I have both Sonar X3d 64 bit and 32 bit loaded on my DAW. It takes 2 minutes 30 seconds for the 64 bit version to load and about 20 - 30 seconds for the 32 bit version to load.

The os drive where Sonar is installed is defragged, ran memtest and all is good there, renamed aud.ini but that made no difference since the new aud.ini wasn't created until the splash screen finally went away, latest video drivers, scanned for viruses, scanned for malware, os drive is 75% free and it's a WD Caviar black, no wi-fi card, sure there's more that I checked that I'm forgetting.

Scan VST option is set to manual, I have reset and re-scanned, actually the plugin manager takes a loooong time to load and anytime I do a VST scan, the "rebuilding menu" prompt takes a loooong time also.
 
I've always used the 32 bit version in the past but now that all the plugins that I use are 64 bit, I'm switching over.
 
The actually loading of the program without it loading a template or project is what I'm referring to, loading any template or project is actually fairly fast.

Any suggestions on what else to check?

BTW, this is on a first gen I7-quad running at 2.66GHz and hyperthreading is turned on, speedstep and the other recommended settings are turned off in the bios and my dpc latency reading is very low. Machine runs solidly. No problems with operation of Sonar X3d, just takes a seemingly forever to load.

edit: SOLVED, see post #48 of this thread.

It's using more memory.....
How long does it take without a project?
Turn off antivirus (temporarily).

If I were guessing, it may have something to do with the devices SONAR is trying to communicate with. I only have a single interface handling audio and MIDI, X3d 64bit is up to the quick start menu in 3 seconds on my i7-3770 12GB RAM running Win 7 on a 7200RPM HD.

CakeAlexS
It's using more memory.....
How long does it take without a project?
Turn off antivirus (temporarily).

2 minutes 30 seconds for just the app to load, no project involved.
I always turn my av off when I use Sonar.

I always disable AV when loading DAWs, and X3(64bit) takes about 30 secs with plugin scan to do its biz.

scook
If I were guessing, it may have something to do with the devices SONAR is trying to communicate with. I only have a single interface handling audio and MIDI, X3d 64bit is up to the quick start menu in 3 seconds on my i7-3770 12GB RAM running Win 7 on a 7200RPM HD.

On my laptop (i5-2450M), it takes Sonar X3d takes about 5 - 10 seconds to load but it's my main DAW that takes forever.

What Scook said then...
try unplugging your devices one by one.... Faster now?
 
Run Window update.
And this: http://forum.cakewalk.com/Driver-Boost-m2928792.aspx
And update your sound interface drivers - cheers...
 
Cheers...

Oh and yes, please change plugin scan to manual.

FWIW, I have the plug-in scan set to the default automatic background setting and AV running.

CakeAlexS, when you say try unplugging my devices, do you mean faderport, my keyboard controller?
My MOTU has the latest drivers installed, Windows Update is current, and as mentioned, plugin scan is set to manual.
I'll try the DriverBoost...