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Services fail to start and you receive an Error 1079 on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows 2008 R2 or Windows 7

Article ID: 2478117 - View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

One of more of the following services may fail to start on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, Windows 2008 R2 or Windows 7:

• Windows Time (W32Time)
• Windows Event Log (eventlog)
• Windows Firewall (MpsSvc)

Additionally, when trying to start the service manually, you may receive the following error message:

Error 1079: The account specified for this service is different from the account specified for other services running in the same process

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The issue may occur if the service is started by the Local System account instead of by the Local Service account (NT AUTHORITY\LocalService). The Local System account may have insufficient permissions to start the service.

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Resolution

To have us fix this problem for you, go to the "Fix it for me" section. If you prefer to fix this problem yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

Fix it for me

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix this problem link. Then click Run in the File Download dialog box, and follow the steps in this wizard.

Fix this problem
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Note This wizard may be in English only. However, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.

Note If you are not on the computer that has the problem, you can save the automatic fix to a flash drive or to a CD so that you can run it on the computer that has the problem.

Let me fix it myself

Set the service and any dependent services to run under the NT AUTHORITY\LocalService account.

For example, for the Windows Firewall service, follow the steps:

1. Click Start, type "Services.msc” in the Search programs and files box, and then press ENTER,
2. Locate and double click the Windows Firewall service.
3. Click the Log On tab,
4. In the This account text box, type “NT AUTHORITY\LocalService”,
5. Set both Password fields blank,
6. Click Apply and then OK,
7. Repeat these steps for the Base Filtering Engine service.
8. Restart both services.