Windows 2008 R2 hangs on WELCOME screen
August 24, 2012 7 Comments
There are a lot of complaints about Windows 2008 R2 hanging on the Welcome screen when connecting via RDS.
First of all, make sure you check “Active Directory Site and Services” to ensure the subnet where your XenApp servers live are part of the proper “Site” where your local Domain Controllers are.
You can check the authentication server on your XenApp servers in command line by typing “set logonserver“. This will provide you the information about the DC you are authenticating against. If you see something wrong there, then head over to Active Directory Site and Services and make modifications.
In a Xenapp environment any authentication delays will end up becoming a big issue. Now lets assume you already sorted out that you don’t actually have any domain, site or DNS misconfigurations.
Solution:
GPO:
Disable “Always wait for the network at computer startup and logon” policy under Computer Configuration/Administrative Templates/System/Logon in the Group Policy.
Install Hotfix:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2617858
According to Microsoft Knowledge Base article 977346, set a solid color as your desktop background will cause Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to displace the Welcome screen for 30 seconds during logon. Why? Apparently, the pause occurs because of a time-out interval that sometimes occurs when Windows switches between sessions. Microsoft Knowledge Base article 940452 discusses this time-out interval in greater detail and explains how it can also cause a 30-second delay if you enable the “Run logon script synchronously” Group Policy.
Apply Microsoft hotfix
A hotfix is available from Mircosoft to fix this issue. You can download the hotfix using the “View and request hotfix downloads” link on MSKB 977346.
Set an image file as your desktop background
If the hotfix doesn’t work or you just don’t want to install it, using an image file as your background is the easiest way to eliminate the 30-second delay. You can even use an image file that’s a solid color.
Edit the DelayedDesktopSwitchTimeout registry entry (This made a huge difference)
According to MSKB 977346, the value of the DelayedDesktopSwitchTimeout registry entry “determines the time-out interval of a session before Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 switches between sessions.” By default, the value of this entry is set to 30 (for 30 seconds). To reduce the delay, you can reduce this value.
- Click Start.
- Enter “regedit” in the Search programs and files box.
- Navigate to the registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
- Double-click the DelayedDesktopSwitchTimeout entry.
- Type 5 in the Value data box, and then click OK.
- Close the Registry Editor.
Disable the Desktop Window Manager Session Manager service
As a last resort, you can also disable the Desktop Window Manager Session Manager service. This action should eliminate the delay, but it will also disable all the Windows Aero visual effects.
- Click Start.
- Type “services” in the Search programs and files box.
- Select Services from the results and press Enter.
- Double-click Desktop Windows Manager Session Manager.
- From the Startup type dropdown list, Select Disabled and click Apply.
Disable TCP hardware offloading on the RD Session Host (if you roam)
Issue was due to the RD Session Host having problems copying user profiles from the profile server to the RD Session Host.
Open a command prompt with Administrator permissions, enter the following one at a time, the output for each should show as ok
NETSH INT TCP SET GLOBAL CHIMNEY=DISABLED
NETSH INT IP SET GLOBAL TASKOFFLOAD=DISABLED
NETSH INT TCP SET GLOBAL RSS=DISABLED
Daniel Ruiz - Blog 
This is f’ing great…! pardon the language! Thanks for taking the time and posting this. Fixed my issue. Hey you want and come work in our company?
Pingback: Windows 2008 R2 hangs on WELCOME screen « Robert Busscher
Does this only apply to XenApp? Wondering if it made any difference on a xendesktop image?
JamieT – It certainly applies to Windows 7. This is not a XenApp or XenDesktop thing. It is OS related.
Take a look at the Windows 7 Optimization guide from Citrix located under http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX127050. This will help you get the fastest Windows 7 VDI’s.
Here is some of the optimizations automated from the doc so you don’t go too crazy.
however make sure this is actually what you want, and pay attention to the GPO’s mentioned on the doc as well.
Disabling services:
net stop BITS
sc config BITS start= disabled
net stop UxSms
sc config UxSms start= disabled
net stop FDResPub
sc config FDResPub start= disabled
net stop HomeGroupListener
sc config HomeGroupListener start= disabled
net stop HomeGroupProvider
sc config HomeGroupProvider start= disabled
net stop CISVC
sc config CISVC start= disabled
net stop CscService
sc config CscService start= disabled
net stop wscsvc
sc config wscsvc start= disabled
net stop SysMain
sc config SysMain start= disabled
net stop Themes
sc config Themes start= disabled
net stop WinDefend
sc config WinDefend start= disabled
net stop WMPNetworkSvc
sc config WMPNetworkSvc start= disabled
net stop WSearch
sc config WSearch start= disabled
pause
Computer Registry Optimization:
The next section of the guide lists registry settings that are applied to the HKLM and HKU of the registry of the master image which can be easily applied via the following lines in a .reg file:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]
“NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate”=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BNNS\Parameters]
“EnableOffload”=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
“DisableTaskOffload”=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
“ServicesPipeTimeout”=dword:0002bf20
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Windows]
“ErrorMode”=dword:00000002
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Polic
ies\Explorer]
“NoRemoteRecursiveEvents”=dword:00000001
[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop]
“ScreenSaveActive”=”0”
If you are running Citrix Provisioning
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
“ClearPageFileAtShutdown”=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\NetCache]
“Enabled”=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction]
“Enable”=”N”
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OptimalLayout]
“EnableAutoLayout”=dword:00000000
[HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl]
“CrashDumpEnabled”=dword:00000000
“LogEvent”=dword:00000000
“SendAlert”=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power]
“Heuristics”=hex:05,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,3f,42,0f,00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl]
“CrashDumpEnabled”=dword:00000000 “LogEvent”=dword:00000000
“SendAlert”=dword:00000000
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Netlogon\Parameters]
“DisablePasswordChange”=dword:00000001
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\Application]
“File”=”D:\EventLogs\Application.evtx”
[HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\Security]
“File”=”D:\EventLogs\Security.evtx”
[HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\System]
“File”=”D:\EventLogs\System.evtx”
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\Application]
“MaxSize”=dword:00010000
[HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\Security]
“MaxSize”=dword:00010000
[HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog\System]
“MaxSize”=dword:00010000
Boot Animation:
bcdedit /set bootux disabled
Any ideas why the Welcome screen would sit there for approx. 20 secs when using ICA (XenApp 6.5), but only approx. 7 secs when using RDP??
Check your ICA user and computer policies. Make sure they are all valid.
WOW! I wish I would stumbled upon this sooner! This drastically reduced my XenApp login times from approx. 60sec to 11sec. Thank you!