Dependencies
A
Dependency is a relationship of reliance between 2 or more
resources that makes it necessary for them to run in the same group
on the same node. In relation
to Services, some are dependant on others to run correctly. To find
out whether or not a Service is dependant on others, Right click
on the Service in question & select Properties.
Next select the Dependencies tab.
Depending
on what dependencies a Service has, it can effect your ability to
change a Services Startup type
to Disable or Manual
without the Service being automatically initiated anyway. As a result
this tab can help your Troubleshooting process if a problem arises
after disabling a particular Service which is dependant on.
Backup
Customizing
the various system Services settings can be hazardous at times. So
before you even start messing with them you should prepare an ERD
(Emergency Repair Disk). Although it’s
highly unlikely you’ll need this, you never know. To make an ERD
take the following steps.
Click
on Start, Programs, Accessories, System
Tools then Backup.
Select
the Emergency Repair Disk option in the Welcome tab &
backup your registry (This is where any changes you make to the
system Services are stored).
Now
that you’ve made your ERD it's onto to the next section of the
guide.
Emergency
Restoration procedure
Should
you find that you inadvertently Disable
a Service that is required to load Windows 2000, or for it to
function correctly do the following (Assuming that the Services
Utility will not load, which can occur when some Services are set to
Disable. Click on Start, Run, type in
regedit & hit Enter. Open the following registry
key, [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services].
This is where the Startup
type for every Service is also stored. Select the appropriate
Service (If unsure check the DisplayName
value in the Right hand
pane) from this subfolder. In the Right hand
pane there will be a DWORD value entitled Start.
The value (Decimal or Hexadecimal) for this entry determines the
Services Startup type, as in the previous section. To change the
value Right click on the
entry & select Modify.
Valid values are as follows;
A
value of 2 sets the Startup type to Automatic.
A
value of 3 sets the Startup type to Manual.
A
value of 4 sets the Startup type to Disable.
This
following example illustrates how you would go about restoring the
Plug & Play Service from
Disable to Automatic.
As you can see in the
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PlugPlay]
key the value for Start
is to 4, i.e.
Disabled.
Right
click on the Start
entry & select Modify.
Select the Value data
field.
Change
the value to 2 & select the OK button, this will
set the Startup type to Automatic. Reboot for the change(s) to
take effect. Should this fail you should resort to the ERD which you
made as directed earlier on.
