Performance · Windows 11

Speed up a Windows 11 PC that takes minutes to start

Written November 14, 2026

A slow start is rarely Windows itself. It is the queue of programs that insist on starting with it, plus, on older machines, a drive that is struggling. Time the start first so you can tell a real gain from a feeling, then clear the queue in order: startup apps, background services, updates and scans left half-done, and only then the drive.

What you need

• A phone stopwatch, or a clock with a second hand. You are going to time the start three or four times. Small gains are invisible without a number.
• About half an hour, and a restart you can afford. Every step here ends in a restart to test it.
• Nothing to buy and nothing to install. Every tool in this guide is built into Windows, apart from one optional Microsoft tool in the clean-boot section.

Time the start before you change anything

1. Shut the PC down fully, then time a cold start. Use Shut down, not Sleep. Start the timer when you press the power button and stop it when the desktop is usable — icons drawn, disk light settled, a program opens without a wait.
2. Write the number down. That is your baseline. Every change below gets judged against it, and a change that does not move the number gets undone, so the PC does not collect tweaks that cost features and buy nothing.
3. Note where the time goes. A long wait before the sign-in screen points at the drive, firmware, or a device Windows is waiting on. A fast sign-in followed by minutes of desktop churn points at startup apps and services — the next section.

Turn off startup apps that earn nothing

This is where most of the win lives. Programs add themselves to startup so they feel instant when you open them — and charge you for it at every start, whether you open them or not.

1. Open the startup list. Go to Settings > Apps > Startup. The same list lives in Task Manager on the Startup apps tab, which also shows each app's rated startup impact. Microsoft covers this list, and the rest of its performance basics, in Tips to improve PC performance in Windows.
2. Turn off anything you do not need in the first minute. Game launchers, chat apps, printer helpers, update tools for programs you open rarely, and media tools are the usual weight. Turning an app off here does not uninstall it or stop it working — it just waits until you open it.
3. Leave security and hardware basics on. Keep your antivirus, and anything tied to sound, graphics, or the touchpad, enabled for now. If you are not sure what an entry is, leave it on and note it — the clean-boot step below isolates unknowns safely.
4. Restart and time it again. Compare with your baseline. On a machine with a crowded startup list this one step commonly takes the longest stretch out of the wait.

Let updates and scans finish

A PC that is always mid-update starts slowly every time, because the unfinished work resumes at every start. Clear the backlog once.

1. Run Windows Update to completion. Open Settings > Windows Update, install everything offered, restart when asked, then check again — updates often arrive in rounds. Stop when a check reports the PC is up to date.
2. Run a full antivirus scan once. Open Windows Security > Virus & threat protection > Scan options and run a Full scan. Unwanted software that loads at startup is a real cause of slow starts, and a quick scan can miss it.
3. Restart and time it again. If the number fell, part of your slow start was a queue that never emptied. It should now stay down.

Isolate a slow service with a clean boot

If the start is still slow with a lean startup list, a background service is the next suspect. A clean boot starts Windows with third-party services off, so you can turn them back on in groups and watch the timer.

1. Set up the clean boot. Search for System Configuration and open it. On the Services tab, tick Hide all Microsoft services first — that tick is what keeps you from disabling Windows itself — then choose Disable all. Apply, and restart.
2. Time the clean start. If it is much faster, one of the disabled services is the weight. If it is no faster, the services are cleared: re-enable them all the same way, restart, and go to the drive section.
3. Turn services back on in halves. Enable half, restart, time it. Keep the half that brings the slowness back and split it again. A few restarts corner a single service; then decide whether the program behind it is worth its cost, and uninstall or update it rather than leaving services disabled by hand.
4. Put everything back when you are done. Return to System Configuration, choose Normal startup on the General tab, and restart. A clean boot is a test rig, not a way to run the PC.

Check the drive

If the wait happens before sign-in, or the disk light stays solid long after the desktop appears, look at the drive Windows starts from.

1. Check how full it is. Open Settings > System > Storage. A system drive that is nearly full slows everything, and Storage shows what is taking the space, largest first. Free space by removing programs and files you know, not by deleting folders by hand.
2. Check it for errors. Open Terminal or Command Prompt as administrator and run chkdsk C: /f, agreeing to run at the next restart if asked. Then run sfc /scannow to check the system files themselves.
3. Read the result honestly. A spinning hard drive (not an SSD) is the single biggest cause of multi-minute starts on older PCs, and no setting fixes it — replacing it with an SSD is the one upgrade that changes a machine of that age outright. A drive of either kind that reports errors, or keeps failing checks, needs replacing after your files are copied off it, whatever its speed.

End state

• A timed cold start, clearly faster than your baseline, with the two numbers written down.
• A startup list where everything left on earns its place in the first minute.
• Windows Update reporting up to date, and a full scan completed.
• System Configuration back on Normal startup — no test settings left behind.

When it goes wrong

• Disabling a startup app broke something you use. Turn it back on in Settings > Apps > Startup and restart. Nothing in that list is permanent in either direction.
• The PC starts fast once, then slows down again over days. Something is re-adding itself or the update backlog is rebuilding. Re-check the startup list for new entries, and name the program that returned — reinstalling or updating that program usually ends the cycle.
• The long wait is before the Windows logo, on the maker's screen. That stretch is the machine's firmware, not Windows: a failing drive, a USB device the machine waits on, or a memory check. Unplug external drives and docks and time it again; if the wait stays, the drive check above is the next step, and a machine that will not start at all belongs in the won't-boot guide.
• Safe Mode starts fast but normal mode never improves. Safe Mode skips drivers as well as services — Microsoft lists what each startup mode loads in Windows startup settings. A gap that survives the clean boot points at a driver, most often graphics or storage; update it from the maker's site, or roll it back in Device Manager.