Some services do not start in Windows Vista

Source: Microsoft Support

On Windows Vista computers, you find that the Windows Firewall service is not running. When you try to manually start the service, you get the error mentioned below. This problem may also occur for the DHCP Client service, or the “Diagnostic Policy Service” service.

Here are the errors for the "Windows Firewall" service:

In the System event log, you see the following event:

The error means "Access is denied". This may happen if the "MpsSvc" account doesn't have the necessary permissions for the related registry keys.

For the NT Service\MpsSvc account, it needs permissions for the following keys:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Epoch
  permission needed: Query Value;Set Value
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy 
  permission needed: Full Control;Read
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Defaults\FirewallPolicy
  permission needed: Full Control;Read

For the DHCP Client service, the issue may occur if the "NT Service\DHCP" account does not have the necessary permissions for the following keys:

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dhcp
  permission needed: Query value, Create value, Enumerate Subkeys, Notify, Read Control
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dhcp\Configurations
  permission needed: Full Control, Read

For the "Diagnostic Policy Service" service, the issue may occur when the account Trustedinstaller is missing the permissions for the key below:


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DPS\Parameters
permission needed: Full Control, Read

Automatically diagnose and fix common Windows Firewall, such as the following:

• Windows Firewall is not the default firewall
• Windows Firewall does not start
• Windows Vista could not start Windows Firewall
• Service-specific error 5 (0x5) Remote Assistance does not work
• You cannot access shared files and printers

To download and run this automated troubleshooter, click the Fix this problem link:

If you would prefer to fix this problem yourself rather than using the above automated troubleshooter, add the permission for the account on these registry keys. For example, here are the steps for the Windows Firewall service:

1. In Registry Editor, browse to the key for which you need to add permission.
2. Right click the key, and click Permissions.
3. Make sure Locations is selected to be the local computer.
4. In the "Enter the object names to select field, type "NT SERVICE\mpssvc". Then click "Check name."
5. Click OK.
6. Then select the account which appears in the list, and add the appropriate permission for it.
7. When this is done, click OK.

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