[How-to] - Comprehensive Windows Services Guide

[atomizer]

UPDATE: link fixed:

MSWindowsServices_v0.4.zip

i'm attempting to come up with a very comprehensive, newbie friendly windows services guide. the guide is primarily a conglomerate of bits and pieces of information extracted from a lot of other guides, with my own descriptions and experiences/knowledge thrown in. if anyone wants to help work on it, i would be very grateful for the assistance. full credit will be given.

this started off as a compilation of info that will be used in nLite. the purpose is to provide meaningful descriptions and 'layered presets' to help nLite users get through the services section in record time. the colored columns that you will see are the presets, of which multiple items can be selected. however, i plan to submit this guide to other places rather than just limiting it to nLite.

the guide is in spread sheet form. i use OpenOffice, but the archive contains both XLS and ODS formats (for MS office and OO, respectively). version history, credits, references and other info is at the bottom of the sheet. if you have any issues with formatting, let me know.

note also that there are 3 sheets (3 tabs at the bottom of the sheet); 2K, 2K SVR and XP. i'm primarily interested in the XP part.

the link is: MSWindowsServices_v0.4.zip

if you want to be informed of new versions, send me an email address.

Edited January 9, 2006 by Zxian

[XPero]

Link doesnt work here

[N1K]

Interesting, I'm quite interested in detailed descriptions of Win2003 Server services, and would like to help you in this..

P.S. the link isn't working...

"Page URL Not Found!!

The requested page does not exist on this server. The URL you typed or followed is either outdated or inaccurate."

[atomizer]

sorry fellas. link fixed.

[Zxian]

Thanks for this atomizer. Member projects and work are always encouraged.

[JRosenfeld]

Server is missing from your xls XP sheet.

Supports file, print, and named-pipe sharing over the network for this computer. If this service is stopped, these functions will be unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.

Default is automatic

I think this is only needed for networked PCs, but I also found that it needs to be started to run Microsoft baseline security analyzer on a stand alone PC. I have it set at manual, as I normally don't need it, but MBSA will not start it, I have to do so manually before running MBSA.

Edited January 9, 2006 by JRosenfeld

[atomizer]

@Zxain - thanks for the kind words

@JRosenfeld - are you sure you were looking at the XP sheet? server is in there

regarding the 'Alerter' service, i described it as such:

Used to notify system administrators of network problems and alerts. If you're not connected to a network, this can be safely disabled. If you are part of a network, ask your system administrator how this should be set.

then i found this description from another resource:

If this service is stopped, programs that use administrative alerts will not receive them. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on this service will fail to start. For example, programs that use the NetAlertRaise or NetAlertRaiseEx application programming interfaces (APIs) will be unable to notify the user (from the Messenger service) that the administrative alert took place.

when the author of the second quote mentions 'NetAlertRaise' and NetAlertRaiseEx', what the heck are they referring to? are they API's used by applications run on the local machine, or on a remote machine? because if if this refers to local apps. then my description (the 1st quote) could be wrong.

[suryad]

Useful stuff for noobs atomizer. Nice work.

[Gouki]

Well, I dont think I can contribute to the project ... However, I have made a list of services for personnel use I will not mind sharing.

This is just a list from wich I set up computers.

PS: Some of the services that are listed with the Disable Startup have already been deleted on my lastest build, using nLite.

[Camarade_Tux]

Server is missing from your xls XP sheet.

Supports file, print, and named-pipe sharing over the network for this computer. If this service is stopped, these functions will be unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.

Default is automatic

I think this is only needed for networked PCs, but I also found that it needs to be started to run Microsoft baseline security analyzer on a stand alone PC. I have it set at manual, as I normally don't need it, but MBSA will not start it, I have to do so manually before running MBSA.

MBSA2 indeed needs Server service.

I'm not sure it is needed by 1/1.2. I'll make some experiments.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....talertraise.asp

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....t_functions.asp

It has been hard, but on the second page I link, I found :

The alerter service must be running on the client computer when you call the NetAlertRaise function or the NetAlertRaiseEx function. If the service is not running, the functions fail with ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND. The alerter service on the client calls the NetMessageBufferSend function to send information to recipients.

Windows Server 2003: The alerter and messenger services are disabled by default. You must re-enable the services before calling the network management Alert functions or the network management Message functions.

atomizer, MSDN is likely to become your daily stop.

[atomizer]

atomizer, MSDN is likely to become your daily stop.

it pretty much already is, especially the last few weeks (i've been off of work). i like the community. lot of good people here.