Bug: Logon Animations

Hellbovine

Hellbovine

Well-Known Member
Update: August 23rd, 2023 (Unresolved)

Summary: Using the NTLite templates to create an image and do a clean install of Windows, right before you reach the desktop after Windows Setup finishes, it tends to hang for a few minutes at a black screen, but will eventually progress. This is especially prevalent on the "Not recommended" preset, but happens on the others too. The delay is long enough that it tempted me to abort the install.

MORE INFORMATION
OS: Unmodified Windows 10 ISO, version 21H2, build 19044.1288
NTLite: version 2.3.9.9039, default settings

According to replies in this thread, it could be about the First-Logon Animation, which appears in several places in NTLite for modification. This may need to be addressed in the templates or for the specific component removal of that animation since it seems to cause problems, perhaps intermittently. More testing or reports is probably needed to confirm what is specifically causing the issue.

What it feels like to me is that maybe by removing the first-logon animation component it causes some part of the Windows install process to error and retries multiple times before it can continue and reach the desktop, as if it has to meet a retry count threshold first.
 
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Hellbovine said:
I have been experimenting with the 4 built-in presets (W10 21H2 Home), and something I noticed which I've also seen mentioned on another thread, is that after the Windows Setup process, at some point before you hit the desktop it tends to hang for quite a long time at a black screen, but will eventually finish successfully. This is especially prevalent on the "Not recommended" preset, but happens on the others too. The delay can feel so long that it appears to be frozen, tempting users to shut down the computer by pressing the power button on the tower.

Is it known what component removal is causing this and/or is there perhaps some kind of workaround that can be added to that component removal, such as substituting the black screen for some kind of generic loading screen, that way people know the computer is actively working? I think this would make things more intuitive, especially for newer or impatient users.

On a sidenote, I'd suggest renaming the "Not recommended" template to "Extreme" so that it feels more at home with the naming scheme (Privacy/Gaming/Lite).
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I remember having a very slow startup before when I stopped a certain service but I am away from my computer right now so cannot remember the name of it. Not sure if this pertains to you at all but when I get back on will look again at what it's called.

Does it happen after all restarts?
 
Necrosaro said:
Does it happen after all restarts?
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Only during the initial installation of Windows, after that it's all good. The one report I've found which sounds like the same issue, is from the year 2019 (link), and it looks like it was because IE was removed and that caused the "getting your device ready" screen to become black, and then added a long delay. It seems that it was fixed though, so I'm not sure if that link is still related to this one.

To clarify myself more too, the main issue I have isn't that the screen is black, that's fine and expected, but rather there is a long delay some reason, when it should be faster since there's far less components than a default install.
 
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Hellbovine said:
Only during the initial installation of Windows, after that it's all good.

The one report I've found which sounds like the same issue, is from the year 2019 (link), and it looks like it was because IE was removed, and it caused the "getting your device ready" screen to become black, and then added a long delay for some reason. It seems that Nuhi fixed it though, so I'm not sure if that link is still related to this one.

To clarify myself more too, the main issue I have isn't that the screen is black, that's fine and expected, but rather there is a long delay added for some reason, when you would assume it should be faster since there's far less components than a default install. It feels like something gets broken in a way that causes this abnormal delay.
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The delay I had before in starting up was long as well but in your situation it doesn't seem to be the same thing. Either way hope someone else can chime in and know more. Either way if nothing comes in will see what my issue was again and report.
 
My first impression is you're hitting FirstLogonAnim. FirstLogonAnim is that annoying long post-OOBE animation that covers up background tasks. You can disable or remove it from an image.
 
Yeah, it's one of those screens, but when it's removed I think the install takes much longer than usual to finish. It's like something is failing, and has a retry count that it must max out before it can proceed, adding delay. I should have timed it so I could give a comparison, because right now I'm going by feel so I could be mistaken.
 
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I got around to retesting this again, and it might be my mistake, or the issue is intermittent. I'll test it again in the future when I have more time, but it sounds like other people are aware of this quirk so there may still be something here that needs investigating.
 
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When I remove 'First-logon animation' I get a black screen after OOBE and putting username, password, etc. After a while it goes straight to the desktop.

So I disable First-logon animation in Settings -> System in NTLite to avoid this.

A suggestion for nuhi is to apply this reg tweak when removing this component.
 
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