Visualise Boot Time with a Simple Free Script, Diagnose Windows Boot Delays Fast

 Windows Startup Troubleshooting Made Easy

Diagnosing Windows slow startup issues shouldn’t require heavyweight tools or a deep dive into the Windows Performance Toolkit (WPA). After years running an IT support company, one thing became clear: technicians and power users need a simple, portable, free tool that quickly highlights the longest delays in the Windows startup process without wrestling with complex boot‑trace workflows. That’s exactly why I created this lightweight VBS script for visualising Windows startup performance, pulling directly from Diagnostics‑Performance Event 100–110 to reveal which services, drivers, or applications are slowing down boot time. It’s a fast, no‑install way to get actionable insights, making Windows boot time analysis and startup performance troubleshooting accessible to anyone—from home users to busy IT engineers who need answers quickly.

The script is here : Boot_Perfomance.vbs

Simple run as ms-dos prompt as administrator from the location you download the script

cscript.exe //nologo boot_performance.vbs

note: download will be a .TXT file please rename to ensure just .vbs to use

Windows Startup Diagnostics Performance Event Data

The script pulls its data directly from the Microsoft-Windows-Diagnostics-Performance/Operational event log, which you can view in Event Viewer under Applications and Services Logs → Microsoft → Windows → Diagnostics-Performance → Operational. 

This log captures detailed boot performance events, including Event ID 100 (overall boot time) and Event IDs 101–110 (delays caused by specific drivers, services, or apps). 


Windows Startup Performance Logging

By default, Windows stores a limited number of these events, so for long-term tracking or deeper analysis, it’s worth increasing the log size. To do this, right-click the Operational log in Event Viewer, choose Properties, and adjust the Maximum log size—setting it to 20–50 MB ensures you retain more historical data without impacting system performance. This tweak helps the script deliver more meaningful insights, especially when diagnosing intermittent or progressive startup slowdowns. 



How to diagnose startup issues with Boot_Performance.vbs

After you run the script, your default browser with a visualisation on the last boot up is selected.


Selecting which boot to visualise.

The list on the left-hand side is all the boots with a button "Show"; when you press this, the visualised boot detail will change to that boot.

The top will show which boot entry is being visualised.



The right-hand side is a Gantt chart view of the 5 phases, which are captured in the event log.


Press the Arrow next to each phase for a description and mouse over the exact breakdown names and durations, which will all be in seconds.

Kernel phase - This is where Windows itself wakes up — the core of the system loads and gets the computer ready to start working

PnP phases - Windows checks all your hardware (keyboard, mouse, drives, USB devices, etc.) and loads the drivers needed to make them work.

Session initialisation - Windows starts the essential background services and prepares the system so users can log in

Logon phase - Your login screen appears, and once you sign in, Windows loads your personal settings, desktop, and startup programs.

Post Boot Time - Windows is technically “ready,” but it continues loading extra background apps and services until everything has fully settled.    

Highlighted Alerts for boot issues.

If there are any specific detected boot issues, the logs are recorded in these sections and highlighted in yellow.
Boot Sub event data

- 101 – Application causing slow startup
A program took longer than expected to load during startup, slowing down the boot process.
- 102 – Driver causing slow startup
A hardware driver (like for your printer or graphics card) delayed the startup.
- 103 – Service causing slow startup
A background service (such as antivirus or update checker) started slowly and held up the boot.
- 106 – Boot degradation detected
This startup was slower than usual compared to previous boots.
- 107 – Boot degradation due to an application
A specific app made this boot slower than normal.
- 108 – Boot degradation due to a driver
A hardware driver caused this boot to be slower than previous ones.
- 109 – Boot degradation due to a service
A background service made this startup take longer than it usually does.
- 110 – Boot degradation due to system resource exhaustion
The system ran low on memory, CPU, or disk speed during startup, causing delays.

The event data will be displayed under the sub-event section.




Looking across multiple boots, you can see a pattern of which phase and any particular logged events which help understand what needs to be solved to improve any boot-up delays.



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