Repair broken Defender in Vista

[Luc]

How do you uninstall/reinstall or repair Defender in Vista?

The service fails to start with "Error 2: the system cannot find the file
specified."
The UI follows with "Application failed to initialize: 0x800106ba."

There is a KB article about the latter, first error message at
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931849 : the third solution doesn't help,
and the other two require you to uninstall and reinstall Defender.

But how do you do that, in Vista? I don't see it in the Programs control
panel applet, neither as an installed application nor as an optional OS
component.



The startup setting for the windows defender service says it starts
%SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k secsvcs

Is "secsvcs" a file, or is it a keyword that svchost recognizes?
There's no file or registry key by that name on my system.

I have no other Vista system to compare to - I'm still hanging on to XP on
my other machines, and I'm considered progressive by the rest of the
company because I already have /one/ Vista

 

[Dave M]

Hi Luc;

I certainly don't claim to know much about Vista, but you need to tell us
if your Vista is an upgrade install from XP, from which Defender was
intentionally, although since it's part of the OS, incorrectly
un-installed. If so, there is another KB that you should be aware of:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=935511
In any event, basically that's saying you always have the System Restore
option to get Defender back into operation, provided a restore checkpoint
is available.

I'll leave the "secsvcs" part of your question to a Vista user.

 

[Luc]

Hi Luc;

I certainly don't claim to know much about Vista, but you need to tell us
if your Vista is an upgrade install from XP, from which Defender was
intentionally, although since it's part of the OS, incorrectly

No, it's a new install of Vista Business, about two months old.
Defender was never uninstalled, nor any of its files deleted as far as I
can see.


But I noticed something else [after posting my question], that indicates
that there's more broken than just defender, so I think I'd better move to
another group with this problem.

I thought upgrading to Vista Ultimate would probably be the easiest way to
fix it. I already had the key as well (MSDN subscription), so I inserted
the DVD, launched setup (from within Vista) and entered my Ultimate key.

No go: upgrade is grayed out, yet upgrading from Business to Ultimate
should always be possible.

I suspect that this is related to a "solution" I got from an online check
after a crash of windows explorer a couple of weeks ago, at which time I
thought the solution was mistaking the symptoms on my system for another
problem: it said that I'm running a beta release of Vista and all I had to
do is upgrade to RTM.
I am (and was) already running RTM, with all updates except SP1.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Interesting set of clues.

I think your problem with the upgrade is probably a red herring: You've got
an OEM copy of Vista Business, and you are trying to upgrade to Ultimate
with a retail key (MSDN.)

Not completely sure that's the issue, but it might well be.

OTOH, your experience with the "online check" might point in the right
direction--can you say more about what that check was?

If this was a fresh install with OEM media on new hardware, why would there
be any beta bits involved--I take it this is a complete mystery to you as
well?

Consider doing a repair install from the original Vista media?

Hi Luc;

I certainly don't claim to know much about Vista, but you need to tell us
if your Vista is an upgrade install from XP, from which Defender was
intentionally, although since it's part of the OS, incorrectly

No, it's a new install of Vista Business, about two months old.
Defender was never uninstalled, nor any of its files deleted as far as I
can see.


But I noticed something else [after posting my question], that indicates
that there's more broken than just defender, so I think I'd better move to
another group with this problem.

I thought upgrading to Vista Ultimate would probably be the easiest way to
fix it. I already had the key as well (MSDN subscription), so I inserted
the DVD, launched setup (from within Vista) and entered my Ultimate key.

No go: upgrade is grayed out, yet upgrading from Business to Ultimate
should always be possible.

I suspect that this is related to a "solution" I got from an online check
after a crash of windows explorer a couple of weeks ago, at which time I
thought the solution was mistaking the symptoms on my system for another
problem: it said that I'm running a beta release of Vista and all I had to
do is upgrade to RTM.
I am (and was) already running RTM, with all updates except SP1.