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Fix

Laptop takes a long time to start

Step 1 of 3

Open Task Manager

Press these three keys together.

The simulation shows Windows in English, like most laptops.

  1. Open Task Manager

    Press these three keys together.

    CtrlShiftEsc

  2. Open Startup apps

    Click Startup apps on the left.

  3. Turn off apps you don’t need at startup

    Click an app with High impact, then Disable. Only choose apps you recognize, like games or music apps.

    They still open normally when you click them.

From basic to technician

BasicTurn the laptop on and shut it down properly
FixLaptop takes a long time to startYou are here
Technician fixes (advanced)

The simple steps didn’t help? A technician would try these next, in this order. Stop as soon as the problem is fixed. Commands marked “as administrator”: right-click Start › Terminal (Admin).

  1. Measure the real start-up time (as administrator)

    Windows records how long each start-up took. Under 60 seconds is fine on an SSD; 2–5 minutes points to a hard disk (HDD), too many start-up apps or a failing disk. Measure again after each fix.

    Get-WinEvent -LogName 'Microsoft-Windows-Diagnostics-Performance/Operational' -FilterXPath '*[System[EventID=100]]' -MaxEvents 5 | ForEach-Object { $x = [xml]$_.ToXml(); "{0}  boot: {1:N0} s" -f $_.TimeCreated, (($x.Event.EventData.Data | Where-Object Name -eq 'BootTime').'#text' / 1000) }

  2. See everything that starts with Windows

    Read-only. Lists start-up entries, including some the Task Manager hides. Remove the apps you don’t need from Settings › Apps › Installed apps, rather than deleting entries by hand.

    Get-CimInstance Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object Name, Command, Location

  3. Check the disk’s health (as administrator)

    HealthStatus must be Healthy. Wear is the percentage of an SSD’s life used; above 80 means replace it soon. Read errors above 0 on an old hard disk mean it is failing: back up your files now.

    Get-PhysicalDisk | Select-Object FriendlyName, MediaType, HealthStatus
Get-PhysicalDisk | Get-StorageReliabilityCounter | Select-Object Wear, ReadErrorsTotal, Temperature

  4. Fast Startup: off when updates or start-up misbehave

    Control Panel › Power Options › Choose what the power buttons do › Change settings that are currently unavailable › untick Turn on fast startup. Fast Startup saves time but can keep a stuck driver alive between shutdowns; Restart always bypasses it.

Coming soon

Still not fixed?

In the next update you can tell us what happened, and our AI helper will suggest another way. Until then, restart the device and go through the steps once more.