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| Vista Tutorial - Boot Advanced Options - Number of Processors Boot Advanced Options - Number of Processors
How to Change the Number of Processors Used at Boot Up in Vista
Published by Brink
05-13-2008
| | How to Change the Number of Processors Used at Boot Up in Vista Information | | If you have a multiple core CPU (Ex: Intel Core Duo or Quad CPU) or multiple CPUs, then this will show you how to change the Number of Processors that will be used during boot up for troubleshooting and debugging purposes to be able to determine if there is a problem with a single processor/core, or for a programmer to test their code against a single core while running on their multi-core system. |  | NOTE | | Vista will use all your processors by default at boot up without this Number of Processors setting box checked. Using all of your available processors (cores or CPUs) durring boot allows the computer to boot faster only because a multiple core CPU or multiple CPUs can handle and do more at once than a single core or CPU. Multiple cores do not actually increase the speed, but only increase the number of processor cores working on the job which in turn has the job finish quicker. If you do not have much running at startup, then you may not notice much improvement in how long it takes to startup. |  | Tip | | People have reported that by checking this setting and selecting all of their available CPUs, they have seen a performance increase in boot up speed despite the Note above . See the example below. If it does not help, then you can do step 7 to undo this and go back to the default settings. |  | WARNING | | Selecting a lower amount of processors to use at boot up than you actually have can increase the amount boot up time causing a longer boot. |  | RELATED LINKS: EXAMPLE: Boot Up Time Before and After NOTE: This is the before and after boot up time for my computer after I changed it to use all 4 cores. To check and see your before and after boot up time, see: How to See What Your Boot Up Time is in Vista For fun you can post your results here: ReBoot Time  Here's How: NOTE | | Before you do this, you should see what your current boot up time is so you can compare it to what it will be after this. To check and see your before and after boot up time, see: How to See What Your Boot Up Time is in Vista |  | 1. Open the Start Menu. 2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type msconfig and press Enter. 3. Click Continue for the UAC prompt. 4. Click on the Boot tab. (See screenshot below) 5. Click on the Advanced options button.  6. To Change the Number of Processors at Boot -A) Check the Number of processors box, then click on the drop down arrow and select the number of available processors (cores or CPUs) you want to have used at boot up. (See screenshots below step 7) NOTE: To test to see if this can speed up your boot time or not, then select the highest number listed for all of the available processors to be used at boot up and check the Detect Hal box. B) Click on OK.
C) Go to step 8. 7. To Restore the Default Number of Processors at Boot -A) Uncheck the Number of processors box.
B) Click on OK.   8. Check the Make all boot settings permanent box and click on OK. (See screenshot below) NOTE: If you do not check this, then you will Selective startup dotted instead of Normal startup under the General tab. You can still make changes again by checking this again after any changes.  9. Click on Yes at the confirmation window. (See screenshot below) NOTE: You can restore or make changes to this again later if you want. I will confirm it. Just remember or write down what you had set (checked or unchecked) before if you wanted to restore back to those settings later.  10. Check the Don't show this message again box. (See screenshot below step 11) NOTE: You will not see this again after checked. 11. Click on the Restart button. NOTE: If you checked the box and want to restore this Restart box, see: How to Restore the System Configuration Restart Prompt in Vista WARNING: This will restart the computer immediately. Make sure you save and close anything open you do not want to lose.  12. After you have started back to the desktop, you can check to see what your new boot up time is for fun. NOTE: To check and see your before and after boot up time, see: How to See What Your Boot Up Time is in Vista . For fun you can post your results here: ReBoot Time That's it,
Shawn |  Published by | | | Administrator Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Texas, USA
Posts: 23,775
Rep Power: 150 | |
 Tutorial Tools | | |
 Applies to | | All Vista Versions | | 64 Bit & 32 Bit | |
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05-13-2008
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| | Newbie | Re: Boot Advanced Options - Number of Processors Thank you so much for this tip!!!
It nearly cut my startup time in half:
Before: 
After: | My System Specs | | OS Vista Ultimate 32bit SP1
05-13-2008
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| | Administrator Vista x64 Ultimate SP2 Texas, USA | Re: Boot Advanced Options - Number of Processors Your welcome Tim. That's a great improvement.
