Windows 7 does a good job of shielding users from irrelevant and complex goings on under the hood of the operating system. However, there are times when you need to see what is going on underneath Windows 7’s pretty exterior to troubleshoot an error during startup and shutdown. Learn how to force Windows 7 to display verbose information during startup and shutdown.

Why Display Verbose Information?

Startup and shutdown are two times when things can go wrong with Windows 7. Each installation of the operating system is unique because no two people have exactly the same hardware, software, drivers, user accounts, etc. in their PCs.
When Windows 7 starts up and shuts down, the operating system hides the loading and unloading of resources and instead displays an animation or message telling you what the O/S is doing.
If you suspect that Windows 7 is having trouble or is generating an error during this time, it would be nice if you could see all of those messages you are missing to try to fix the error.
Luckily, Microsoft does offer a way to display verbose information during startups and shutdowns. Unfortunately, the only way to force Windows 7 to display this information is with a Registry edit.
If you are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with Registry editing, don’t attempt what you are about to read. Take your PC to a professional or consult someone knowledgeable about the Windows 7 Registry.

Force Verbose Information in Windows 7

Begin by logging in to Windows 7 with an account that has administrative privileges. Then, click on Start>Run. If you don’t have the Run command on your Start menu, hold down the Windows key on your keyboard and press the R key.
In the Run dialogue box, type in regedit and click the OK button. Verify that you really want to run the application when the UAC warning pops up.



In the left hand panel of the Registry Editor, locate the folder at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\System

On the menu, click on Edit>New>DWord (32-bit) Value. Name the new DWord with the name VerboseStatus and press Enter.



Right click on the VerboseStatus DWord you just created, select Modify from the menu, and change the Value Data to 1. Click the OK button and now Windows 7 will display verbose information whenever the operating system starts up or shuts down.
If you ever want Windows 7 to stop showing verbose information, either change the Value Data variable to 0 or delete the DWord altogether.



Although Windows 7 shields us from what’s going on under the operating system, there are times when you may want to see what’s being loaded and unloaded during start up and shut downs.
By adding a DWord to the Registry, you have a better chance of troubleshooting your PC and fixing the error that you couldn’t otherwise see without the verbose information displayed. Note that turning verbose information on makes Windows 7 behave somewhat like many Linux distributions that show the loading and unloading of resources by default.