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XP Boot Visualizer (Download mirror) can monitor what devices are loaded during boot, which is useful for troubleshooting slow booting. It is also able to rearrange the loading of devices to make the bootup faster, though WinXP is already doing this optimization automatically every now and then.

• Start BootVis
• The left pane shows the resources which should be traced. Make sure all check-boxes are ticked
• In the menu select "Trace" -> "Next Boot + Drivers Trace"
• A window will popup allowing you to specify how many times to trace. (3 is recommended)
• Let Bootvis reboot your system without interfering.
• Start Bootvis again to analyze the results
• In the menu select "Trace" -> "Optimize System"
  • Let Bootvis do it things without interfering
• In the menu select "Trace" -> "Stop Tracing"
  • If not performing this step then the Windows\System32\Logfiles\Wmi\Trace.log will keep growing for each boot and can get quite large. One can safely delete the Trace.log after this.

Note it is a good idea to create a System Restore Point, before trying this tool as there are several reports of Bootvis actually increasing the boot time (Most get an improvement).

Note bootvis supports command line options to see them all execute this command:

Bootvis /?

Note that bootvis is dependent on the services Task Scheduler and COM+ Event System. If these services are not available this error will popup:

Failed to defrag the system. Try and defrag the system manually

Note if one haven't applied at least Service Pack 1 (SP1), then one should use the old version BootVis-Tool.exe (mirror) else one will get the following error with the new version (Q821581) (Bootvis.msi):

The procedure entry point WmiOpenTraceWithCursor could not be located in the dynamic link library ADVAPI32.dll

More Info Fast Boot / Fast Resume Design