Alisa said:
Greetings,
Occasionally my computer takes a long time to shut down. The
closing screen "windows is shutting down" will be on the screen for
quite some time before my comp. actually shuts down. Does anyone
know why this "occasionally " happens?
Thanks
I forget just where I found this info. at (it's been some time), but to
whoever it was I give them the credit.
When you shutdown your Windows XP computer, it may take more time to
complete the shutdown process. Slow shutdowns are caused by a number of
factors. One of the common cause is the 'Clear Pagefile at Shutdown' option
enabled.
Virtual memory support uses a system pagefile to swap pages of memory to
disk when they are not used. On a running system, this pagefile is opened
exclusively by the operating system, and it is well protected. However,
systems that are configured to allow booting to other operating systems
might have to make sure that the system pagefile is wiped clean when this
system shuts down. This ensures that sensitive information from process
memory that might go into the pagefile is not available to an unauthorized
user who manages to directly access the pagefile.
When this option is enabled, it causes the system pagefile to be cleared
upon clean shutdown. This takes considerable time of the Operating System to
flush-out the pagefile, thus causing the slow shutdown. You may disable
ClearPageFileAtShutdown option to improve shutdown times. But the
pagefile.sys will be intact and accessible via other Operating System, in
case or dual or multi-boot.
Start Registry Editor [Regedit.exe] and navigate to the following key:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory
Management]
Set ClearPageFileAtShutdown value to 0
Or, using Group Policy Editor [for Windows XP Professional]
Click Start, Run and type "Secpol.msc"
Click Local Policies | Security Options
In the right-pane, set Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile to Disabled
However, this setting is not the only cause for slow shutdowns.
Non-responsive programs and Services also contribute to slow shutdowns.
Lowering the WaitToKillServiceTimeOut may help may help as well.
The WaitToKillServiceTimeout value name in the registry allows you to
specify a length of time that the service control manager must wait for
services to complete the shut-down request. Open Registry Editor and
navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SYSTEM
\CurrentControlSet
\Control
\WaitToKillServiceTimeout
Backup your registry first, as explained here. Then, reduce the Service
timeout value (default being 20000ms) to your preference.(I have mine set to
300)
Similarly, set the AutoEndTasks to 1 in the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER
\Control Panel
\Desktop
AutoEndTasks value determines whether user processes end automatically when
the user either logs off or shuts down Windows 2000/XP.
By doing the above [previous two steps], we're forcibly killing a
non-responsive application or service. On the other hand, troubleshooting
the application may also be necessary
