WDS hosted Windows 7 64bit image - putting on an SSD drive ?

[kennysarmy]

We use a WDS server and image our PC's using this method and having been doing so for years now.

 

The host PC on which I create the image has always had a standard SATA HDD drive installed.

 

If I was to re-image a PC which has an SSD drive insatalled is there anything I need to do on the freshly imaged PC to ensure it makes use of the increased performance?

 

I've read a few internet posts which suggest:

 

The only reliable way to guarantee an aligned drive is to do a clean Win7 install. Other 'sure fire' methods are still hit and miss - not to mention they fail to allow the O/S to prepare itself for the SSD optimally

 

But is this sorted as the new WDS image does it mini-setup routine?

 

Any tips/help appreciated.

 

Ta

[kennysarmy]

Found this:

 

TRIM

To check if windows has enabled TRIM (recommended for SSD drives) do the following.

 

Run command prompt in administrator mode and type in:

 

fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify

 

Press enter then you should see one of these:

 

DisableDeleteNotify = 1 (Windows TRIM commands are disabled)

DisableDeleteNotify = 0 (Windows TRIM commands are enabled)

 

It's set to ZERO for my freshly imaged PC.

 

 

Prefetch Parameters

 

Windows should have turned off Prefetcher and Superfetch (Old technology for HDD)

 

Navigate to the following registry,

 

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters

 

If the superfetch and prefetch features are disabled, their registry value should be 0, please check if EnablePrefetcher and EnableSuperfetch are both set to 0, if the aren’t then set them manually to 0.

 

EnablePrefetcher & EnableSuperfetch are set to 3 - should I change to ZERO ?

 

 

Disk Defragmenter

 

SSD doesn’t need defragmenting nor should the drive be defragmented.

 

Navigate to Disk Defrag, if the SSD drive is shown in the list of drives then make sure the Scheduled defrag is turned off.

 

By default this was ON - should I turn off?

[kennysarmy]

Another one:

 

No-GUI boot

 

Disabling the Windows splash screen while booting can shave a few extra seconds off boot times, which isn’t a huge difference, but with the already-fast boot times of SSDs, it can make your computer feel really snappy.

 

Click start, type msconfig, then press enter. Under the boot tab, tick No GUI boot, then restart the computer.

[Arthur]

No-GUI boot

That's not worth doing since it doesn't make any difference to the boot speed. It's a placebo.

 

http://helgeklein.com/blog/2012/02/what-remains-of-magic-speed-improvements

http://helgeklein.com/blog/2012/02/how-to-speed-up-your-windows-7-boot-time-by-20 (see comments)

[kennysarmy]

That's not worth doing since it doesn't make any difference to the boot speed. It's a placebo.

 

http://helgeklein.com/blog/2012/02/what-remains-of-magic-speed-improvements

http://helgeklein.com/blog/2012/02/how-to-speed-up-your-windows-7-boot-time-by-20 (see comments)

 

Thanks - will remove that one then

[difinity]

To check the alignment

 

In windows 7, run msinfo32 by typing it into the search box on your start menu and hitting enter.

 

click on: components => storage => disks

 

Look for your SSD and check the partition starting offset.

 

It needs to be divisible by 4096 (ie return a whole number when you divide by this) otherwise the alignment is not correct.

[Duke5A]

To check the alignment

 

In windows 7, run msinfo32 by typing it into the search box on your start menu and hitting enter.

 

click on: components => storage => disks

 

Look for your SSD and check the partition starting offset.

 

It needs to be divisible by 4096 (ie return a whole number when you divide by this) otherwise the alignment is not correct.

 

I just checked two separate systems (Optiplex 760 and Latitude 2100) with Crucial V4 SSD drives and they came back aligned. Both these systems were imaged through WDS with no special prep for SSD drives.