System and method for accelerated boot performance

1. A method comprising:

initiating a booting process of a user operating system of a computer system, wherein the user operating system sets a plurality of hardware devices for inclusion in the booting process of the user operating system;

during the booting process occurring after power on of the computer system, identifying at least one non-critical hardware device in the plurality of hardware devices set for inclusion in the booting process by the user operating system, wherein a non-critical hardware device comprises a hardware device not necessary for successful completion of the booting process of the user operating system, wherein the identifying at least one hardware device as non-critical comprises determining a hardware device as not being associated with a security token associated with a user account of the user operating system;

thereafter excluding the at least one non-critical hardware device and one or more software elements dependent on the at least one non-critical hardware device from the booting process;

completing the booting process to provide an operational user operating system to a user without loading and initializing the at least one excluded non-critical hardware device; and

thereafter loading and initializing the at least one excluded non-critical hardware device as a post-boot task.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying at least one non-critical software element set for inclusion in the booting process according to the user operating system; and

excluding the at least one non-critical software element set for inclusion in the booting process according to the user operating system.

3. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising:

responsive to completing the booting process, starting one or more of: an excluded non-critical hardware device set for inclusion in the booting process according to the user operating system, and an excluded non-critical software element set for inclusion in the booting process according to the user operating system.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said excluding comprises setting the at least one non-critical hardware device to a disabled state.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one non-critical hardware device includes one or more of a biometric device, an audio device, a device connected to a USB of the computer system, and a network connection device.

6. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one non-critical software element is directly or indirectly related to said at least one non-critical hardware device.

7. The method according to claim 2 , wherein said identifying further comprises dynamically identifying at least one non-critical hardware device.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein said dynamically identifying further comprises checking for a security token associated with a user account of the computer system.

9. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising, responsive to identifying a security token associated with a user account of the computer system, starting a hardware device associated with said security token.

10. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory in operative connection with the one or more processors;

wherein, responsive to execution of computer program instructions accessible to the one or more processors, the one or more processors:

initiate a booting process of a user operating system of a computer system, wherein the user operating system sets a plurality of hardware devices for inclusion in the booting process of the user operating system;

during the booting process occurring after power on of the computer system, identify at least one non-critical hardware device in the plurality of hardware devices set for inclusion in the booting process by the user operating system, wherein a non-critical hardware device comprises a hardware device not necessary for successful completion of the booting process of the user operating system, wherein the identifying at least one hardware device as non-critical comprises determining a hardware device as not being associated with a security token associated with a user account of the user operating system;

thereafter exclude the at least one non-critical hardware device and one or more software elements dependent on the at least one non-critical hardware device from the booting process;

complete the booting process to provide an operational user operating system to a user without loading and initializing the at least one excluded non-critical hardware device; and

thereafter load and initialize the at least one excluded non-critical hardware device as a post-boot task.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors:

identify at least one non-critical software element set for inclusion in the booting process according to the user operating system; and

exclude the at least one non-critical software element set for inclusion in the booting process according to the user operating system.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors:

responsive to completing the booting process, start one or more of: an excluded non-critical hardware device set for inclusion in the booting process according to the user operating system, and an excluded non-critical software element set for inclusion in the booting process according to the user operating system.

13. The system according to claim 10 , wherein to exclude comprises setting the at least one non-critical hardware device to a disabled state.

14. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the at least one non-critical software element is directly or indirectly related to said at least one non-critical hardware device.

15. The system according to claim 11 , wherein to identify further comprises dynamically identifying at least one non-critical hardware device.

16. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage device having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code being executable by a processor and comprising:

computer readable program code that initiates a booting process of a user operating system of a computer system, wherein the user operating system sets a plurality of hardware devices for inclusion in the booting process of the operating system;

computer readable program code that, during the booting process occurring after power on of the computer system, identifies at least one non-critical hardware device in the plurality of hardware devices set for inclusion in the booting process by the user operating system, wherein a non-critical hardware device comprises a hardware device not necessary for successful completion of the booting process of the user operating system, wherein the identifying at least one hardware device as non-critical comprises determining a hardware device as not being associated with a security token associated with a user account of the user operating system;

computer readable program code that thereafter excludes the at least one non-critical hardware device and one or more software elements dependent on the at least one non-critical hardware device from the booting process;

computer readable program code that completes the booting process to provide an operational user operating system to a user without loading and initializing the at least one excluded non-critical hardware device; and

computer readable program code that thereafter loads and initializes the at least one excluded non-critical hardware device as a post-boot task.