Services confusion: Manual vs. Disabled.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Thomas G. Marshall
  • Start date Start date
T

Thomas G. Marshall

What is the difference between setting a windows service to /Manual/, versus
setting it to /Disabled/ ?

If it is in the Manual setting, wouldn't it be effectively disabled. And if
Disabled, wouldn't it be effectively manual because I could just re-enable
it again?

Thanks!
 
Thomas G. Marshall said:
What is the difference between setting a windows service to /Manual/, versus
setting it to /Disabled/ ?

If it is in the Manual setting, wouldn't it be effectively disabled. And if
Disabled, wouldn't it be effectively manual because I could just re-enable
it again?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

You can start a service manually if it is set to manual, e.g.
by typing "net start SomeService" at a Command Prompt.
You cannot do this when the service is disabled. Furthermore,
some services set to "manual" are started on demand by
various Windows processes, e.g. the RSM service.
 
Manual and Disabled are not the same.
Disabled - This service will never start.
Manual - May be started when need by an application or another service.
Automatic - Started when Windows boots.

JS
 
<quote>
A service has 3 basic startup states:

Disabled: The service will not be loaded (Some programs stop working, won't
take memory, and quick boot time)

Manual: The service will be loaded on demand (Slow program start, won't take
memory, and quick boot time)

Automatic: The service is loaded at boot time (Fast program start, will take
memory, and slow boot time)
<quote>
from...
Windows XP, 2000, NT4 Services Guide
http://smallvoid.com/tweak/winnt/services.html

<quote>
If you have a typical installation, many services are configured as
"automatic" (that is, they start automatically when the system starts or
when the service is called for the first time). If a service is configured
as "manual," you must start the service manually before it can be loaded by
the operating system and made available for use. If a service is configured
as "disabled," it cannot be started automatically or manually.
<quote>
from...
Default settings for services
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/.../en-us/sys_srv_default_settings.mspx?mfr=true

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

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