Can't Re-enable some services... Windows XP Pro

Please Help.

I recently stopped some of my services via "services.msc" for better CPU performance. In doing so, here are a couple of the biggest issues I am experiencing:

• No longer getting the Properties Dialog Box so that I can re-enable
• Windows Installer is disabled; unable to re-install
  • Cannot do a system restore!

I hope you can guide me to restoring some of these services.

Thanks.
Computer Tech in Training

 

Arran,

I can boot up normally or in safe mode. But, I cannot do any kind of system restore. And I wanted to re-install Service Pack 3, but I'm not able to do so because my "Windows Installer" service is disabled.

And for those who are reading this... I cannot re-install XP because I do not have the disk.

 

Can you get to Control Panel in Normal or Safe Mode????

 

In an admin account. Edit: at the command prompt

net start MSIServer <enter>

Is the installer service started.

 

When I type net start MSIServer in command prompt I get the following message:

"the dependency group or service failed to start."

 

Can you go into services and see if the RPC (Microsoft Remote Procedure Call) service is started. Not RPC locator.

 

tgell

The RPC is set to manual. I think I need to find a way to make changes to services somewhere other than in Services Manager dialog box (again, I can't seem to "re-enable" any of these services). And besides, I'm no longer able to get the Properties Dialog box to make changes.

 

Something is definitely wrong if you cannot access the properties on any service. I thought is was only on the Microsoft Installer service. There are a couple of utilities that can repair services and reset the registry permissions but I am afraid to recommend those as they could make the system worse if things go wrong.

Edit: for XP the RPC service is supposed to be set to Automatic. RPC locator service is supposed to be set to manual.

 

Re: In dire need of your help... Big problem related to disabled services.

Head over to Blackviper and get the zip file to reset the Service startups to default, scroll down this page until you find the version that matches your edition of XP. Unzip the file and merge the reg. file, once done reboot and test.

There may be something else that's causing this though, did you use any other so-called 'tweaks'?

 

You also never completed the malware removal.
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=250453
You need the pros over there to look at your logs and declare you clean.
It is a waste of time to spend time fixing a computer that might still have malware/worms/trojans on it.

 

Satrow,

I think you might have the solution I need to fix my services problem. I followed the link you provided and scrolled down to my version of Windows (XP Pro Service Pack 3), but not sure where to find the zip file and exactly what to do next. Can you provide me with some more guidance?

Thank you.

 

Yup, it's a big page but there's a lot of stuff there that you really need to study, I'll copy/paste the intro to the relevant section:

The link to your default XP Pro SP3 file is live within the above quote.

Whether or not the 'fix' is successful, you really must follow up your thread in the Malware forum.

 

Satrow,

Okay, I followed the link you you provided and downloaded and unzipped the file. Once it was downloaded I was not able to actually open it. After that, I went to the location it was downloaded to: C\Document~\Superv~\Temp\Temporary ... and right clicked and did the merge function. I got the dialog message saying that the files were added to the regristy (I think that was the message). Anyways, restarted and no difference. I'm still not able to make any changes in services.msc, and I have no wi-fi, I'm not able to copy/paste, no sound, and so more.

And I want to respond to the end of your post and a comment by Plodr regarding an earlier post. That post was regarding malware or virus issue I was experiencing (supposedly ping.exe virus). Well, I followed all the malware removal procedures listed on this site and everything was running pretty good. So this issue I am having now is definatly "not" related to what was going on before. It is fefinatly related to the services I just recently made.

Thanks for the continued support.
SB

 

The "resiliency" feature of Windows Installer may pose a problem if you are performing a repair over a slow link or if the original media source is not present. There is no way to disable only the resiliency feature, but you can instead disable the Windows Installer service. This article describes how to disable Windows Installer

Important This section, method, or task contains stepsImportant This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs.

Resiliency is the ability of an application to recover itself from a damaged state. The state may have been caused by a missing or incompatible file or registry key. Although Microsoft does not generally recommend disabling the Windows Installer, there may be situations in which it is advantageous to do so.

One way of disabling the Installer is to use the DisableMSI (Type REG_DWORD) policy. This policy will disable the Windows Installer, thereby stopping resiliency. The policy is set through the registry keyHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\InstallerIf the value of this per-computer system policy is set to "2", the Windows Installer is always disabled for all applications.If this policy value is set to "0" or any other number other than "1" or "2" or is absent, the Installer is always enabled.If this policy value is set to "1", the Installer is disabled for nonmanaged applications but is enabled for managed applications. This setting does allow an application to be advertised to all users of a computer but does not allow an application to be advertised to the current user.
NOTE: While this policy is set to "2" you will not be able to perform an installation or use any function of the Windows Installer.

 

...or just give the link. rolleyes

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303439/d

 

Please upload the resulting logs to be checked - no one on MG's is gonna bite you - once we know the problem is definitively not malware, we'll all pay a little more attention

Don't ignore the last 2 posts, they may well be relevant here.

Which of your services are now different to the default services as listed over at BlackViper? (scroll down the page to find your XP edition and SP level, the boxes already checked are the default settings)

 

Okay... I ran all the Malware scan again just in-case something was missed or needed fixing. Logs have been posted to my previous post.

Thanks.