Windows 8 to get fast boot times
By Nicole Kobie
Posted on 9 Sep 2011 at 11:10
Windows 8 will feature a faster new boot method, slashing the time it takes to get the OS up and running.
The new system will cut boot times by as much as 70%, with Microsoft showing off an SSD laptop starting up in only eight seconds.
"We designed Windows 8 so that you shouldn't have to boot all that often (and we are always going to work on reducing the number of required restarts due to patching running code)," said Windows president Steve Sinofsky in a blog post. "But when you do boot we want it to be as fast as possible."
When you do boot we want it to be as fast as possible
To that end, Windows 8 will feature a new shutdown method, which is a "hybrid of traditional cold boot and resuming from hibernate", said Gabe Aul, director of programme management for Windows.
In Windows 7, a full shutdown closes the user's sessions as well as the services and devices in the kernel sessions, Aul said. In Windows 8, the user's sessions will still be closed, but the kernel session will merely hibernate.
"If you’re not familiar with hibernation, we’re effectively saving the system state and memory contents to a file on disk (hiberfil.sys) and then reading that back in on resume and restoring contents back to memory," said Aul.
"Using this technique with boot gives us a significant advantage for boot times, since reading the hiberfile in and reinitialising drivers is much faster on most systems (30-70% faster on most systems we’ve tested)," he added.
Full Windows 7-style shut downs will still be an option when necessary, Microsoft said.
That's not the only improvement Microsoft is working on. Windows 8 will also use a "multi-phase resume" system that splits the restart work across all cores in parallel, speeding up the start time whether from hibernate mode, full cold boot or the new hybrid start-up system.
Microsoft is set to unveil Windows 8 at its Build conference next week - PC Pro will be bringing you all the news directly from the show.
From around the web
Naah
I think full shutdown is a must... My laptop recently upgraded to an SSD boots up in around 16 seconds... (this is my laptop VPCEB1Z1R/B)
i am happy with that, and conisdeting i never shut down my laptop (using sleep mode)..what peopl;e should be doing (and going off topic here) is creating new batteries which last longer, yes there are 7/8 hours laptops out there, but i want i5/i7, a good GPU inside (i.e. HD6xxx from amd) blu-ray and other toys and all of that to work for 10-14 hours work time, under load... (i wish) and not their light use BS that they use as an excuse to publish high battery readings!!
By mobilegnet on 9 Sep 2011 
Hibernate slower...
My Core i7 laptop with Windows 7 takes longer to resume from hibernate than it does to boot! :-S
The more memory computers get, the longer this will take.
The shutdown process is also, generally, quicker than hibernating.
By big_D on 9 Sep 2011
Should the article read .. Windows 8 to have better resume times
In ideal conditions you will get a fst restart, but what about when new software is installed which often requires a full cold reboot.
Also weren't these claims also published for Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2000 .. etc?
By redgar3 on 9 Sep 2011
@Redgar3 - yes, I get a sense of deja vu too. Although it was half-true for Windows 7, but only because Vista was SO slow!
By halsteadk on 10 Sep 2011
I find W7 boots very quickly. It's POST that takes more time.
By malfranks2 on 12 Sep 2011
There is an alternative on the way
ReactOS already has boot times of just 10 seconds on a standard PC and runs all Windows programs.
http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html
It's in its development stages at the moment but will be freely available to all. Russian President Medvedev is considering investing €1 million to aid its swift release:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14899507
By SwissMac on 13 Sep 2011
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