Windows 8 long domain log in times

[Jtrotta]

This is a re-post from a problem posted last year that was never resolved. I recently installed Windows 8 on 24 machines. The problem is the computers take forever to log onto the domain for first time users but all the users are first time users because we use deep freeze.

 

I have disabled the 'Show first sign-in animation' GPO and enabled verbose mode. All verbose reports is "preparing windows"

 

When I domain join one of these suite computers during a users first login I get the following screen

This screen stays for a long time - I recorded 5 minutes several times.

 

I don't believe this is a DNS issue because the DNS settings are the same throughout the campus and Windows 7 and XP both log in to the domain within seconds. I even updrafed 8 of the PCs to windows 8.1 to see if that would resolve the issue but it has not.

 

Entirely by accident one of the students realized that if you press CTRL + ALT + DEL to interrupt the Preparing Computer screen you can then access the desktop immediately and everything is fully functional.

This makes me think that there isn't any vital config going on during this preparing computer stage and it is probably hanging.

 

Has anyone else encountered this?

I am not sure what to do about this long login wait.

 

Thanks,

Joe

[TG_MI]

Just as a troubleshooting step, I'd toss a test system into an OU in AD that has minimal/no GPO's applied to it to rule out group policy processing as a possible cause. Be sure to run a gpupdate /force /boot before doing a test login with a "new" user to make sure the system is rebooting with little to no group policy processing.

 

I do know that Windows 8 handles certain aspects of group policy processing differently, though I thought it was optimized to speed up login, not slow it down. IIRC, I think it does things like delay the execution of logon scripts until after logon etc.

 

This may be helpful if you think that's the direction of your issues:

What's New in Group Policy in Windows Server

[TheGoodGuy]

If you don't use apps, I suggest using the powershell script that removes the apps, helps a lot. Other thing you can do is setup a default profile.

[robjduk]

Agree with thegoodguy. Remove all apps from image and you should see this reduced to about 2-3 min upon first login. Future logins should be considerably faster. My new 8.1 build is down to about 1:20 for a new user to sign in for the first time.

[matte53]

How have you all set up your 8.1 profiles? I'm in the process of rolling 8.1 out here & been playing around with profiles, GPOs etc to try & get the quickest logon times. I've also had the same 'Preparing Windows' issues & they seem especially bad with a mandatory roaming profile, it takes around 1:30 to logon & the bulk of this time is taken up using 'Preparing Windows' & Folder Redirection.

 

Ideally I'd like to use local profiles but each local profile seems to be around 50mb with 90% of this taken up by the App Data/Local/Windows folder & am concerned that hard drives will get filled up with profiles.

 

Thanks

[robjduk]

local profiles..... oO

 

aim the data at the user's network account

[matte53]

Thanks - excuse my ignorance, how do you mean aim the data at users account?

[robjduk]

in group policy....

User configuration, policies, windows settings, folder redirection...

 

set the AppData(Roaming) to...

Setting: Basic- redirect everyone's folder to the same location

Target folder: Redirect to the following location

Root Path: %Homeshare%\Appdata81 (by default its just Appdata but I like to change mine when I change OS)

 

Fairly sure that is what you want to do. This will redirect the 50mb+ appdata to the users home area / network drive so they will get it where ever they logon so it will stop building it each time.

 

no doubt if im talking crazy talk, someone will jump in and slap me.

[matte53]

Ah ok - it's actually the 'Local' folder (& more specifically the 'webcachev01.dat' file) of the AppData that seems to be my issue, the Roaming folder only takes up a few KBs & I prefer not to redirect this as it has caused me problems in the past with some applications. Proving a little frustrating as all the potential profile setups seem to have something that's not quite right!

[matte53]

Just out of interest robjduk - how big are your local profiles? Do you delete them on just let them build up? Thanks

[disk]

I would definitely look into configuring the Default Profile. Also, you might want to take a look at this product:

 

ForensiT Desktop Management

 

It allows you to assign a single profile to a group of users.

[matte53]

Thanks - I've recreated a default local profile that has halved in size, initial logon is a little slow but all subsequent logons are around the 10-20 second mark, but this obviously leaves the local profile in situ on the machine.

 

Also having issues with SSDs & GPOs not loading, the SSD appears too quick & isn't able to then pull the policy down, it's not consistent either in it's behaviour, some PCs are fine, others never work unless left for a good couple of minutes prior to logon, all very frustrating!

[disk]

Maybe this could help?

 

Windows 7 Clients intermittently fail to apply group policy at startup