30 Second Delay During Windows 7 Logon When Using a Solid Color Background

[Update: Microsoft has released a fix in the Windows 7 April 2010 stability/reliability update. Link: KB980408]
Those who prefer performance & productivity over eye candy will often eliminate anything that could distract them or take up [what used to be] precious RAM. If you're one of these enthusiasts you may even choose not load a desktop wallpaper and have only a solid color as your background. No one could have guessed, though, that if you are running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, by doing so you would be reducing your performance by introducing a 30-second delay to your logon time.
Read more to get the details and resolution...
Microsoft has created a KB article that explains how, under the following conditions, the Welcome screen is displayed for 30 seconds during the logon process.
- You have a computer that is running windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2
- You set a solid color as the desktop background
- The Desktop Window Manager Session Manager service is running
- You log on to the computer locally
This issue does not affect Remote Desktop connections
Microsoft has released a hotfix for this issue that you can download through the Microsoft Support website. I'm sure this hotfix will be included in a future update or service pack. And if you don't want to bother with a hotfix, but you still want performance, load a memory guzzling wallpaper image! So head on over to DeviantART or InterfaceLIFT and get some.
[Thanks to Brad C. for shooting us the deets on the login bug]
Tag: wallpaper windows 7 microsoft deviantart interfacelift kb977346 kb980408
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