Help! Dependency service or group failed to start

Windows Vista Ultimate. New Dell D630 (O.S. factory installed). Sudden
inability to communicate with network either by Wi-Fi, ethernet card, or
Verizon Broadband wireless service. The message on the WiFi indicator says
Dependency service or group failed to start. The diagnosis utility says the
computer doesn't have a network card installed or configured. Everything was
working fine until all three stopped working. The Bluetooth module is still
working. Any help (and solutions) much appreciated.

I spent some time with Dell talking about this issue. System restore didn't
correct the problem. We checked out services and their dependencies. Before
going to the ultimate (and worst case) solution which would be to re-install
the O.S., I ran cmd/sfc /scannow which is the Windows file checker. It
corrected some errors and now things are working again.

I commend Dell for helping me fix what was clearly a problem caused by
faulty Microsoft software.

As someone who's used computers for almost 30 years, it still very
frustrating that errors like system file corruptions occur in a brand new
O.S., and that the system isn't capable of automatically identifying faults
and correcting them itself. Users should not have to dig around in Windows
services. Ideally, a computer would identify that all is not well and either
fix it itself, or connect to a Microsoft website for a comprehensive
diagnosis and repair of all damaged files.

[elisechandler]

I am having the same problem -- only with a new Toshiba Satellite. I have
been unable to run the file checker, i.e., I can't seem to find it. Can you
give me the entire sequence or tell me how to find it? Thanks loads!

I have problems with services which seems like yours.
After installing SP1 I can't use network services. It says "dependency service failed to start" etc.
I cant rollback the SP1 setup (coz I haven't made restore point before, haven't Vista DVD).
What should I do?

I've got the same problem described here--I've run the file scanner, but the results state that there are files that have not been repaired, and I get directed to a log file that is a 15MB txt file--I can't make heads or tails of it. Anyone have further suggestions?

I've been having problems with my computer giving me the dependency service or group failed to start on my internet. I'm connected to the internet but it claims that the connection status is unknown and when I try to run the sfc/scannow it says "there is a system repair pending which requires reboot to complete. restart windows and run sfc again". When I restarted my computer and tried again, it gave me the same message. My computer has also been unable to check for updates or to actually install them. I have windows vista and my computer is a Gateway.

Like the others, I too am having the problem. I can connect to the internet and can print to a networked printer, but I cannot access other computers on the network and they cannot access the portable that is the source of the problem. I tried to do the things suggested in the thread, i.e. restore and then sfc /scannow. As suggested by one of the notes, when the scan was complete I was told that there were some corrupt files, but unlike others, I still had the same problem. Now what? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I am having the same problem as everyone else here. When I run the sfc/scannow command it comes back saying "Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files but was unable to fix some of the problem." When I attempt to start the services manually I get back "Error 5:Access is denied." A list of the automatic services that are not starting is: Base Filtering Engine, DHCP Client, Diagnostic Policy Service, Ike and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules, IPsec Policy Agent, Network List Service, Network Location Awareness, TPM Base Services, and Windows Firewall. MY anti-virus software (Trend Micro) cannot find any viruses. It seems like the root service problem is the Base Filtering Engine. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[emilyismyname]

Sorry for not seeing your reply and question until now.

Begin with Start (bottom left of your desktop). Where is stays ''Start
search', enter 'cmd'. A new window opens. Type 'sfc /scannow' and that
begins the scan and repair process. This is what I did and it worked for me.
No guarantees it's going to fix your problem. As I said, it's crazy that this
kind of software error can occur in 2008.

Update Trend Micro on all of your computers that you can. On the one that
you can't, go to the Quarantine folder and see if it has files from the
Windows folder, especially NLA Service, wextract ... IF you had received an
alert or Trend Micro scan alert concerning a Trojan.Generic or Trojan.ADV,
and these files are in the Quarantine folder, restore the files. DO NOT
delete the files. If they have already been deleted, use another computer to
go to the Trend Micro website and look for Home Support ... this is a known
problem that occurred recently.

If you have not yet installed Windows Vista Service Pack 1, and you can get
Windows Update to work, you might try installing the Service Pack.

Go to Start>Run and type in services.msc then press Enter. In the window that opens find Print Spooler on the right, right-click it and select Properties. Go to the Recovery tab and change all 3 drop-down boxes to Restart The Service. Make sure the 2 text boxes underneath say 1 in them. Click Ok until you are back at the Services window, close it and you're good to go.

Now when ever your Print Spooler craps out, it will automatically reset itself.

I don't know if anyone will see this at all, but I have been having the
same "Dependency service or group failed to start" problem. It just
occurred the other night.

I did try the cmd sfc/scannow, but it told me that I must be an
administrator running a console session and I'm not sure what they are
telling me to do.

Any help would be appreciated.

