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How to Troubleshoot long login times

I'm in a Windows environment, we have 20 servers ranging from application servers, print servers domain controllers , sql servers, and citrix servers.

At this time when i log into a citrix terminal server using microsoft remote desktop, it takes about 45 seconds to get the desktop I sit with a blank grey screen for 40 seconds, then the login script runs for a split second then i start to see the icons which takes maybe another 5 seconds.

How can i find out what is going on from the time i hit enter after entering my password and the login scripot starts ? I put a pause at the beginning of the login script so i new exactly when it got to that point.

I really just want to know some troubleshooting steps to find out what the citrix server is doing from the time i enter my password till the login script begins ?

Any help is appreciated
Thank you

Herrmannator

Are you using Roaming profiles for these TS sessions? If so, then most likely you are waiting for these roaming profiles to load. You will see longer load times as the roaming profiles get larger, such as if people store large files on their TS desktop.

Ekuskowski

ASKER

Yes we are using roaming profiles, but login times have increased by about 20 seconds , basically overnight. Profile sizes have not changed drastically, and this happens to everyone across the board. So i understand that the roaming profiles could cause this but it seems unlikely as it has effected everyone all of a sudden.

Carl Webster

I have also seen this when the server's backgroup is a 24-bit color BMP file (like Dell PE servers). I find and delete those files. Amazing the speedup in displaying the desktop when you do that.

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mgcIT

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Ekuskowski

ASKER

Servers background is set to none.

mgcIT

if its exactly 20 seconds longer see here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941158

or here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899409

again, the userenv.dll log file will help you find this

Carl Webster

Then follow mgcIT's advice.

Herrmannator

I would try mgcIT's advice on the logging -- looks very promising.

Ekuskowski

ASKER

I'm going to follow mgcIT's advice and see what i come up with by tomorrow morning when most of my users login.

I'll report back tomorrow around 11:00 EST

Thank you for all of your quick responses so far

mgcIT

just one word of caution... if multiple people are logging in at once it can be very overwhelming to sort through the log file. I would recommend setting up a test user (that has the login delay problem) so you can troubleshoot. Best way to do it is to delete the log file, log in as a test user, and then view the log. This way you'll make sure to only be looking at a single login and you can determine where the delay is occurring.

Ekuskowski

ASKER

Thank you for the word of caution, I'll heed your warning and only use a test user

I'll see if I can do this during the day today, if so I'll report back and hopefully close out the ticket

mgcIT

it requires a reboot to enable logging so you may have to wait until tonight... good luck.

ChiefIT

usually long logins are a result of DNS resolution:

What does DCdiag /v and netdiag cough up for us to fix.

Ekuskowski

ASKER

This was very helpful in troubleshooting our issue, we found the problem came down to a program was attempting to run and failing, which was gotoassist, i have since uninstalled this and seems to have resolved the issue