Hello Login Very Slow

I'm a good ol' country boy and I'm prone to ramble for a spell before I get to the point, but I like to set the context before jumpin' into the mud. So, if you have the patience, continue reading.

I just built my first new PC from scratch (specs in profile) and installed Windows 10 Home x64 (10.0.19042 /w updates blocked). I'm new to W10 after having been on W7 for 11 years and customizing it to just exactly how I wanted. Back in the early Windows NT days, I was a system admin where I worked and, while I'm definitely not an expert anymore, I'm used to working "under the hood" and comfortable using Regedit, Group Policy Editor and other system tools. I try to practice good "system hygiene" by taking frequent restore points, backups, system images, etc. as I go. When I set up a new PC, I only use the admin account for administration tasks. For normal every day use, I set up regular Users with limited system privileges. Now to the point.

After several days of using only the admin account to get my new PC loaded with software and tuned to my liking, I started using my regular user for normal tasks. That's when I noticed that after the first Hello login to each user, it was taking longer than normal for the login process to complete and show me the desktop. It doesn't matter which user logs in first, the first login and/or switch between each user completes in less than 2 seconds. However, all subsequent logins/switches take from15-50 seconds until W10 is restarted, then each user gets one normal speed Hello login again.

Unfortunately, I've made a great many additions, deletions, modifications, backups and restores to the system before discovering this issue. I'm reluctant to restore back to before the last several long days of hard work I just put in order to start over one change at a time to try to pinpoint what caused this slowdown issue.

I've tried a lot of the possible solutions I've found online, but none have worked. There don't seem to be many who have this exact issue. Any suggestions for where I might look for answers from the brainiacs here at W10Forums will be gladly accepted.

Could you explain in mode details the issue?

"That's when I noticed that after the first Hello login to each user, (You login all users? How may users you have?) it was taking longer than normal (what is normal?) for the login process to complete (from witch point ?) and show me the desktop. It doesn't matter which user logs in first, the first login and/or switch between each user completes in less than 2 seconds. However, all subsequent logins/switches (??) take from15-50 seconds until W10 is restarted, then each user gets one normal speed Hello login again."

I'm with Megahertz above on this. If you are logging on a number of users at the same time I suggest you stop that practice. I had a call for service here a few weeks ago from a client that was doing this and the end result was that one of the user profiles became corrupted. Well, that took about 3 hours to get fixed so my advice is, if you are going to switch users log out the current user first. That will improve performance and save you from user profile corruption.

W10 Tweaker said:

Hi OldFella, welcome to Ten Forums.


Given that you use SSDs, you might start with disabling hibernate. This will also disable Fast Startup which might sound counter-intuitive; however, many of us choose to disable it for different reasons.

Fast Startup in W10. Enable or disable?


Using hibernate will write a 4-6 GB file every time you use it. This creates unnecessary wear on an SSD.

Enable or Disable Hibernate in Windows 10


Another big consideration would be performing a clean boot to see if that improves profile load times. Most apps automatically install themselves in the Windows startup process which just slows start times down.

Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 10 to Troubleshoot Software Conflicts


Third part antivirus are famous for slowing down boot times. As a test (part of the Clean Boot) you may have to uninstall Kaspersky. Very often, disabling is insufficient. Although the installation may have uninstall files included, most often using an official uninstaller is much better to successfully clean out all the bits.

Download Kaspersky Products Remover - MajorGeeks


BTW, thanks for completing your 'My Computer' so well. This makes everyone's life easier when trying to assist and it's greatly appreciated.

One of the first things I did when starting to set this PC up was to turn off fast boot in the BIOS and OS. I also turned off all suspend activity functions except for the monitor. This desktop is essentially the central server for my home LAN and runs from 6am-10pm every day.

I haven't performed a clean boot yet, but have examined all the system logs. I didn't find any hardware or software issues. I'll do a clean boot later and get back to you with the results.

I'm aware of the performance hit that security software can have. However, if it turns out to be the cause of this login issue, it's a price I'm willing to pay.

Thank you for the kind words about my system specs. I'm a bit OCD and have been detail oriented my whole life. It can be a annoying to some people, but I learned a very long time ago that "the devil is in the details".

So how many computers/devices are connected to your LAN?

You say that after each users login any subsequent login is very slow. That suggests that you have accounts for all LAN users on this central desktop, is that correct?

If your setup is as outlined above I have a feeling that what you are experiencing is expected behavior. In this scenario you suggest that each user may be logging on to this desktop multiple times during the day, is this correct?

After the creation of a new admin user account and more testing, I was able to determine that the issue was being caused by the admin user account I created during the initial W10 install. I was never able to figure out exactly why just logging into this user account slowed down the Hello login process for all successive logins or switching between users. While I had never experienced this particular problem with W7, as others have suggested, it was probably due to the user account somehow becoming corrupted.

While it probably should have been relatively straightforward to create a new admin user account, deleting the old one and renaming the new one back to the original name, it wasn't. W10 didn't delete everything as I had selected during the deletion process. It took me another day of problem solving to get it all cleaned up and running smoothly.

My system is now up and running as it had been when I first installed W10. Getting from the Hello login screen to a functioning desktop for any user account, no matter how many times I switch back and forth between logged in users, takes 2-3 seconds.

Thank you all for the help and advice.

Great, glad it's sorted.