Windows 11 Slow Booting

[SahkoHinta]

Hi there!
For the past month, I've been experiencing slow boot times on my laptop running Windows 11. Sometimes, the boot process takes up to a minute, showing only a dim black (blank) screen.

I searched online and followed several suggested steps, but the issue persists. I also used the Windows Storage settings to clean up junk files and removed some unnecessary data. Additionally, I installed a few system optimization tools to clear junk files and fix registry errors, but the problem remains unchanged.

My Laptop configuration:

• Intel Core i5 10th Gen
• 16GB RAM
• 512GB SSD
• OS: Windows 11 (24H2 Build 26100.6899)

Note: Once the system boots (even if it takes 2–3 minutes), overall performance is mostly fine.

Any suggestions or help to improve startup (booting) speed?

 

[tech3475]

First of all, I'd make a backup in case something goes wrong or worse an impending hardware failure.

Second, have you made any changes or significant updates/upgrades in the last month?

Have you checked settings like fast boot?

 

[SahkoHinta]

First of all, I'd make a backup in case something goes wrong or worse an impending hardware failure.

Second, have you made any changes or significant updates/upgrades in the last month?

Have you checked settings like fast boot?

@tech3475 Thank you for your time. I did not made any changes in the hardware, but in last 1 or 2 months got lot of updates from Microsoft and i install it. The only problem i am facing in the booting time. Once the laptop boot and load windows then it's act normally.
Where i can find Fast Boot settings?

 

[tech3475]

@tech3475 Thank you for your time. I did not made any changes in the hardware, but in last 1 or 2 months got lot of updates from Microsoft and i install it. The only problem i am facing in the booting time. Once the laptop boot and load windows then it's act normally.
Where i can find Fast Boot settings?

It's in the power settings, I think it's accessible via the old control panel.

 

[SahkoHinta]

It's in the power settings, I think it's accessible via the old control panel.

Checked and i think it's turned ON

 

[tech3475]

Is bitlocker enabled? I think searching "encryption" in the settings will bring this up.

 

[impeeza]

Is bitlocker enabled? I think searching "encryption" in the settings will bring this up.

Check if system files compression is on, use this command on a command line:

compact /CompactOs:query


and the result will tell you if is enabled, if so, you can disable it with the command:

compact /CompactOs:never

 

[Exnor]

Try running Trimm on the SSD just in case.

But that looks like some service is waiting for something to happen. Have you tried to boot in safe mode to see if the problem persists?

Since Windows is a crappy OS to debug, i would back up the important data and format and reinstall the OS.

 

[SahkoHinta]

Is bitlocker enabled? I think searching "encryption" in the settings will bring this up.

Checked & Bitlocker is disabled.

Post automatically merged: Oct 27, 2025

Check if system files compression is on, use this command on a command line:

compact /CompactOs:query


and the result will tell you if is enabled, if so, you can disable it with the command:

compact /CompactOs:never

Got the following information after running the command:
The system is in the Compact state. It will remain in this state unless an
administrator changes it.

Post automatically merged: Oct 27, 2025

Try running Trimm on the SSD just in case.

But that looks like some service is waiting for something to happen. Have you tried to boot in safe mode to see if the problem persists?

Since Windows is a crappy OS to debug, i would back up the important data and format and reinstall the OS.

Not yet checked on Safe Mode, but here is a question that whether turning on the system in safe boot also effect in the booting? The whole issue is between press the power button till the windows login screen. earlier it was taking a few seconds to the login screen.
Could you please elaborate further the trim on the SSD? do you mean partitions? already had 2 C: & D: Partition.

 

[Exnor]

"but here is a question that whether turning on the system in safe boot also effect in the booting" Yes it does. You may not see it but in a mater of seconds the kernel and all associated componentes are loaded, the hardware is initialized, then what makes the OS starts to ""run"".

In safe mode (afaik) a lot of components, like some services, drivers etc... are not loaded, so if the issue remains it very likely that you have:
A» corrupted part of the OS, like some crucial configuration file is corrupted,
B» faulty hardware or near fault (my guess here is the SSD but it can be something simple like an USB device that you have plugged in)
C» UEFI/BIOS configuration issues (no likely but possible)

Do the following: Download any Linux distro live CD, install it on a USB device and boot the computer from it. See if gives any error on boot.

As for the Trim option its here:

 

[wamble]

Any suggestions or help to improve startup (booting) speed?

autoruns
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns

Search for "speed-up Windows boot times with autoruns" or similar, if you don't know how to use it.

What I would also consider is https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 for general Windows antispyware debloat, as a bare minimum. I remove Defender & Edge & disable Windows Update permanently with some tools on Github that I can't recall right now (not using Windows now). I find it improves Windows responsiveness.

 

[CoolMe]

4 words: windows 11 iot ltsc (if you're insisting on 11 for some reason, otherwise go with win 10 iot ltsc)

 

[Skv0ra]

Hi there!
For the past month, I've been experiencing slow boot times on my laptop running Windows 11. Sometimes, the boot process takes up to a minute, showing only a dim black (blank) screen.

I searched online and followed several suggested steps, but the issue persists. I also used the Windows Storage settings to clean up junk files and removed some unnecessary data. Additionally, I installed a few system optimization tools to clear junk files and fix registry errors, but the problem remains unchanged.

My Laptop configuration:

• Intel Core i5 10th Gen
• 16GB RAM
• 512GB SSD
• OS: Windows 11 (24H2 Build 26100.6899)

Note: Once the system boots (even if it takes 2–3 minutes), overall performance is mostly fine.

Any suggestions or help to improve startup (booting) speed?

What/quality of "ssd"?

m.2 NVME sticks all come with a huge variety of read speeds, so if you have some lower end one, which is possible with an i5 being the core of the laptop, on top of settings and others things others mentioned it's absolutely possible that a crappy or mystery m.2 (assuming that's what you're running vs a 2.5 drive) could also majorly bog you down from my understanding.

That side, if you can, I'd absolutely try to upgrade to 32gb ram in general these days since lots of everything is starting to bloat to push hardware sales.

 

[SahkoHinta]

What/quality of "ssd"?

m.2 NVME sticks all come with a huge variety of read speeds, so if you have some lower end one, which is possible with an i5 being the core of the laptop, on top of settings and others things others mentioned it's absolutely possible that a crappy or mystery m.2 (assuming that's what you're running vs a 2.5 drive) could also majorly bog you down from my understanding.

That side, if you can, I'd absolutely try to upgrade to 32gb ram in general these days since lots of everything is starting to bloat to push hardware sales.

The M.2 NVMe stick might be the culprit, although I'm not sure which brand or model is installed. Interestingly, the recent Windows updates from a few days ago improved performance by about 15 to 20%

 

[Skv0ra]

The M.2 NVMe stick might be the culprit, although I'm not sure which brand or model is installed. Interestingly, the recent Windows updates from a few days ago improved performance by about 15 to 20%

I would dig up the hardware info on the ssd and then it will be clear as to what the culprit is. Also, have you run Windows debloat yet? Take a look at something like, https://github.com/ChrisTitusTech/winutil , and target things like Recall feature and all the damn telemetry.

 

[Evilengine]

Use Tiny11 to create a proper Win11 without BS. That's what I use and it's the best Windows experience, I ever had!
https://github.com/ntdevlabs/tiny11builder