Im having a problem with slow logons specifically when the computer is "Applying computer settings" that I dont fully understand. The problem appears to be that we have the "Always wait for the network at startup or logon" policy enabled and if I understand correctly, group policy then gets processed in background mode. Because its in background mode, I think services are starting up sooner then normal and it waits for each one to start before moveing on causing a delay. If I turn that policy off, group policy appears to run in forground asyncronous mode and we dont see the delay. I think we need to have that policy enabled but I dont see how to prevent the delay during startup.

Im seeing this on hundreds of PCs, on a slow startup it looks something like this, where for example you can see the SMS client (CcmExec) among other services takes over 40 seconds to load before moving on.



USERENV(2f4.610) 13:02:52:781 ProcessGPOs: Starting computer Group Policy (Background) processing...
USERENV(2f4.610) 13:02:52:781 ProcessGPOs:
USERENV(2f4.610) 13:02:52:781 ProcessGPOs:
USERENV(2f4.610) 13:02:52:781 EnterCriticalPolicySectionEx: Entering with timeout 600000 and flags 0x0
USERENV(2f4.610) 13:02:52:796 EnterCriticalPolicySectionEx: Machine critical section has been claimed. Handle = 0x6c4
USERENV(2f4.610) 13:02:52:796 EnterCriticalPolicySectionEx: Leaving successfully.
USERENV(2f4.610) 13:02:52:796 ProcessGPOs: Machine role is 2.
USERENV(2f4.610) 13:02:52:843 PingComputer: Adapter speed 100000000 bps
USERENV(2f4.610) 13:02:52:843 PingComputer: First time: 0
USERENV(2f4.610) 13:02:52:859 PingComputer: Fast link. Exiting.
USERENV(56c.600) 13:02:53:000 LibMain: Process Name: C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\DefWatch.exe
USERENV(644.66c) 13:02:53:437 LibMain: Process Name: C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv\inetinfo.exe
USERENV(738.734) 13:02:56:890 LibMain: Process Name: C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe
USERENV(764.760) 13:02:57:109 LibMain: Process Name: C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Player\vmware-authd.exe
USERENV(604.79c) 13:02:58:484 LibMain: Process Name: C:\WINDOWS\system32\CCM\CcmExec.exe
USERENV(99c.9a0) 13:03:42:637 LibMain: Process Name: C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe
USERENV(a18.a1c) 13:03:43:394 LibMain: Process Name: C:\WINDOWS\System32\wbem\wmiprvse.exe
USERENV(a80.a84) 13:03:48:093 LibMain: Process Name: C:\WINDOWS\system32\msiexec.exe
USERENV(31c.3c8) 13:03:48:422 LoadUserProfile: Yes, we can impersonate the user. Running as self

With the policy disabled it looks something like this, where you can see that for whatever reason SMS starts later in the process and it immediately moves on to the next step.


USERENV(2fc.738) 13:17:43:562 ProcessGPOs: Starting computer Group Policy (Async forground) processing...
USERENV(2fc.738) 13:17:43:562 ProcessGPOs:
USERENV(2fc.738) 13:17:43:562 ProcessGPOs:
USERENV(2fc.738) 13:17:43:578 EnterCriticalPolicySectionEx: Entering with timeout 600000 and flags 0x0
USERENV(2fc.738) 13:17:43:578 EnterCriticalPolicySectionEx: Machine critical section has been claimed. Handle = 0x75c
USERENV(2fc.738) 13:17:43:578 EnterCriticalPolicySectionEx: Leaving successfully.
USERENV(2fc.738) 13:17:43:593 ProcessGPOs: Machine role is 2.
USERENV(2fc.738) 13:17:43:625 PingComputer: Adapter speed 100000000 bps
USERENV(2fc.738) 13:17:43:625 PingComputer: First time: 0
USERENV(2fc.738) 13:17:43:625 PingComputer: Fast link. Exiting.
USERENV(5f4.60c) 13:17:43:640 LibMain: Process Name: C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv\inetinfo.exe
USERENV(764.76c) 13:17:47:421 LibMain: Process Name: C:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe
USERENV(150.1cc) 13:17:47:562 LibMain: Process Name: C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Player\vmware-authd.exe
USERENV(2fc.5b4) 13:17:48:125 IsSyncForegroundPolicyRefresh: Asynchronous, Reason: NoNeedForSync
USERENV(2fc.300) 13:17:48:250 LoadUserProfile: Yes, we can impersonate the user. Running as self
…
USERENV(730.244) 13:17:48:609 LibMain: Process Name: C:\WINDOWS\system32\CCM\CcmExec.exe
USERENV(2fc.300) 13:17:48:609 UpgradeProfile: Entering
USERENV(2fc.300) 13:17:48:609 UpgradeProfile: Build numbers match
USERENV(2fc.300) 13:17:48:625 UpgradeProfile: Leaving Successfully


It seems like it isnt the fact that the SMS client is installed but is the way it getting called thats the problem. How do I prevent this delay so my logons are a little more reasonable?
Any ideas?

Thanks, Dave