Results for the Full Boot Assessment
Applies To: Windows 8.1
The Boot Performance (Full Boot) assessment measures the default boot and shutdown experience on computers that are running Windows® 7. The primary use case for this assessment is for comparison purposes only. There are no diagnostics or advanced metrics returned by this assessment. Because of changes in the default shutdown/boot experience in Windows 8, the Boot Performance (Fast Startup) assessment is the recommended assessment to run on Windows 8. This allows a side by side comparison between Windows Boot performance (Full Boot) assessment on Windows 7 and the Boot Performance (Fast Startup) assessment on Windows 8. For more information about the Boot Performance (Fast Startup) assessment, see On/Off Transition Performance and Results for the On/Off Assessments.
The Boot Performance (Full Boot) assessment evaluates the traditional Windows boot process which loads the operating system's kernel, device drivers, and other system component files into memory and loads the logon screen and desktop. This assessment provides metrics such as overall shutdown and boot times.
In this topic:
Goals File
Metrics
Issues
For more information about the system requirements and assessment settings, see Boot Performance (Full Boot).
Goals File
You can create custom goals to measure your improvements in the Results View. Goals files are a triage tool that can help you understand how a PC is performing and to compare PCs in your business.
For example, goals for a basic laptop might be different than the goals you set for a high end desktop computer, or market expectations might change in such a way that you want the flexibility to define different goals and key requirements as time passes and technology improves.
When a metric value is compared to the goal for that metric, the status is color coded in the Result View as follows:
Light purple means that the system has a great user experience and that there are no perceived problems.
Medium purple means that the user experience is tolerable and you can optimize the system. Review the recommendations and analysis to see what improvements can be made to the system. These can be software changes, configuration changes or hardware changes.
Dark purple means that the system has a poor user experience and that there is significant room for improvements. Review the recommendations and analysis to see the improvements that can be made to the system. These can be software changes, configuration changes or hardware changes. You might have to consider making tradeoffs to deliver a high quality Windows experience.
No color means that there are no goals defined for the metric.
Note
In the Windows Assessment Toolkit for Windows 8, some assessments include default goals files. The first time you view results using this version of the tools, the default goals file is used. However, you can also define custom goals for Windows 8 the same way that you can for Windows 8.1.
You can set the goals file location and add a goals file to that location before you can use the UI to apply the custom goals. Once a goals file is selected it will continue to be the goals file that is used for any results that are opened.
Only one goals file can be used at a time. Goals for all assessments are set in a single goals file. The assessment tools will search for goals in the following order:
A custom goals file
Goals that are defined in the results file
Goals that are defined in the assessment manifest
You can use the sample goals file that is provided at %PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Kits\8.1\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Assessment Toolkit\SDK\Samples\Goals to create your own goals file.
Note
You cannot package a goals file with a job, but you can store it on a share for others to use.
Metrics
The results show information about Windows boot performance on the computer and the job settings that the assessment used. The following table provides a brief description of the metrics that the Boot Performance (Full Boot) assessment measures. You can expand the metrics to see a list of sub-metrics that provide more information.
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
Boot BIOS Phase |
Shows the time, in milliseconds, that Windows took to initialize the BIOS. |
Main Boot Path Duration |
Shows the time, in seconds, to resume from the end of BIOS initialization to the end of Windows initialization. This does not include the Post ON/Off Duration metric time. |
Overall Boot Time |
Shows the time, in seconds, that Windows took to boot. To see more information about the key subphases for the boot duration, expand this result. This additional information includes durations for the Boot BIOS Phase, Main Boot Path, and Post Boot results. |
Overall Shutdown Time |
Shows the time, in seconds, that Windows took to shut down. |
Post On/Off Duration |
Shows the time, in milliseconds, that Windows took to complete all startup tasks after the desktop appeared. |
Issues
The best use for this assessment is either of the following:
To compare the boot performance of two or more computers that are running Windows 7
To compare the boot performance of a computer that is running Windows 7 to the boot performance of a computer that is running Windows 8
The assessment reports an exit code of 0x80050006
This error occurs when maintenance tasks have been registered on the PC but have not completed before the assessment run. This prevents the assessment from running, as maintenance tasks often impact assessment metrics.
To resolve this issue, do one of the following:
Ensure that the computer is connected to a network and is running on AC power. Manually initiate pending maintenance tasks with the following command from an elevated prompt:
rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasksDisable regular and idle maintenance tasks, and stop all maintenance tasks before running the assessment.
See Also
Concepts
Boot Performance (Full Boot)
On/Off Transition Performance
Results for the On/Off Assessments
Assessments
Other Resources
Windows Assessment Toolkit Technical Reference
Windows Assessments Console Step-by-Step Guide