JSI Tip 3594. How can I speed up my Windows 2000 domain logon?

My Windows 2000 professional workstation, in my Windows 2000 domain, used to take a long time to start up and present the logon screen. Using verbose status messages, I determined that the bulk of the start time was spent 'applying security policy to the computer'.

In my environment, Group Policy has become static, and when it changes, I change it.

To significantly decreased the time it takes to receive the logon screen:

1. On your Windows 2000 computer, use Regedt32 to navigate to:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionPoliciesSystem.

2. On the Edit menu, Add Value name SynchronousMachineGroupPolicy and toggle the Data type to REG_DWORD. In the DWORD Editor, set the data value to 0.

3. On the Edit menu, Add Value name SynchronousUserGroupPolicy and toggle the Data type to REG_DWORD. In the DWORD Editor, set the data value to 0.

4. Shutdown and restart your computer.

NOTE: I only made these changes on my docked laptop. My desktop computer is significantly faster and doesn't need this hack.

NOTE: By default, Windows 2000 doesn't make the logon screen available until updates to Group Policy have completed.

NOTE: These changes can be affected using Group Policy. SynchronousMachineGroupPolicy is equivalent to the Apply Group Policy for computers asynchronously during startup Group Policy. SynchronousUserGroupPolicy is equivalent to the Apply Group Policy for users asynchronously during logon Group Policy. Both policy are located at Computer ConfigurationAdministrative TemplatesSystemGroup Policy.