Windows – Why does the XP take forever to show the shutdown window

There might be a way to fasten the shutdown by cutting the time for killing services (taken from here):

The first two settings can be found in the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop. They are called HungAppTimeout and WaitToKillAppTimeout. You should also set the key AutoEndTasks to 1 if it is not set to this value already.

The timeout settings for Services can be found in the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control and is called WaitToKillServiceTimeout. The value is entered in miliseconds which means that the value 2000 should be entered if you want to set this to 2 seconds each.

You may check your event viewer for any errors. see if any particular application is causing the slow shutdown.

Here are a few registry tweaks to speed matters up:

Auto End Task

This registry setting ends the running task and automatically shutdown the application

Go to Start > Run, type regedit to open Registry Editor.

Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Scroll down to find the registry key called AutoEndTasks. Right-click on the key, select Modify and change the value to 1.

Exit Windows Registry after making changes.

Wait To Kill Application

This registry key function is to set the time interval for Windows before killing the applications to shutdown the computer.

Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Scroll down to look for the Registry Key called WaitToKillAppTimeout, right-click on it, select Modify and Change the value to 1000.

Hang Application Time

This registry key sets the hang time of the application before closing.

Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Scroll down to look for the Registry Key named HangAppTimeout.

Right-click on it, select Modify and Change the value to 1000, exit Windows Registry

Clear Page File Before Shutdown

Last but not least, make sure Windows doesn't clear the pagefile on shutdown:

Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management

Scroll down for the Registry Key named ClearPageFileOnShutdown, if this is set to 1, right click on it, select Modify and Change the value to 0.

Wait To Kill Service Timeout

This registry key sets the time for Windows to wait before ending services related to Microsoft.

Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Look for the Registry Key named as WaitToKillServiceTimeout, right click on it, select Modify and Change the value to 1000.

Source

p.s.: if you're looking for the easy way out, grab Superfast Shutdown, it does what it says on the tin, guaranteed :)