Windows 8.1 Pro x64 UEFI very slow boot and shutdown

I have the same problem with a new ASUS X550LA laptop with an i7-4500 cpu and 8GB RAM that came with windows 8.  I upgraded it to 8.1 and my new laptop now runs slower than my old HP Zv6000 with 1 GB RAM.

Further, when I upgraded from 8 to 8.1, the upgrade process wiped out (or, at least, refused to recognize my local account) so I had to create another cloud-based account (which I don't want) and then I had to jump through the hoops (again) to recreate my local account.  Isn't interesting that the install/setup process can't recognize an existing local account when it does an upgrade from 8 to 8.1, but it has no problem recognizing the "lost" local user account (e.g., Joe) when I asked it to delete the new account with the same name (i.e. Joe) after I found both the new account and the old account in C:\Users.  Yep, it deleted both C:\Users\Joe and C:\Users\Joe_000) which, obviously, made it impossible to reconnect to my original lost account and configuration settings.  Even if Microsoft has a way to reconnect to existing accounts on an upgrade, wouldn't you think that after 20+ years of doing updates that they could figure out how to do it right and not force their customers to spend endless hours redoing and relearning the "new and improved" way of doing things?

I did the 8 to 8.1 upgrade on an ASUS laptop and did not need to do a cloud account, just told the software I wanted a local account. It is not obvious that you can do this but fortunately I knew ahead of time that you could. Several places around the internet describe how to do this.

I have the same problem with a new ASUS X550LA laptop with an i7-4500 cpu and 8GB RAM that came with windows 8.  I upgraded it to 8.1 and my new laptop now runs slower than my old HP Zv6000 with 1 GB RAM.

Further, when I upgraded from 8 to 8.1, the upgrade process wiped out (or, at least, refused to recognize my local account) so I had to create another cloud-based account (which I don't want) and then I had to jump through the hoops (again) to recreate my local account.  Isn't interesting that the install/setup process can't recognize an existing local account when it does an upgrade from 8 to 8.1, but it has no problem recognizing the "lost" local user account (e.g., Joe) when I asked it to delete the new account with the same name (i.e. Joe) after I found both the new account and the old account in C:\Users.  Yep, it deleted both C:\Users\Joe and C:\Users\Joe_000) which, obviously, made it impossible to reconnect to my original lost account and configuration settings.  Even if Microsoft has a way to reconnect to existing accounts on an upgrade, wouldn't you think that after 20+ years of doing updates that they could figure out how to do it right and not force their customers to spend endless hours redoing and relearning the "new and improved" way of doing things?

I appreciate your effort! However, my version is 9.5.15.1730 and I still have about a minute boot. Shuts down fine, though...

Okay, I think I finally found the cause of this problem and I'm here to share it with you guys.

Problem:

     Long delay in shutting down / restarting the system

Identified Root Cause:

     Intel ME ( Management Engine ) Driver

1. Look for Intel(R) Management Engine Interface drive in the Device manager page.
2. Take note of the version of the driver
3. The Intel ME driver should be version 9.5.15.1730 ( latest driver from INTEL ). If not, update it.

Now here's how I came up with this solution.

1. Run the system restore to revert back all the changes and drivers installed
2. Validated that the issue has been resolved.
3. Turned off windows automatic update
4. Installed the drivers one at a time
5. Restart / Shutdown the system for every driver installed to narrow down the root cause
6. After I confirmed that the culprit was the Intel ME driver which was provided by the Manufacturer of my newly bought laptop, I did some research and confirmed that its current version is not compatible with Windows 8.1.
7. Updated the driver to its latest version.
8. Problem solved.

I checked the laptop I "fixed" by disabling the Atheros Bluetooth driver and it has the Intel Management Engine Interface version 9.0.0.1287 installed. In the Management window I did the update to get the latest driver and it said the latest was installed.

My feeling is that there may be multiple drivers that are not compatible with Win 8.1 and that depends upon what hardware is installed in a given machine. Your process of investigation is close to what took me two days to accomplish and may be the quickest way for others to solve the slow boot/shutdown situation. Waiting for MS to solve the problem may be a very long wait.

Okay, I think I finally found the cause of this problem and I'm here to share it with you guys.

Problem:

     Long delay in shutting down / restarting the system

Identified Root Cause:

     Intel ME ( Management Engine ) Driver

1. Look for Intel(R) Management Engine Interface drive in the Device manager page.
2. Take note of the version of the driver
3. The Intel ME driver should be version 9.5.15.1730 ( latest driver from INTEL ). If not, update it.

Now here's how I came up with this solution.

1. Run the system restore to revert back all the changes and drivers installed
2. Validated that the issue has been resolved.
3. Turned off windows automatic update
4. Installed the drivers one at a time
5. Restart / Shutdown the system for every driver installed to narrow down the root cause
6. After I confirmed that the culprit was the Intel ME driver which was provided by the Manufacturer of my newly bought laptop, I did some research and confirmed that its current version is not compatible with Windows 8.1.
7. Updated the driver to its latest version.
8. Problem solved.

Good investigative work. Happy it is now resolved for you.