How To Enable Boot Logging For Fixing Startup Problems in Windows. When facing a system crash or startup up problems on Windows Computers, troubleshooting the problem can be difficult to resolve. The first step with recovery is to use Windows Safe Mode option during startup. One Safe Mode option that will help troubleshoot boot problems is to enable Boot Logging which will create a log and help identify the device or driver that is causing the problem during startup. When Boot Logging is enable, Windows boots normally, until the device or driver that is causing the problem either crashes the system or completes starting up but causes an error message in the Event Log. ![]() ![]() While booting, Windows creates a log file that lists every step processed that is attempted and completed. You can then reboot in to Safe Mode and review the log file named ntbootlog. The log is stored in the %SYSTEMROOT% directory (normally C: \Windows or C: \WINNT folder). Below is an example of ntbootlog. Windows XP (Vista log is similar): Service Pack 2 5 4 2. Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system. Get help, support, and tutorials for Windows products—Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, and Windows 10 Mobile. Don't just reboot your Windows 7 PC. I realize that rebooting is the go-to solution when a program won't shut down, or the system starts dragging. How to Enable Task Manager in Windows. Computer users find it useful to enable Task Manager in their personal computers, because it offers information on computer usage. Task Manager, previously known as Windows Task Manager, is a task manager, system monitor, and startup manager included with Microsoft Windows systems. ![]() ![]() Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system. Loaded driver \WINDOWS\system. KDCOM. DLLLoaded driver \WINDOWS\system. BOOTVID. dll. Loaded driver ACPI. Loaded driver \WINDOWS\System. ![]() ![]() Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP, troubleshoot, fix, stop error, Internet Explorer, live, downloads. HP ENVY m6 Notebook PC Maintenance and Service Guide IMPORTANT! This document is intended for HP authorized service providers only. My Windows system refuses to sleep or hibernate. What could be wrong? A Windows computer that won't sleep, hibernate or shut down correctly is typically experiencing. ![]() DRIVERS\WMILIB. SYSLoaded driver pci. Loaded driver isapnp. Loaded driver compbatt. Loaded driver \WINDOWS\System. DRIVERS\BATTC. SYSLoaded driver intelide. Loaded driver \WINDOWS\System. DRIVERS\PCIIDEX. SYSLoaded driver Mount. Mgr. sys. Loaded driver ftdisk. Loaded driver dmload. Loaded driver dmio. Loaded driver Part. Mgr. sys. Loaded driver Vol. Snap. sys. Loaded driver atapi. Loaded driver vmscsi. Loaded driver \WINDOWS\System. DRIVERS\SCSIPORT. SYSLoaded driver disk. Loaded driver \WINDOWS\System. DRIVERS\CLASSPNP. SYSLoaded driver fltmgr. Loaded driver sr. To enable Boot Logging on Windows XP and Vista, boot your Computer, and during startup continually press F8 until the menu screen appears: NOTE: screen shot is from XP. Vista menu will look slightly different than XP. Press F8 to display the Advanced Menu screen and select Enable Boot Logging. You will be returned to the menu screen and you should see Enable Boot Logging in blue displayed at the bottom of the screen (don't worry if this screen is not displayed and Windows starts to boot): If the problem does not cause Windows to crash, and after startup has completed, you can review the ntbootlog. Look for any signs of problems loading device drivers. If you find problems, go into Device Manager and disable the device or uninstall the program, then reboot again. If the problem does not occur then you know it was that device and you should check the vendor website for new drivers or known issues. If your problem does cause Windows to crash, reboot into Safe mode by selecting Safe Mode from the Advanced Menu screen. When reviewing ntbootlog. More than likely the problem will be toward the end of the file (since that was the last item logged before crashing). When you identify the problem, either uninstall the application or go in to Device Manager and disable the device. Reboot your Computer and see if the problem still exist. If it boots without crashing, check the vendor website for new drivers or known issues. If you are still having problems, enable Boot Logging again to see if new events are logged after you have disabled the device or uninstalled the program. If you are unable to fix the problem, you may need to have a Computer shop troubleshoot the problem for you. Notes on Boot Logging: Boot Logging can only be enabled from Safe Mode. Once it is enabled, it only logs during the current boot. It will not log during the next reboot unless you enable it again from Safe Mode. If an existing ntbootlog. Boot Logging is enabled, Windows will append to the existing log file. It is a good idea to have Windows create a new log when there are no problems or after you have added new devices. This will allow full logging to occur and will let you compare with a log when problems exists. Windows Task Manager: A Troubleshooting Tool. Hold on. Don't just reboot your Windows 7 PC. I realize that rebooting is the go- to solution when a program won't shut down, or the system starts dragging or acting wonky, but there is