10 Minute Guide to halving XP boot time

This guide has been edited to incorporate the feedback of early testers, and all problems have now been resolved.

ADVANTAGES:
Reduced boot time
Reduced shutdown time
Reduced system footprint

DISADVANTAGES:
The inability to have a login screen at bootup.
Default login to 'SYSTEM' account.
Loss of previous shortcuts

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Minimal Logon (MinLogon) is a hybrid version of the Windows Logon component (WinLogon) that ships with both Windows XP Embedded and Windows XP Professional. WinLogon is a utility that provides logon and authentication support for users to the local system and/or network domain. It consists of an executable file, a dynamic-link library (DLL), and associated services. WinLogon is not available for Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me).

MinLogon is particular to Windows XP Embedded as it is geared toward the needs of embedded developers, and so is not available or supported on Windows XP Professional systems. Using MinLogon in a Windows XP Embedded runtime allows you to reduce boot time, shutdown time, and footprint. However, there are some points to keep in mind when using these techniques.

REAL WORLD TESTS
I used minlogon on my xp laptop. There first thing I noticed was that there was no fancy visuals and the first graphical appearance was the appearance of the desktop. Minlogon decreased boot time from 35 seconds to 17 seconds. Minlogon overrides your desktop settings to how it looked when you first installed xp, so backup all important files first (your documents and programs should still be there, but shortcuts may be missing). The are no disadvantages to using minlogon. The following is the guide to installing minlogon, but I will not be responsible for any damage installing minlogon may cause, although I personally have not experienced any problems. You must however only use this with xp x86.

the advantages of minlogon in boot speed can be seen on the ultra-portable, EEE PC-

With Minlogon:
<object width='425' height='344'><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TywRB0ckJ58&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TywRB0ckJ58&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width='425' height='344'></embed></object>

Without Minlogon:
<object width='425' height='344'><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pomhPclro44&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/pomhPclro44&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width='425' height='344'></embed></object>

25 seconds vs 45 seconds. No comparison.

GUIDE

1)
Download the 2 minlogon files from http://hosted.filefront.com/jisaac (minlogon.exe and minlogon.reg) and save to a known directory.

2)
Boot into safe mode by using the following instructions:
If the computer is running, shut down Windows, and then turn off the power
Wait 30 seconds, and then turn the computer on.
Start tapping the F8 key. The Windows Advanced Options Menu appears. If you begin tapping the F8 key too soon, some computers display a "keyboard error" message. To resolve this, restart the computer and try again.
Ensure that the Safe mode option is selected.
Press Enter. The computer then begins to start in Safe mode

3)
Navigate to C:\Windows\System32

4)
Find the winlogon application and rename it to winlogon.bak

5)
Copy the minlogon.exe application you have just download and move it to C:\Windows\System32

6)
rename minlogon ( the file you have just copied) to winlogon

7)
Double click the registry entry file you have just downloaded and say yes to any changes.

Almost finished,
Just reboot and be fascinated lol.

You may notice that task manager no longer works with the generic keyboard shortcut, to re-enable;

8)
Navigate to (Drive Letter):\WINDOWS\system32

9)
find taskmgr, right click, and click copy

10)
In the same directory
right-click in an empty space, and press 'paste shortcut'

11)
Right click the shortcut you've just made and click on properties.

12)
Click on the box named, 'shortcut key' and press 'd' on your keyboard, and then press OK.

13)
Now if you press Ctrl+Alt+d on your keyboard, the task manager will appear. Currently there is no way to have the original Ctrl+Alt+Delete shortcut.

You may notice that, certain shortcuts (for programs etc.) may have been lost, to restore shortcut, do the following:

14)
Navigate to (Drive Letter):\Program Files\(The directory of the program you wish to restore)

15)
Within this directory is normally the application itself. Drag the app to the program section of the start menu

If clicking on 'My documents' in the start menu points to the wrong location:

16)
Right click it, and select properties

17)
On the 'target' tab, select the 'move' option

18)
Navigate to where your documents were stored previously,
ie. C:\Documents and Settings\{your previous user name}

Your Finished!

