Boot
How to boot trace Windows 10 using the in-box wpr.exe (no install needed) [edited 12/26]
Applies to: Windows 10+, Windows Server 2016+ Target audience: People I support primarily. Anyone who wants to perf like a pro? Starting the trace Simply open an administrative command prompt. Then make a directory (if required) to save your recording in. Enter the command, as you would for a normal WPR trace, but using the… Continue reading How to boot trace Windows 10 using the in-box wpr.exe (no install needed) [edited 12/26]
How To: Collect ETL/WPT tracing diagnostics when you can never logon to the host.
First, guess who's back?! Me! I left Microsoft of my own accord last year. I came back. I wrote this about my experience, I hope you enjoy it. There and back again, an IT tale… Anyways, I was asked a few times recently, Dude, how do you collect an ETW trace for boot/logon if the… Continue reading How To: Collect ETL/WPT tracing diagnostics when you can never logon to the host.
Xperf for the layman, performance analysis unchained, Windows Assessment Toolkit revealed.
If you have been following along in performance land the last year or three, you’d hear about xperf and the WPT (Windows Performance Toolkit). Mayhap you’ve had some time to practice and you know what you are doing. Cool. This tool might still interest you. If you, on the other hand, haven’t heard of these,… Continue reading Xperf for the layman, performance analysis unchained, Windows Assessment Toolkit revealed.
How to collect a trace for audio or video problems in Windows 7
Assume the following: You have a Windows 7 host that you want to collect a trace from. The user complains of audio issues, stuttering, latency, etc…or video frame rate is low. Something annoying. Like my previous post, lets cover a few basic rules here as we get started: 1. If host = Windows 7 AND… Continue reading How to collect a trace for audio or video problems in Windows 7
How to collect a good boot trace on Windows 7
Assume the following: You have a Windows 7 host that you want to collect a trace from. A good trace. One that you know other people will be able to decipher as well as yourself. Maybe I’ve asked you to collect a boot trace so I can look at it and pointed you to this… Continue reading How to collect a good boot trace on Windows 7
Windows 8 ADK solves GPO Logon Delay questions, film at 11….
Symptoms: Logons take forever and you’ve collected an xbootmgr/WPR/xperf123/xperfui trace. What GPO can it be? Easy! Open Windows Performance Analyzer from the Windows 8 ADK: Open Said Offending Trace: Expand…System Activity and then find the Generic Events, click and drag the windows so its under “Analysis” tab… AR me eyes! Relax, its ok,… Continue reading Windows 8 ADK solves GPO Logon Delay questions, film at 11….
Ladies and Gentleman (and low lifes), it is with outstanding pleasure tonight that I am able to present to you, the reader, with an xperf trace….
For those who didn’t yet know, the Dude is a fan of old school rap. So one of these days, not much to do, I was chillin with my old school crew and I ran into a slow boot scenario… (Yes, I am in fact listening to Mona Lisa by Slick Rick the Ruler!) So… Continue reading Ladies and Gentleman (and low lifes), it is with outstanding pleasure tonight that I am able to present to you, the reader, with an xperf trace….
Yet another xperf analysis post
Pump up the volume, Pump up the volume… Slow Boot: Yep, that’s slow. Clearly not in CPU usage though…what about disk? Nope (the dude knows nothing about this trace except he (when looking at it the first time) named it ROFLCOPTER)…. So basically the system hangs at boot from 30 second mark through to 350… Continue reading Yet another xperf analysis post
The dude does xperf…
So the Dude (that’s me) has gone over how to collect xperf traces a few times now, but what do we do after we’ve collected a solid .etl file you may ask? Well, that’s what this post is all about. This is how the Dude does it. The Dude you see is listening to Simple… Continue reading The dude does xperf…