Wunderbar98 Posted November 1, 2022 Share Posted November 1, 2022 Command line rules. The service guides used for reference do not mention DCOM so it was test disabled. https://www.blackviper.com/service-configurations/black-vipers-windows-xp-x86-32-bit-service-configurations/ https://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/windows_xp_services/2.htm Disabling DCOM Server Process Launcher via 'services.msc' causes the GUI to become non-functional ( without warning! ), not allowing the service to be re-started. Upon reboot the system has poor function (safe mode too) but it's still possible to Ctrl-Alt-Delete to access Task Manager and get a runbox to launch 'cmd'. Alternatively press F8 at boot and select 'Safe Mode with Command Prompt'. Reconfigure DCOM via command line, note space after 'start=': sc config dcomlaunch start= auto Very helpful including services reference: https://www.windows-commandline.com/start-stop-service-command-line/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UCyborg Posted November 1, 2022 Share Posted November 1, 2022 No XP at hand to check for certain, but at least on newer OS, that service runs inside svchost.exe instance hosting a handful of other critical services, the process itself is marked as critical, meaning its termination causes BSOD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstroSkipper Posted November 1, 2022 Share Posted November 1, 2022 (edited) 8 hours ago, Wunderbar98 said: Command line rules. The service guides used for reference do not mention DCOM so it was test disabled. https://www.blackviper.com/service-configurations/black-vipers-windows-xp-x86-32-bit-service-configurations/ https://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/windows_xp_services/2.htm Disabling DCOM Server Process Launcher via 'services.msc' causes the GUI to become non-functional ( without warning! ), not allowing the service to be re-started. Upon reboot the system has poor function (safe mode too) but it's still possible to Ctrl-Alt-Delete to access Task Manager and get a runbox to launch 'cmd'. Alternatively press F8 at boot and select 'Safe Mode with Command Prompt'. Reconfigure DCOM via command line, note space after 'start=': sc config dcomlaunch start= auto Very helpful including services reference: https://www.windows-commandline.com/start-stop-service-command-line/ Hello @Wunderbar98! There is a special tool in terms of DCOM which is called DCOMbobulator. I had used it long time ago. It works under Windows 95/98/ME and Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. This tool can check the service DCOM in your system and offers the ability to enable or disable it. Here is DCOMbobulator's homepage at GRC: https://www.grc.com/freeware/dcom.htm Cheers, AstroSkipper Edited November 1, 2022 by AstroSkipper correction 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wunderbar98 Posted November 16, 2022 Author Share Posted November 16, 2022 Thanks for responses. No assistance was requested, just wanted to provide a quick command line fix for anyone that inadvertently disables DCOM and ends up with a broken system. There were all sorts of nonsense helps related to reinstalling OS, restore from backup, 3rd party registry tools. Simple command line fix, done. Yes odd @UCyborg, 'services.msc' just describes DCOM as 'Provides launch functionality for DCOM services'. No mention of critical, no warning, user beware. Microsoft must think it's critical, it temporarily broke my system, but @AstroSkipper's link seems it's mostly a security hole. Thanks for the information @AstroSkipper, hopefully it will help someone. Since i rarely use Windows XP i don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole, including 3rd party software to disable a Windows service. I will leave it alone for now, thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyV Posted November 20, 2022 Share Posted November 20, 2022 Thanks for the tip. You can toss it into a bat file too. Im on SP2 with the SP3 trick. I have it set to manual with no GUI issues. I can start/stop it. It never seems to auto start from manual though. It took me years to figure out what DCOM does (for me). All Disk Management is gone. I need to start DCOM Server Process Launcher before i open any MSC or else i get "Logical Disk Manager - The RPC server is unavailable." popup error. OT: The OCD kicks in. I need it set to manual. 14 services is infinitely better than 15. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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