Managing Windows 2000 Services

Where to Start...

Messenger Service of Windows NT
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 168893 - Using the Messenger Service in Windows NT gives you varying results that depend on the command options or interface you use to send messages. The method you use determines whether the message will be a local Broadcast or a directed datagram, and to which NetBIOS name the message will be sent. 

More About Srvany
Article by Mark Minasi that explains in depth how to use the Srvany tool from the Resource Kit. Source: Windows 2000 Magazine (March 2000)

NT Workstation Tune-Up
You can improve system performance by auditing your NT workstation's services and removing unnecessary services that are wasting precious system resources. For example, your workstation's Computer Browser service and Server service are candidates for removal. The Computer Browser service is a component of NT's Windows network browsing services. Source: Windows 2000 Magazine (July 1999)
You can improve system performance by auditing your NT workstation's services and removing unnecessary services that are wasting precious system resources. For example, your workstation's Computer Browser service and Server service are candidates for removal. The Computer Browser service is a component of NT's Windows network browsing services. Source: Windows 2000 Magazine (July 1999)

Server Service Configuration and Tuning
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 128167 - Although the Windows NT Server service is self-tuning, it can be also be configured manually through Control Panel Service. Normally, the server configuration parameters are auto-configured (calculated and set) each time you boot Windows NT 

Service Recovery Does Not Execute Batch or Script Files
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 247929 - When you try to use the service recovery functionality in Windows 2000 Services Manager to execute a batch or script file, you may be unable to do so. 

Service Recovery Does Not Run Defined Program If the Program Does Not Use the System Account
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 274489 - When you configure service recovery in Windows 2000 and select the Run File option, the program you select does not run if the service is defined to run on an account other than the System account. 

Services That Must Be Run on a Local System Account  
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 255281 - This article lists services that must be run on a Local System account.

Srvany
For example, if you run Web or mail server software as a service, you don't need to start up the Web or mail server software every time you reboot the system. Srvany lets you run just about any program as a service, without requiring you to rebuild the application as a service. The idea behind Srvany is clever: Instead of rebuilding a program as a service, you run the Srvany service, and Srvany launches the program.

Windows NT Services
Running as a Service What does it mean when a program or component of NT runs as a service? But a service program always starts independently of the logon: NT starts its service programs as part of the startup process, even if no one logs on to the computer. SQL Server usually starts as a service when NT starts. Source: Windows 2000 Magazine (January 1998)
Running as a Service What does it mean when a program or component of NT runs as a service? But a service program always starts independently of the logon: NT starts its service programs as part of the startup process, even if no one logs on to the computer. SQL Server usually starts as a service when NT starts. Source: Windows 2000 Magazine (January 1998)

How to...

How to Change the Server Service Properties
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 228766 - The default caching configuration in Windows 2000 Server Setup is for maximum file server performance. Using default configuration settings, the Server service allocates a considerable amount of memory for internal buffers and tables, creating a large system cache. The "Maximize Throughput for File Sharing" setting is appropriate for computers that typically run the Server service for file sharing. 

HOW TO: Configure Group Policies to Set Security for System Services 
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 256345 - You can implement security on system services in Windows. This allows you to control who can manage services on a workstation, member server, or domain controller. Currently, the only way to change a system service is through a Group Policy computer setting. 

How to Create a Windows NT Service Using Sc.exe
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 251192 - To remotely create and start a service from the command line, you can use the SC tool (Sc.exe) included in the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit. Although you can use the Netsvc.exe and Instsrv.exe tools to start a service on a remote computer, these tools do not give you the ability to remotely create a service. NOTE: The Srvinstw.exe tool is the graphical user interface (GUI) version used to create remote services. Srvinstw.exe is not a command-line tool.  

How to Create and Start a Service on a Remote Computer By Using the Command-Line or a Script 
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 252340 - This article describes how to create and start a service remotely on a Windows NT-based or Windows 2000-based computer from the command line. In this scenario, the program file resides on all the remote computers; you want to write a script to create and start the service automatically. 

How to Delay Loading of Specific Services
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 193888 - In some computers, especially older systems and those with slower peripherals, it may be necessary to delay the loading of a specific Windows NT service for the computer to boot properly. Or you may want to ensure that one service has started and is available for use before another for troubleshooting purposes. This can impact such issues as a domain controller, which cannot access the network where a protocol, or a service such as DHCP, attempts to load BEFORE the network card has had a chance to be bound (for example, Compaq Netflex).