I will soon post a new guide detailing how to use another embedded feature ewf which completely stops writes to your hard drive using a ram overlay. ewf speeds up your system but is also a useful tool in prolonging you're SSD's life.

all comments are welcome

 

I replace task manager with Sysinternals Process Explorer anyway, I'm gonna check this out!

Will post results, thanks!

 

Windows XP protects this file and replaces the old one without warning, so it did not work for me.

 

Hep try the guide again but try logging in as administrator.

 

just updating this thread to get more testers

 

You don't happen to have a XP x64 version of those DLLs, do you?

 

I'm afraid not as i do not think that there is a x64 embedded version of xp.

 

Thought so... thanks anyway!

 

got any screenshots or videos?

 

i will reinstall xp tomorrow and video boot times and general usage with the normal winlogon and then with minlogon. but in the mean time try it yourselves, i am not lying when I say that it halved my boot times. You will be amazed at your computer's speed- so follow the guide

 

I`ll give this a try tomorrow.
So, will it kill my docs folder or what?

 

I cannot be sure at this moment as my xp laptop is still at school, so back up important files and try it. Minlogon would be the equivalent of using an SSD but for free.

 

I`ll let you try it first then, if something goes wrong, my whole final exam will be screwed

 

I am logged in as administrator. This probably has to be done in safe mode.

 

I am going to try doing it again, this time in safe mode, will post results.

BTW what I mean by protected is when you delete it, windows replaces it immediately. Even file replacement, Windows puts the original file back.

 

by deleting it i assume you mean changing its name?
you could try 1 of 2 things:
1)
right click on winlogon and select properties. then click on the security tab and select your user account. Then click edit, and tick all the allow boxes.

2)
place the minlogon file in the system 32 folder first. then rename it to winlogon. if it prompts you to rename it click no, if it prompts you to replace the current winlogon file click yes.

 

the advantages of minlogon in boot speed can be seen on the eee pc

without minlogon:
http://www.liliputing.com/2008/04/windows-xp-startup-showdown-mini-note-v.html

with minlogon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TywRB0ckJ58

60 seconds vs 30 seconds. no comparison

 

When you rename winlogon to winlogon.bak it restores the file winlogon.exe, so now you have both winlogon.bak and winlogon.exe. Deleting the winlogon.exe causes it to be replaced immediately by the original. Replacing it has the same result.

 

Hi jisaac,

I've read about EFW and minlogon and am thinking about using this idea on a Compact Flash Card (300x) with a Windows XP installation on it.

I've seen videos using a Compact Flash Card (300x) booting Windows XP up very fast without the minlogon and EFW.

I read that the new SanDisk Extreme III cards and newer won't work in IDE mode because SanDisk doesn't want them to keep people from using them as cheap solid state disks, but Transcend still works well!

So, my goal is: 4GB CF(300x) with Windows XP with EFW & Minlogon, and the harddrive for my media.

Will this cut down the boot time even more?

Thanks!

 

Yes. The easiest/safest way is to do it in Safe Mode instead of playing around with the security. This is just like replacing the XP logon screen (logonui.exe). These are system protected files, it will recreate itself if you try to delete it in normal mode.

For the record, I haven't used this mod yet, since my boot up time is already about 20 sec.

 

It may work in safe moe, however most users of this mod, prefer to disable windows file protection. I myself use the SFC disable option, when using nlite to tweak the xp install iso, much easier to do.

 

I`ve never really seen benefits from this program , and I`ve timed bootups one time too many both with it and without it. Maybe I`ve already tweaked my OS too much

 

Well I and many others have got very good results using minlogon. even with my tweaked xp I still notice at least 40% quicker bootups.

btw can anyone confirm that booting into safe mode works for this tweak? If so I can edit my op.