another way. The Task Manager is a powerful tool for troubleshooting and resolving issues in Windows 7. Task Manager lets you view the programs, processes, and services currently running on the PC. You can use Task Manager to monitor your computer's performance, and to close a program that is not responding, view network status, and see which users are connected to the PC. You can have many applications open at once in Windows 7- -limited only by the available memory and processor capacity of the PC. But what you see is a little like watching a duck on a pond. On the surface it seems to calmly glide along, while under the water its feet are furiously paddling away. Generally, Windows does an awesome job of prioritizing and managing all of the underlying processes and services, but every so often something goes awry. That is when you need to dive into Task Manager. Starting Task Manager. Figure 1: When you open Task Manager, it displays the Applications tab by default. To begin with, you have to open up Task Manager. You have a few different ways to do this. Press Ctrl- Shift- Esc. Press Ctrl- Alt- Del, and then select Start Task Manager. Click Start, type . Right- click anywhere on the task bar and select Start Task Manager. Use any of the above techniques, and you will open up the Task Manager console. Vital Information at a Glance. At the bottom of the Task Manager window- -no matter which tab you happen to be viewing- -is a sort of dashboard view that displays the current number of running processes, the percentage of the processor capacity being used, and the percentage of physical memory. Figure 2: The bottom of the Task Manager has a dashboard displaying vital information. The information displayed here can instantly let you know if a process or application is consuming all of the CPU or memory resources, which is your first clue for troubleshooting a problem. Task Manager Tabs. Figure 3: The Task Manager console window has six tabs. Across the top of the main window in the Task Manager console are a number of different tabs: Applications, Processes, Services, Performance, Networking, and Users (Figure 3). We will dive into detail on the use of Applications, Processes, and Services, but the other three won't be covered comprehensively in this article because they are not as directly related to troubleshooting and resolving issues. Here is a brief summary of the last three tabs: Figure 4: The Performance tab displays real- time usage of processor and memory resources. Performance. The Performance tab displays a real- time graph depicting processor usage (split to show the separate cores available for dual- or quad- core processors), and a real- time graph of the memory in use along with various details such as the amount of time the PC has been up and running, and the amount of virtual memory available to Windows. You can already see the overall processor and memory usage on the dashboard bar at the bottom of the Task Manager; however, by reviewing the usage graphs on this tab you can identify whether there is an issue with a specific core or cores within the processor. For example, if there is significant activity on one processor core, while the other is flatlined, you may have a defective CPU. Networking. This tab displays real- time usage of active network connections. A pane at the bottom of the console lists the various available network connections, the percent of the network capacity being used, the maximum speed the network connection is capable of, and its current state. Figure 5: The Network tab displays real- time information regarding activity on network connections. You can use this tab to determine if there is any suspicious activity going on, such as high network bandwidth usage when you aren't actively downloading a file or streaming a movie, or network activity on adapters that you aren't actively using, like the Bluetooth adapter. Either of these symptoms could mean you have malware on your machine, or that an intruder has gained access somehow. Without a network sniffer of some sort, it is difficult to identify exactly what is going on, but you can run a malware scan of your PC, or dig deeper into the Processes tab (discussed on the next page) to try to determine which process might be responsible. Figure 6: The Users tab offers little function for most PCs because usually only one user is connected. Users. For most desktop PCs, the Users tab will show only the actual owner or primary user. On a system that has shared resources or allows external connections, though, this tab will display all of the currently connected users. You can use the buttons at the bottom of this console to forcibly disconnect or log off other users, or you can send a message- -perhaps to let them know you're about to forcibly disconnect them. If you do see other users connected on a system that isn't intended to be shared, you obviously have an issue. You can forcibly boot the intruder from your PC, then perform a malware scan to try to determine how the user was able to gain access to your system. Now that we have covered the basics of those three tabs, let's dive deeper into using Task Manager to identify and resolve problems on your Windows PC using the other three tabs.
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November 2017
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