How to Disable a Service or Device that Prevents Windows 2000 from Booting
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 244905 - If a service or device driver is started automatically and is incompatible with the current version of Windows 2000, the service or device driver may not allow Windows 2000 to remain running long enough for you to shut down the service or disable the outdated device driver. This behavior can occur if hardware or software is installed that installs a device or service that is incompatible with Windows 2000 

How to Find the Short Names of Services
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 271362 - This article describes how to determine the short name of a service which you can use at a command prompt or in a batch file.

How to Grant Users Rights to Manage Services in Windows 2000
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 288129 - This article describes several methods for granting users the rights to manage services in Windows 2000.

How to Increase Shutdown Time For Services To Close Properly
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 146092 - Windows NT versions 3.1 and 3.5 allow all services to shut down in 20 seconds. In Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0, the WaitToKillServiceTimeout value name in the registry allows you to specify a length of time that the service control manager must wait for services to complete the shut-down request. 

HOW TO: Schedule a Server Process in Windows 2000
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 300160 - This step-by-step article describes how to schedule a program to automatically start at a pre-determined interval. 

How to Troubleshoot Service Startup Permissions
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 259733 - When a service does not start because of a logon failure, the following error messages may be displayed. 

Cannot End Service Processes with Task Manager
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 155075 - You may receive the following warning message when you try to end a process with Task Manager: The operation could not be completed. Access is denied  

Computer Does Not Wake on LAN If Server Service Is Not Running
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 227674 - A computer with Wake On LAN (WOL) capabilities does not wake up for a NetBIOS over TCP/IP broadcast (NBT BCASTS) if the Server service (or the File and Printer Sharing component) is not running. 

How to Change the Server Service Properties
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 228766 - The default caching configuration in Windows 2000 Server Setup is for maximum file server performance. Using default configuration settings, the Server service allocates a considerable amount of memory for internal buffers and tables, creating a large system cache. The "Maximize Throughput for File Sharing" setting is appropriate for computers that typically run the Server service for file sharing. Because the "Maximize Throughput for File Sharing" setting allocates memory to maintain a large file cache and is unavailable to programs, excessive paging can occur on computers that run server-based programs. This might be especially noticeable when you are performing large file copy operations. If the computer running Windows 2000 Server is mainly used for network programs and services, change use the "Maximize Throughput for Network Applications" setting to free this memory so that it is available for other components 

Incorrectly Configured Service Does Not Start
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 227756 - After you configure a service to start automatically, you may receive the following error message: Error 1069: The service did not start due to a logon failure.

Lsass.exe May Quit on Windows 2000 Domain Controller with Reverse Order Search
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 255897 - When you perform a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) search and you expect a large amount of data to be returned or the data is being sorted in reverse order using a binary sort key, the Lsass.exe process may quit abnormally on the Windows 2000-based server that responds to the query. 

Netlogon Service Does Not Start, Event Viewer Records Event IDs 2114 and 7024
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 269375 - When you start your Windows 2000 Server-based computer, the Netlogon service does not start, even though the "Startup type" is set to "automatic". Event Viewer logs the following errors: 

RPC Server Service Stops Responding
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 272303 - If a malicious user transmits a malformed Remote Procedure Call (RPC) client packet to a Windows 2000-based computer, the RPC Server service on the host computer may stop responding (hang). If this occurs, you must restart the host computer for the RPC Server service to work properly 

Service Does Not Start with "Access Denied" Message When Service Program File Is Located Remotely
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 269015 - A service that is configured with a program file that remotely located (for example, on another Windows 2000-based computer) may not start with an "Access Denied" error message if the service is configured to start as an account other than the Local System Account. 

The Windows 2000 Group Policy to Disable Services Does Not Take Effect 
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 295687 - In Windows 2000, the Group Policy to disable "Services" does not take effect. 

Unable to Change the Startup Parameter When a Service Hangs
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 158995 - A service stops responding during startup on a computer running Windows NT and you are unable to change the Startup parameter to manual, either locally or remotely, through the Server Manager Service. 

Workstation Service Does Not Start
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 197157 - When you start or reboot a computer that has two network adapters installed, the Workstation service may not start and the following error messages may appear in Event Viewer: Event ID: 3870 Source: Workstation Description: <computer name> is not a valid computer name. Event ID: 7023 Source: Service Control Manager Description: The Workstation service terminated with the following error: A duplicate name exists on the network. 

WinNT Err. Msg: Error 1058: The Specified Service is Disabled and Cannot Be Started
Microsoft Knowledge Base Article: 175155 - When you try to start a service (for example, the FTP Publishing Service) either from the Services applet in Control Panel or from a command prompt, you may get one of the following error messages: