Enabling Services in Recovery Console


If your server rebooted and now won’t start properly, it’s possible that a critical service or device driver on it has become disabled and is preventing Windows from starting. If you can’t even boot into Safe Mode, try using running the Recovery Console off your product CD and when you’re in the console, use the enable service_name start_type command to assign a Startup Type to the service you think may be causing the problem. The possible values of start_type may be SERVICE_BOOT_START, SERVICE_SYSTEM_START, SERVICE_AUTO_START, OR SERVICE_DEMAND_START. You’ll need to know what the normal Startup Type for each service should be, and for this information see Appendix A of the Troubleshooting Guide in the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit, a collection of books that every IT pro should have on their bookshelf.

Mitch Tulloch is President of MTIT Enterprises, an IT content development company based in Winnipeg, Canada. Prior to starting his own company in 1998, Mitch worked as a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) for Productivity Point International. Mitch is a widely recognized expert on Windows administration, networking and security and has written 14 books and over a hundred articles on various topics. He has been repeatedly awarded Most Valuable Professional (MVP) status by Microsoft for his outstanding contributions in supporting users who deploy Microsoft platforms, products and solutions. Mitch is also a professor at Jones International University (JIU) where he teaches graduate-level courses in Information Security Management (ISM) for their Masters of Business Administration (MBA) program. For more information see http://www.mtit.com.

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