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General discussion

XP Pro: server service fails to start -- cannot find path

Dec 8, 2003 4:37PM PST

Manually attempting to start the server service results in this curious error

###
could not start the server service on local computer.
Error 3: the system cannot find the path specified.
###

"cannot find" is troubling. the service property page "path to executable" is blank.

The system event log shows

###
Source: Service Control Manager
Event ID 7000
The Server service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the path specified.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
###

While I'm sure most will agree I /should/ reformat and reinstall Windows I simply don't have the time for that endeavor at this time. Maybe after the new year I will. Thankfully this isn't my only system.

Sad as it is the only major, noticeable drawback has been the inability to change users' group assignments.

Short of reinstalling is there a way to restore the service?


Win XP Pro noSP

Motherboard
CPU Type Intel Pentium III, 500 MHz (5 x 100)
Motherboard Name Asus P3B-F (4 DIMM)
Motherboard Chipset Intel 82440BX
System Memory 1024 MB (ECC SDRAM)
BIOS Type Award Medallion (05/19/00)

Display
Video Adapter ASUS V9520 v44.03 (128 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce FX 5200

Multimedia
Audio Adapter Creative SB Live! 5.1 Sound Card

Network Adapter 3Com EtherLink 10/100 PCI TX NIC (3C905B-TX)

Software Firewall: Agnitum Outpost Pro 2

Windows XP Application Compatibility Update[Q313484]
Windows XP Hotfix - KB823980 Update
Windows XP Hotfix (SP1) [See Q309521 for more information]
Windows XP Hotfix (SP1) [See Q311967 for more information]
Windows XP Hotfix (SP1) [See Q315000 for more information]
Windows XP Hotfix (SP1) [See Q319733 for more information]
Windows XP Hotfix (SP1) [See Q321178 for more information]

Norton AntiVirus 2004 10.0.0.109

power management disabled

Discussion is locked

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Re:XP Pro: server service fails to start -- cannot find path
Dec 8, 2003 8:32PM PST

I'll note two thoughts here:

1. You can have your XP CD ready and run...

SFC /SCANNOW

2. "Win XP Pro noSP" has me a little concerned. Some are opting out of the Service Packs or picking and choosing. Sadly, the bugs and their programming are getting too smart for you to do this. There are thousands of bad bugs out there and you are you. You lose.

After the SFC repairs and another look over the machine about it being uptodate, we can try again.

Bob

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Second reading...
Dec 8, 2003 9:21PM PST

"Manually attempting to start the server service results in this curious error"

Many services have dependencies on yet other services or settings. For this service, you would set it to anything other than DISABLED and it will start when needed.

After reading your post a second time, this may be correct behaviour for your selection of installed features.

Bob