See what Windows is doing during startup, sign-in and shutdown — via Microsoft Learn

Group Policy

Open gpedit.msc (Pro, Enterprise and Education only) and go to:

Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Display highly detailed status messages

Registry equivalent

Double-click a .reg file and confirm to merge it. Right-click → Edit first if you want to read it, which is always a good idea with any .reg file from the internet.

Apply

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Oddbyte.Me: See what Windows is doing during startup, sign-in and shutdown

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"VerboseStatus"=dword:00000001

Undo

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Oddbyte.Me: undo See what Windows is doing during startup, sign-in and shutdown

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"VerboseStatus"=-

Same thing from a command prompt

Run in an administrator Command Prompt or Terminal.

reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v "VerboseStatus" /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

Undo:

reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v "VerboseStatus" /f

Ignored if the Remove Boot / Shutdown / Logon / Logoff status messages policy (DisableStatusMessages) is turned on. Purely informational — it doesn't change what Windows does.