Also, I feel like part of this problem is stemming from a problem with
my Dell not recognizing my charger. It will keep the laptop powered, but
it won't charge the laptop. I'm sitting at 0% charge whenever I'm
working on my laptop and am on Power Saver power plan which makes things
run slowly and less efficiently.

Any solution for that problem would be appreciated as well.

I've been reviewing all of your posts and have the same problem myself on a laptop OEM installed w/ vista. I recently updated to SP1 to attempt to correct these issues and had not prior, but had post SP1 run the sfc /scannow command which returned to me that there were no errors found.
I know that a discrepency existed with earlier versions of windows where if you ran sfc /scannow after having a service pack installed that the sfc module would find an issue with system files (updated by the sp) and attempt to replace them, causing other issues and requiring re-installation fo the sp.
I'm wondering if this contingency still exists, or if sfc recognizes system files updated by the sp and looks for the updated versions.

Also, FYI: In researching this issue, among the dozens of individuals who have given up and re-installed to fix this issue, I stumbled upon this other possible solution which seems to be more of a manual way to address the issue rather than relying on windows (seemingly not always accurate) 'system file checker'.

I hope this info helps someone else. I have yet to attempt to apply this to my individual situation, as the laptop belongs to someone else (so glad I didn't buy vista yet )

Ok, i have decided to post something in relation to this thread as i
'think' its relevent and i need HELP!
im not a comp nerd...but try really hard to understand what goes on in
my laptop (HP Pavilion dv 6700)
Ok, so this is what the deal...bottom right in the notifcation bar the
2 computer screens have a red cross through it...as i hold the mouse
over it, it says,
"connection status: unknown
The dependency service or group failed to start"

(i no thats not right, there should be a signal showing a world symbol
flashing and all...)

i CAN connect to the net, browse the net...but when trying to download
a 'patch' thingy (not me, my boyfriend was trying to download the WoW
new patch) it kept saying that there is a firewall preventing the patch
being downloaded..
ok, so im thinking it had something to do with the net status as well
saying "unknown"

not sure what else to post here to describe what the problem is... but
yeah...

CAN ANYONE HELP?!

[mjbarrow]

Basically a friend of mine is having problems with a new Dell laptop preinstalled with Vista.

As of Saturday, internet connection has gone from within the University network. She can access the network but the OS wont recognise the gateway and defaults to a 169.x.x.x IP address.

Having looked at the events etc, a Windows update occurred on the afternoon of Friday 17th - possibly SP1 - and since the reboot over night it wont connect.

Error showing is "Dependency service or group failed to start" on the network icon in the tray. Have tried "sfc /scannow" as recommended by various individuals on the net but certain files that are identified as corrupt can not be fixed and a log some 15mb is created in the process. Print Spooler is running fine but am unable to start a number of services that are set to automatic (DHCP, Diagnostic Policy and a few others).

Event viewer isnt showing much and there are a few other things I need to check including, "unable to gain access to user store" which is associated to a network orientated (possibly WiFi) driver.

I had the same problem and this seemed to work for me and
a few computers :

go to start menu and type cmd in the search bar and open cmd with
administrator rights

1.type netsh winsock reset and hit enter....nevermind if it sais
something about an error
2.type netsh int ip reset and hit enter....
3. restart you computer...and the error should be gone and the internet
working

what you just did was a TCP/IP stack repair

[hunhit]

I posted the following below in another thread under Diagnostic policy service not running. Sounds related --------Came across several postings about this and related. Forgive me for not being more articulate with communicating techincal terms, but I will try and keep it short. I will check to see if it helps or anyone needs more info. First I read in a thread posting the problem could have something to do with group policy on my computer "Local Service" not being established. The thread, as I remember, refered to a "netsh command" under the CMD prompt to establish the "Local Service" group ( for the newby I guess, many services belong to this group) exsisted. I found out that I received an error because my group did. Probably good to check any way. Next, the thread, not sure if it was the same one fore mention, (I have been spending quit a bit of time trying to solve this problem with out crashing my computer. So fellow newbys beware!) I ran a pre-exsisting snap-in console "Comexp.msc" and checked the security settings for "my computer". If needed I will go into more details about securty settings for any that may need or want. But I prefer at this point you try looking into other threads on that subject if you are that new. Started this task because of frustration with vista. But, don't want to seem basis about software. Since the economy is bad, freely shared info to solve problems (whether good or bad) I think is the solution to many problems.

I tried the various methods listed - none actually worked for me but then I had a "once in a lifetime" piece of lateral thinking:
If Vista is complaining about not being able to start a service then maybe it's been disabled. So I looked in Services (Admin Tools) and clicked the Startup Type column so they were sorted and easy to see which ones were disabled.
Sure enough, there was Network Location Awareness marked as Disabled (it was that I was having trouble with). I changed it to Auto and everything now works. Of course I could have changed to Manual and started it when needed.

