Slow logon : Preparing Windows.

[kennysarmy]

Could do with some pointers in how to troubleshoot what could be causing the "Preparing Windows" screen to sit for up to 5 minutes when I logon using our domain admin account.

 

desktop.ini has no restrictions to saving in the account's H:\ drive.

 

[bald_pig]

Grab the performance toolkit to trace the logon process and see what is taking time:

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/test/wpt/

[FN-GM]

This can be a result of DNS issues.

[simpsonj]

Worth checking the size of the network profile, if it has one.

 

Also, it may be trying to install/update a bunch of Windows Apps when you login if they haven't been disabled or removed beforehand.

[mikemcsharry]

Hate to ask the question... but what's the reason for logging on with a domain admin account? Not best practice especially as schools are already seen as 'low hanging fruit' by the cyber low life.

[dubsdj]

Normally I wouldn't use the domain admin account to log into any computers but only servers. Try looking at event viewer and the application log, you'll probably see loads of warnings about profiles etc.

[mavhc]

Troubleshooting Slow Logins with the Windows Performance Tool Kit – Stephen Jesse

 

In general the first time you log into a Windows 10 computer it initialises all the UWP apps, each one gets its own per user registry file etc.

 

That's if all first logins are the same length of time though.