Enable GPO logging and debugging in Server 2008

The following can be handy to troubleshoot slow logon or group policy issues.

Group Policy logon logging:

Add the following Registry KEy

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Diagnostics

GPSvcDebugLevel = 30002 (hex)

Create the following folder if it does not exist.
The log output will be placed in C:\Windows\Debug\UserMode\gpsvc.log

GP Preference tracing:

Group Policy (local or main) 

Computer Configuration | Policies | Admin Templates | System | Group Policy | Logging and Tracing

User.log in C:\ProgramData\GroupPolicy\Preference\Trace

The GP logon login and preference tracing may provide clues - i.e. can see where the delay is.

We had a slow logon problem and found that the Group Policy preference shortcuts was where the delay was.

These keys could be worth trying:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

DelayedDesktopSwitchTimeout = 5

The “Preparing your Desktop” bit now whizzes by.

But you then may get a black screen for quite a while before actually seeing the desktop.  Apparently this can be fixed by setting the aboveDelayedDesktopSwitchTimeout registry setting to 45.  I tried that and things seem better!