This article discusses five more methods that you can use to diagnose and repair service startup issues.
Introduction
In my first article in this series I talked about some really basic techniques for troubleshooting problems with services that refuse to start. In this article, I want to conclude the series by talking about five more things that you can do to get a stubborn service to start.
Check the Dependency Services
Sometimes a service may fail to start due to a problem with a dependency. Services can sometimes form a hierarchical architecture in which other services must be running in order for a service to start. Granted, not all services have dependencies associated with them, but dependency services are common enough that they certainly warrant a look if you are having trouble starting a service.
In the old days it was really tough to track down problems with dependency services, but most of the newer versions of Windows make it easy. To check service dependencies, open the Service Control Manager, right click on the service that you are having trouble starting, and select the Properties command from the resulting shortcut menu. When you do, Windows will display the service’s properties sheet.
