What to do in Lieu of Hardware Profiles?

[Bryant Griffin]

Nowhere have I found this general question answered so I'll try it here. I'm
interested if others have this kind of issue and if so what they've done
about it.

In Vista how would I go about changing the characteristics of my machine
depending upon what I'm using it for? To put it another way, how do I select
a particular pre-configured mix of start-up services? In other words, in
Vista how do I relize the important functionality that was accomplished using
the deprecated "hardware profiles" feature of Windows XP/2000?

Here's some background. In terms of my primary computer usage patterns I'm
a software developer by trade, I dabble in music composition and I play
games. Each of these activities places a different set of priorities and
restrictions on the platform.

When I'm developing software I have lots of development tools and associated
services running on my computer. Similarly when composing music there are
many applications and services running that are specific to the task of music
creation. The demands of gaming are such that extraneous processes and
services be kept to a minimum surrendering as much processing power to the
actual game as possible.

So when playing a game I'd rather not have a dozen services related to
MS-SQL Server and Visual Studio running in the backgound. Or, when I'm
writing database stored procedures I'd rather not have services related to my
music sampling software running. When I sit down to work (or play) I'd like
to be able to pick a boot "profile" that is tailored for the task at hand.

In the Windows XP world creating what are effectively three unique computer
personalities is accomplished by creating three different hardware profiles;
one for software development, one for gaming and one for music composition.
In each profile I disable all start-up services that are not required for
that activity. So for example in themusic profile I disable all SQL-Server
services. In the gaming profile I disable all development and music
services. As a result the machines performance is improved over what it
would have otherwise been because a lot of unnecessary services aren't
running.

I'd have to admit that this is probably not the kind of scenario Microsoft
had in mind when they introduced hardware profiles; my understanding that it
is primarilly concerned with hardware configuration changes resulting from
the docking and un-docking of portables. But at the same time many people do
use hardware profiles as described above.

With the "user created hardware profiles" feature being left out of Vista
I'm looking for an alternate means of accomplishing the same thing, otherwise
I'm sort of stuck on XP.

Thanks.

 

[Gary Mount]

You could create a batch file and put in something like the following.

net stop "Application Experience"
net stop "Application Host Helper Service"
net stop "Application Information"
net stop "Ati External Event Utility"
net stop "Background Intelligent Transfer Service"
net stop "Base Filtering Engine"
net stop "Certificate Propagation"
net stop "COM+ Event System"
net stop "Computer Browser"
net stop "Cryptographic Services"
net stop "DCOM Server Process Launcher"
net stop "Desktop Window Manager Session Manager"
net stop "DHCP Client"
net stop "Diagnostic Policy Service"
net stop "Diagnostic System Host"
net stop "Distributed Link Tracking Client"
net stop "DNS Client"
net stop "Function Discovery Provider Host"
net stop "Function Discovery Resource Publication"
net stop "Group Policy Client"
net stop "Human Interface Device Access"
net stop "IIS Admin Service"
net stop "IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules"
net stop "IP Helper"
net stop "IPsec Policy Agent"
net stop "KtmRm for Distributed Transaction Coordinator"
net stop "Messenger Sharing Folders USN Journal Reader service"
net stop "Multimedia Class Scheduler"
net stop "Network Connections"
net stop "Network List Service"
net stop "Network Location Awareness"
net stop "Network Store Interface Service"
net stop "Offline Files"
net stop "Plug and Play"
net stop "Portable Device Enumerator Service"
net stop "Print Spooler"
net stop "Program Compatibility Assistant Service"
net stop "ReadyBoost"
net stop "Remote Access Connection Manager"
net stop "Remote Procedure Call (RPC)"
net stop "Secondary Logon"
net stop "Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol Service"
net stop "Security Accounts Manager"
net stop "Security Center"
net stop "Server"
net stop "Shell Hardware Detection"
net stop "Software Licensing"
net stop "SQL Server (SQLEXPRESS)"
net stop "SQL Server VSS Writer"
net stop "SSDP Discovery"
net stop "Superfetch"
net stop "System Event Notification Service"
net stop "Tablet PC Input Service"
net stop "Task Scheduler"
net stop "TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper"
net stop "Telephony"
net stop "Terminal Services"
net stop "Terminal Services Configuration"
net stop "Terminal Services UserMode Port Redirector"
net stop "Themes"
net stop "UPnP Device Host"
net stop "User Profile Service"
net stop "WebClient"
net stop "Windows Audio"
net stop "Windows Audio Endpoint Builder"
net stop "Windows Defender"
net stop "Windows Driver Foundation - User-mode Driver Framework"
net stop "Windows Error Reporting Service"
net stop "Windows Event Log"
net stop "Windows Firewall"
net stop "Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)"
net stop "Windows Management Instrumentation"
net stop "Windows Media Center Receiver Service"
net stop "Windows Media Center Scheduler Service"
net stop "Windows Presentation Foundation Font Cache 3.0.0.0"
net stop "Windows Process Activation Service"
net stop "Windows Search"
net stop "Windows Time"
net stop "Windows Update"
net stop "Workstation"
net stop "World Wide Web Publishing Service"

Just add the ones that you think you don't need to be running. You can
generate your own list by typing in a command window
"net start >> sometextfile.txt"

you can reverse the process by replacing stop with start in a separate batch
file you can run to restart those services.
You might find that you will want to have some services stopping before
others so you don't have to respond to a question like "would you like to
stop such and such a service that is dependent on such and such".

 

[Bryant Griffin]

Thanks a lot Gary!

While not as tidy as using a hardware profile your recommendation does
achieve the exact same result for my purposes. I had been avoiding a batch
file solution feeling that it would be messy and tedious, but seeing it layed
out the way you have it doesn't look that bad at all. Even though I lose the
little profile selection boot menu, by creating an appropriate set of on/off
batch files I'm no longer required to re-boot to switch "profiles"; an
advantage really.

Again, thanks for the feedback.

Bryant Griffin

 

[Michele Williams]

Gary, Can a batch file be used to load drivers? I have a tablet PC, but when
I do art I want to use my pen tablet instead, and the two are incompatible.
If the batch file won't work do you have any other ideas?
Thanks!
Michele

 

[H Brown]

Hi Michele
You have replied to and quoted the old post in some forum that was
originally posted on January 1st of 2008. Its my guess that both Gary Mount
and Bryant Griffin are no longer checking that post for new replies. The
site you posted to leached onto the microsoft.public.windows.vista.general
Newsgroup. You need to start your on (new) post in an appropriate forum or
Newsgroup. The best help I have to offer, you should read the information at
the following link before you start a new post.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

H Brown