 

For sure it will work in Safe Mode, cause SFC is disabled. For most users, I still don't recommend disabling SFC in XP though. Plus the SFC in XP is not really getting in the way in most cases. Good thing doing it in Safe Mode is that no security setting has changed, once you go back to normal mode, everything is back to the way it was.

 

The original post was edited to incorporate booting in safe mode. Any comments on this guide? Suprisingly there have been over 100 downloads of the minlogon.exe file, and yet there have been relatively few posts in this thread. Could some of the more frequent posters get the minlogon message out there?
cheers all

 

Good guide, reps later when my 24 hours cycle thing recharges.

 

The guide has just been edited again, to include re-enabling the task manager shortcut, as well as real world vids. Now there are really no disadvantages to using minlogon, only advantages! I'm quite pleased, if you type 'minlogon guide' in google, my one is the first one that comes up Please spread the word!

 

This guide has officially been moved to the windows forum. I'd appreciate as much feedback as possible,
thanks all!!!

 

Der, nevermind didn't read thoroughly

 

I would love to use this, but the lack of the logon page kills it for me.

 

Well I just tried this and as the last poster states, no login screed kills it for me, on my work laptop anyways.

I didn't notice that anything was deleted, you are just logging in under a different user. All my desktop stuff was still available going through docs & settings.

Cool program though, I may have to put it on my other machine.

 

I didn't know there is no logon screen, if that's the case, then it's not good for me either.

 

Would something like this work on nlited versions of XP?

 

Yes, I am using it on an nlited xp myself

 

If I didn't use a logon screen I would definitely give that a try. My XP already boots up pretty fast but i'll try to see this to see how much faster it will be. Good find

Oh and to go back you just...rename the old file to what it was?

 

exactly, just restore the winlogon file you renamed.

 

What about the registry edit???

 

Umm...so far this tweak isn't too great.

So far my Microsoft Activesync no longer works and my objectdock was completely reset, and looking at Start > Programs i'm missing about 15 programs on my list.

Actually i'm pretty much not longed onto my name anymore. It's like i'm logged in as a guest now. Actually it says i'm logged in as "System" when I click on start

 

Read more about MinLogon here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms838653.aspx

It will log on on as SYSTEM. See the first embedded video in OP and check out the start menu where your name would be.

 

I tried MinLogon today on my 4G EEE PC to see if improve boot time.. Before using Minlogon, my tweaked out installation of XP SP3 was ready to use within 31 seconds of pushing the power button.. and after replacing WinLogon with MinLogon it took 31 seconds. No change in boot time. What I did notice is that the power button doesn't do anything anymore while in XP. Normally pushing it would cause XP to ask if I want to Restart, Shutdown or Standby but now I have to manually go to the start menu to shutdown. Though it does shutdown twice as fast now. Instead of seeing a screen that says "Windows is shutting down", elements of the desktop just disappear one at a time and then it powers off. I'm hoping there's a workaround for the power button issue because if there isn't, it kind of negates the quicker shutdown.

 

not very tempting after all these comments


kthxbye

 

It's not really bad, its just that you lose your login screen and you pretty much have to redo everything like moving files from your previous username to the new one. Your startup files would have to be redone. Umm...like I said I lost about 15 programs on the program list, not sure what to do about that. Just a whole bunch of customizations I guess. I really don't feel like going thru all that and I need my login screen

I did see a decrease in my boot time although I didn't have time to really enjoy it cause I was missing everything lol

 

if you dont like it, dont use it. The pros and cons are now stated in the intro. kthxbye

 

Not working for me.

Without minilogon 34 seconds.
With minilogon 34 seconds.

Maybe because I am running XP SP3 performance edition.

 

what's the performance edition??

 

a warez thingy, right phil?

 

Yes! and I do have a Windows XP key so it's not illegal

 

hi, just want to ask what is the default registry for

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"Config"=dword:00000017
because i want to make it default again, thx before ^^

 

By default that particular registry key does not contain the value Config

cheers ...

 

thx for the help man ^^