Computer with Large Number of Partitions Starts Slowly (274349)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP1
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP2
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP1
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP2
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP1
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP2
This article was previously published under Q274349

SYMPTOMS

When you start your computer and it has a large number of partitions defined in the Disk Management MMC snap-in, startup may take an excessively long time to complete. Your computer may appear to stop responding (hang) while the "Starting Windows 2000" message is displayed, and the status bar may pause between 50 and 70 percent.

CAUSE

This problem can occur because the system must enumerate and mount each partition. As the number of partitions grows, so does the total amount of time it takes to complete this operation.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows 2000. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260910 How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:
   Date       Time       Version        Size       File name
   ---------------------------------------------------------
   04-May-01  15:55:08    5.0.2195.3573  29,968    Disk.sys

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3.

MORE INFORMATION

The problem that is described in this article does not manifest itself on computers with large hardware RAID implementations where the array is addressable as a single drive letter. The fix that is described in this article is specific to computers with 30 or more devices defined in Disk Management.

For additional information about how to install Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 hotfixes at the same time, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

249149 Installing Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 Hotfixes

For additional information about how to obtain a hotfix for Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

265173 The Datacenter Program and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Product

For additional information about how to install multiple hotfixes with only one reboot, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

296861 Use QChain.exe to Install Multiple Hotfixes with One Reboot

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:9/26/2005
Keywords:kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbbug kbenv kbfix kbOSWin2000fix kbui kbWin2000PreSP2Fix kbWin2000PreSP3Fix kbWin2000sp3fix KB274349
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