Troubleshooting Services and Drivers

Some services are configured to start automatically on Windows 2000. The specific services depend on your computer configuration and which network services and protocols you are using.

To view which services should start automatically (and which did start), click Start, click Administrative Tools, click Computer Management, and then select Services and Applications.

Sometimes, if a file that is needed to load or run Windows 2000 becomes corrupt or is deleted, the system displays a message about a problem with the file. You might also get information logged in the event log. Either of these clues can help you find the problem.

Not all executable files (EXEs) or dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) report missing or corrupt files, and the symptoms of a missing file can be unpredictable. However, it is recommended that all Windows 2000 EXEs and DLLs be protected by System File Protection (SFP).

What do you do if there is no indication of an error, but you think that a component did not start correctly? To check the files, at the command prompt type:

SFC /Scannow

SFC scans all your protected System files immediately. You can check to see if all the Windows 2000 system files exist and appear to be uncorrupted. Symptoms of corruption include a file that is an unusual size (for example, zero bytes or larger than its original size), or having a date or time that does not match the Windows 2000 installation date or dates on service packs that you have installed. You can use Windiff.exe, which is included with the Support Tools on the Windows 2000 Setup CD to compare files in your %SystemRoot%\System32 folder and subfolders with files in these folders on another computer that is running Windows 2000.

Note

SFP protects DLL, EXE, OCX, and SYS operating system files, as well as several TrueType and System Font files.

If you can log on to your computer, you can use the Drivers utility on the Windows 2000 Resource Kit companion CD to display information about the device drivers that were loaded. If you have previously printed the output from the Drivers utility (by redirecting the output to a printer or a file), you can compare the previous output with one produced when you think that drivers are not loading. Another method of determining if there are drivers missing from the list is to run the Drivers utility on a similar computer and compare the results.

Table 14.11 describes the output from the Drivers utility. The most important field is ModuleName, which is the name of the component.

Table 14.11 Drivers Utility Output

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