Microsoft takes four months to resolve issue affecting Windows 7 users with solid background colors, causing delayed login process.
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Microsoft veteran Raymond Chen recently shed light on a lesser-known issue that affected Windows 7 users with solid color desktop backgrounds. During the initial phase of Windows 7's release, from June 2009 to November 2009, users experienced a delay of up to 30 seconds before the Windows Welcome screen appeared.
The root cause was Windows 7's handling of desktop background rendering during startup. When using a solid color as the desktop background, the system could delay startup because it deferred loading the desktop theme or Aero interface elements differently compared to using an image background. This could cause a perceptible lag during startup.
Chen's blog post provided further explanation about the cause of the delay. The Windows 7 logon system was waiting for the desktop wallpaper bitmap to load and a report that this process was complete. However, the report that the wallpaper was ready was inside the wallpaper bitmap code, causing the logon system to wait in vain for a report that would never arrive if no wallpaper was used.
Interestingly, many users chose simple, clean, solid colors for their desktop backgrounds, thinking it would be easier on their meager RAM and the spinning hard drives. However, this was not the case during the delay in the Windows 7 startup process.
It's worth noting that Windows veteran Chen himself is a devotee of solid color desktop backgrounds, having preferred this preference since Windows 95. However, he mentioned that users who preferred to hide desktop icons might have experienced the full 30-second startup delay in Windows 7.
The delay was resolved by Microsoft after about four months of Windows 7's reign. The closest related troubleshooting advice from the search results involves disabling features like fast startup or removing startup apps to improve boot times on HP laptops running Windows 7 or 10, though none mention the solid color background specifically.
Chen also provided example code to explain the process he believes caused the delay. He now favors a bluish-green background hue for his desktop. This quirk is a reminder for users to be mindful of the potential impact of seemingly innocuous desktop customizations on system performance.
[1] TechRadar - How to speed up your Windows 7 PC [3] PCWorld - How to speed up Windows 7 startup
- Despite the common belief that solid color desktop backgrounds would help optimize system resources, Microsoft veteran Raymond Chen's analysis reveals that the delay in the Windows 7 startup process was actually caused by the system's wait for the desktop wallpaper bitmap to load, leading to a perceptible lag of up to 30 seconds.
- The root cause of the Windows 7 startup delay for users with solid color desktop backgrounds was rooted in the system's handling of desktop background rendering during startup, a quirk that can serve as a reminder for users to be mindful of the potential impact of seemingly innocuous desktop customizations on system performance.