Shawn | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom OS Vista x64 Ultimate SP2 CPU Core2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB Motherboard Gigabyte X48-DQ6 Memory 8 GB (4x2) DDR2 PC2-8500 1066 MHz Patriot Extreme Graphics Card BFG GeForce 9600 GT OC 512MB Sound Card Realtek HD Audio ALC889A Integrated Chip Monitor(s) Displays 28" Hanns-G HG281DJB and 17" eMachines E17T4 Screen Resolution 28" 1920x1200 and 17" 1280x1024 Keyboard Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution Mouse Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution PSU Antec NeoPower 500 Watt Case Tagan El-Diablo Full Tower Cooling 250 mm Front, 360 mm Side, stock CPU, 120 mm SiLenX Rear Hard Drives 64GB Patriot SSD (v2)
750GB Samsung HDD HD753LJ SATA 32MB Internet Speed 3382 kb/s Download and 312 kb/s Upload Other Info Creative WebCam Instant
05-13-2008
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| | da Cleaner Vista Home Premium 64bit Cambridge, UK | Re: Boot Advanced Options - Number of Processors Hi.
I try to load msconfig but I cant edit or change any settings. I click on a check box say and nothing happens. In boot tab the square box is empty. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Self built OS Vista Home Premium 64bit CPU Intel E8400 3GHz Motherboard Intel DX48BT2 Memory Kingston PC3-10666 4Gb Graphics Card XFX 9800 GTX XXX Sound Card Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Monitor(s) Displays 2x Samsung SM-T220HD 22" Screen Resolution 1680x1050 on two monitors Keyboard Dell Multimedia Enhanced USB Mouse Razer Diamondback 3G PSU Thermaltake ToughPower 850w Case Thermaltake Armor Cooling Tuniq Tower 120 Hard Drives WD Raptor X 150Gb
WD Raptor 36gb
3x Samsung F1 1Tb Internet Speed 8128/832 Other Info Thermaltake Muse esata caddy
05-14-2008
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| | Administrator Vista x64 Ultimate SP2 Texas, USA | Re: Boot Advanced Options - Number of Processors Strange Swarfega,
Do you have UAC turned On? It should be. Are you running this from within a administrator account and not a Standard one?
You can try running a sfc /scannow command to see if it can find and fix any bad system files that may be the cause. This tutorial will show you how to. System Files - SFC Command
Hope this helps,
Shawn | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom OS Vista x64 Ultimate SP2 CPU Core2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB Motherboard Gigabyte X48-DQ6 Memory 8 GB (4x2) DDR2 PC2-8500 1066 MHz Patriot Extreme Graphics Card BFG GeForce 9600 GT OC 512MB Sound Card Realtek HD Audio ALC889A Integrated Chip Monitor(s) Displays 28" Hanns-G HG281DJB and 17" eMachines E17T4 Screen Resolution 28" 1920x1200 and 17" 1280x1024 Keyboard Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution Mouse Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution PSU Antec NeoPower 500 Watt Case Tagan El-Diablo Full Tower Cooling 250 mm Front, 360 mm Side, stock CPU, 120 mm SiLenX Rear Hard Drives 64GB Patriot SSD (v2)
750GB Samsung HDD HD753LJ SATA 32MB Internet Speed 3382 kb/s Download and 312 kb/s Upload Other Info Creative WebCam Instant
05-14-2008
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| | da Cleaner Vista Home Premium 64bit Cambridge, UK | Re: Boot Advanced Options - Number of Processors Hi, I have uac turned off and created a true admin account which Im using now. I ran the sfc command and it didnt find any errors. | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Self built OS Vista Home Premium 64bit CPU Intel E8400 3GHz Motherboard Intel DX48BT2 Memory Kingston PC3-10666 4Gb Graphics Card XFX 9800 GTX XXX Sound Card Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Monitor(s) Displays 2x Samsung SM-T220HD 22" Screen Resolution 1680x1050 on two monitors Keyboard Dell Multimedia Enhanced USB Mouse Razer Diamondback 3G PSU Thermaltake ToughPower 850w Case Thermaltake Armor Cooling Tuniq Tower 120 Hard Drives WD Raptor X 150Gb
WD Raptor 36gb
3x Samsung F1 1Tb Internet Speed 8128/832 Other Info Thermaltake Muse esata caddy
05-14-2008
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| | Administrator Vista x64 Ultimate SP2 Texas, USA | Re: Boot Advanced Options - Number of Processors Swarfega,
Open the Start menu and right click on Computer and click Properties. Under the System section, look to see if your CPU is properly identified as being a Core 2 Duo CPU 3 GHz.
