windows 10 slow boot problem? 7 ways to make it faster in 2023

Windows 10 takes forever to boot when you turn on or reboot your computer. Many users report, Windows 10 slow boot after update, the system stuck on a black screen with the loading animation dots for a long time. There are multiple reasons include outdated drivers, malware infections, disk errors, buggy updates or too many startup programs cause Slow Boot Times in Windows 10. Whatever the reason, here we’ve put together some easy and helpful solutions apply to fix Windows 10 slow boot problem after update.

What causes Windows 10 slow boot problem?

Having too many startup programs, that set to start automatically when your computer start can slow down the boot process. And you can use Taskmanager to disable the apps that might cause the Windows 10 slow startup issues. Drivers that are outdated or incompatible with your hardware can cause slow boot times, and you need to update them with the latest version to fix the slow boot problem on Windows 10. Although the Fast Startup feature in Windows 10 is designed to speed up the boot process, it can cause issues if it becomes corrupted. For most users disable the fast startup feature fix the Windows 10 slow boot problem.

Disable Startup Programs

Too many start-up programs load as the computer starts up, which may slow down the Windows 10 boot process. Let’s first Open the task manager and Disable Processes with High Startup Impact.

Press Shift + Ctrl +Esc key simultaneously to open Task Manager
Move to the Startup tab, here you will see a list of programs with startup impact that start when your computer boot.
Right-click on any processes that need to be disabled. Then click Disable and close the window.

Disable Fast Startup

Fast startup feature introduced to speed up boot times, the name sounds promising but sometimes this is the reason behind Windows 10 slow boot problem. And a number of users recommend, disabling the fast startup feature help them fix the problem and speed up Windows 10 boot times.

Press Windows key + R, type powercfg.cpl and click ok
Click on “Choose what the power buttons do,” then Change settings that are currently unavailable.
And finally uncheck the “Turn on fast startup” option and click save.

Change Power Options to High Performance

In addition, again open Power Options click on show additional plans and Select the radio button High Performance.

Update windows 10

Sometimes Windows update bugs or older versions of Windows 10, that not optimized for newer hardware can also contribute to slow boot times. And install the latest Windows 10 updates to ensure you’re getting the latest performance improvements and bug fixes.

Press Windows key + X and select settings
Go to update and security then Windows update,
Now hit the check for updates button, to check and install the latest Windows updates
Once done you need to reboot your computer to apply the Windows updates.

Now check if installing the latest Windows 10 update improves your system’s performance and potentially speed up your boot time.

Adjust Paging File Settings

Paging files or virtual memory use part of your storage drive as pretend RAM, which allows more tasks to run on your system. But sometimes change virtual memory settings on its own, causing boot issues. According to users changing virtual memory settings help fix such problems on Windows 10.

Press the Windows key + S, search for Performance and choose Adjust the Appearance and performance of Windows
Move to the advanced tab, here you will see the size of paging file, click change to edit it
Uncheck “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives” and click “Custom size“.
Set the Initial size and Maximum size, refer to the Microsoft guide on how to decide appropriate page file size.
Click “Set” > “OK” and then restart your computer.

Update your graphics card driver

Again old or corrupted drivers on your Windows 10 PC, can cause your computer to boot slowly. And you need to update the device drivers with the latest version to solve the Windows 10 slow boot problem.

Press Windows key + X and select Device Manager,
Expand display adapters, right-click on Installed graphics card select update driver,
Select the Search automatically option and follow the on-screen instructions to download and install the driver update from the Microsoft server.

Also, you can navigate the Graphics card manufacturer’s official site to download the latest driver for Windows 10 and install it on your PC
Once done, reboot your PC and check if after updating the device driver the Windows 10 boot time improved.

Run system file checker

Some of the Windows files responsible for the boot process are corrupted or missing due to some reason can cause Windows 10 slow boot problems. It’s worth running SFC (system file checker) command to check your Windows 10 installation for corrupted system files and replace them with working copies.

Press Windows key + S, type cmd and select run as administrator
First, run DISM.exe to make a Windows image to protect your data: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth.
When the DISM command has been completed, type sfc /scannow to start scanning and repairing your system files.

Check for Disk Errors

In addition, Disk errors can also cause slow boot times on your Windows 10 computer. If the above solutions didn’t improve the Windows 10 boot time then you need to check and fix the disk drive for errors using chkdsk command.

Again open the command prompt as administrator,
Run command chkdsk C: /f /r, type Y and press enter to schedule check disk error on the next start,
Close everything and reboot your PC to scan your hard drive for errors and attempt to fix them.

In addition, you need free up disk space on your computer to optimize the Windows 10 boot time. Also open programs and features using appwiz.cpl and uninstall the programs or games you don’t use.

Virus Malware infections can also cause slow boot times on your Windows 10 computer. To fix this, run a malware scan using your antivirus software. If you don’t have antivirus software, you can download and install one for free, such as Avast, AVG, or Malwarebytes.

If tried all the above methods but still can’t speed up Windows 10 boot time? It’s time to back up important data and factory reset Windows 10 that reinstall a fresh copy on your system. Head to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery and select Get Started under Reset this PC to start.

Your computer is still slow to boot after trying the above steps, you may need to upgrade your hardware. Upgrading your hard drive to a solid-state drive (SSD) can significantly improve boot times and overall performance.