Shawn | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom OS Vista x64 Ultimate SP2 CPU Core2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB Motherboard Gigabyte X48-DQ6 Memory 8 GB (4x2) DDR2 PC2-8500 1066 MHz Patriot Extreme Graphics Card BFG GeForce 9600 GT OC 512MB Sound Card Realtek HD Audio ALC889A Integrated Chip Monitor(s) Displays 28" Hanns-G HG281DJB and 17" eMachines E17T4 Screen Resolution 28" 1920x1200 and 17" 1280x1024 Keyboard Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution Mouse Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution PSU Antec NeoPower 500 Watt Case Tagan El-Diablo Full Tower Cooling 250 mm Front, 360 mm Side, stock CPU, 120 mm SiLenX Rear Hard Drives 64GB Patriot SSD (v2)
750GB Samsung HDD HD753LJ SATA 32MB Internet Speed 3382 kb/s Download and 312 kb/s Upload Other Info Creative WebCam Instant
05-14-2008
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| | da Cleaner Vista Home Premium 64bit Cambridge, UK | Re: Boot Advanced Options - Number of Processors it is correctly identified | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Self built OS Vista Home Premium 64bit CPU Intel E8400 3GHz Motherboard Intel DX48BT2 Memory Kingston PC3-10666 4Gb Graphics Card XFX 9800 GTX XXX Sound Card Soundblaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Monitor(s) Displays 2x Samsung SM-T220HD 22" Screen Resolution 1680x1050 on two monitors Keyboard Dell Multimedia Enhanced USB Mouse Razer Diamondback 3G PSU Thermaltake ToughPower 850w Case Thermaltake Armor Cooling Tuniq Tower 120 Hard Drives WD Raptor X 150Gb
WD Raptor 36gb
3x Samsung F1 1Tb Internet Speed 8128/832 Other Info Thermaltake Muse esata caddy
05-14-2008
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| | Administrator Vista x64 Ultimate SP2 Texas, USA | Re: Boot Advanced Options - Number of Processors Well, I must admit that I'm stumped on why your msconfig does not show any available options for you like the examples in the tutorial.
You might also post this question in the General Discussion forum and Vista General newsgroup to see if someone may know of a solution to this problem.
Sorry, 
Shawn | My System Specs | | System Manufacturer/Model Number Custom OS Vista x64 Ultimate SP2 CPU Core2 Quad Q9450 2.66GHz 12MB Motherboard Gigabyte X48-DQ6 Memory 8 GB (4x2) DDR2 PC2-8500 1066 MHz Patriot Extreme Graphics Card BFG GeForce 9600 GT OC 512MB Sound Card Realtek HD Audio ALC889A Integrated Chip Monitor(s) Displays 28" Hanns-G HG281DJB and 17" eMachines E17T4 Screen Resolution 28" 1920x1200 and 17" 1280x1024 Keyboard Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution Mouse Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 5500 Revolution PSU Antec NeoPower 500 Watt Case Tagan El-Diablo Full Tower Cooling 250 mm Front, 360 mm Side, stock CPU, 120 mm SiLenX Rear Hard Drives 64GB Patriot SSD (v2)
750GB Samsung HDD HD753LJ SATA 32MB Internet Speed 3382 kb/s Download and 312 kb/s Upload Other Info Creative WebCam Instant
05-14-2008
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| | Member Ultimate SP1 x64 & x86 Paris | Re: Boot Advanced Options - Number of Processors Swarfega,
Try running regedit and the task manager, are they working well?
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