Problem: Dependency service or group failed to start

To solve this, you can check the service COM+ Event System. If this service is disable or stop, we cannot start any other services, and we often see the problem above.

If after starting that service, the problem appears again, you can find the other way.

[fusy22]

''Begin with Start (bottom left of your desktop). Where is stays ''Start
search', enter 'cmd'. A new window opens. Type 'sfc /scannow' and that
begins the scan and repair process''

I've been having this same problem ever since I uninstalled Toshiba component software to replace it with a more up to date software. Back to the point, I have been browsing the replies and I have come across people stating that the cmd requires you to be an administrator. In response to this I have worked out that to begin this process as an administrator. After you have typed in 'sfc /scannow' and it has completed you will be required to restart your machine.

Before opening the cmd, you must right click on this and click on 'run as administrator' and allow under UAC. I hope this proves helpful to you and that I haven't repeated anyone.

I have just carried out this and the result of it was that it did work for me but there is accounts of this failing to work for other people. I hope this has come of some help to people.

My laptop is a Toshiba Satellite A300 1BZ, originally came with Vista Home Premium then I installed XP and recently put on Vista Business.

I'm having the same issues, but none of the fixes in this thread have worked. I haven't tried doing a full system restore yet, but I'm about 5 min. away from doing. Has anyone found a fix for this yet?

All of this started when my Norton Subscription ran out. I was waiting for it to run out as I have Mccaffe (sp?), but that wont install now either.

For some reason, I've had nothing but issues with Vista...

I did a system restore to a prior date and this worked for me. I had tried the scannow option and the winsock reset but both failed . The system restore did the trick.

Solution:
I had the same issue and as it turns out a corrupt TCP/IP Stack

To fix, you will need to run a command prompt as administrator

Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt (Right-Click and Run as Administrator)

At the command Prompt type: netsh winsock reset

Ignore all errors, restart your computer and networking should be working.

I've spent my entire day trying to repair
this problem and stumbled on his "cure". I did Windows Restore,
cmd.exe, etc etc. and was also getting error 10107(which is windows
socket error). Just make sure you right click on cmd and run as
administrator-even if you're signed in as the administrator. I have a
brand new Toshiba satellite that this happened on.

I've been wondering what the hell was wrong with my internet... my IT guy had no clue, they told me it was an Acer problem. Before giving my new acer aspire 5738 into the workshop I got the sense to do a google search and viola! I found that your solution totally worked!! I tried the scan but it didn't work but the stock IP resent thing that you suggested worked wonderfully... thanks to you my comp is up and running... thanking you profusely...

BTW for others the solution was -

"go to start menu and type cmd in the search bar and open cmd with
administrator rights

1.type netsh winsock reset and hit enter....nevermind if it sais
something about an error
2.type netsh int ip reset and hit enter....
3. restart you computer...and the error should be gone and the internet
working

what you just did was a TCP/IP stack repair"

I did just that and I'm now able to connect wireless. I have tried many sites and after not much help, I finally found the solution here.

Now I can connect net with wired connection.
But still havn't benn able t connect throgh wireless .
In fact it doen't show any available connection.
Any solutios?

I had this exact problem. It started after I upgraded my Vista Business
laptop to SP1. I resolved it by re-installing but think my story might
help.

None of the adivce here or in other places on the web helped.

I setp 2 laptops. Both Dell. One is a D620 one is a E4300. Both have
4gig's or RAM.

THe D620 setup perfectly with no issues. It ran updates all the way to
SP2 with no issues is working great. It's about 2 years old.

The E4300 went fine until it got to SP1 which is when I started getting
the Red X over the network settings even though I was on internet and
VPN fine. I had issues trying to setup a modem with contact dll errors.
After a day of trying all the help in this thread and other places I
gave up and went to bed. In the middle of the night I realised the
difference!

The D620 had run the INITIAL Vista setup with the network cable plugged
in but the E4300 had run it without the cable plugged in.
The D620 had run through all the updates with downloads of up to 50mb.
The E4300 had run most of the updates with downloads of over 200mb.

I re-installed the E4300 from the inital install with the network
plugged in and it ran completely smoothly. It's 100% now. Patched all
the way to SP2.

So it's something to do with the initial install being able to get to
the internet for lastest drivers or patches or updates or something
DURING the install.

Need I say more?

Sort of completely defeats the purpose of these accounts.

[Lokill0]

I spoke to Linksys about this issue as I was getting this error when I tried to long on the internet from my wireless adapter. He found me this forum and I tried everything to no avail. I decided to go out on a limb and go to Future Shop and talk to the teckies. They told me that there was nothing I could do but reinstall my OS. I figured I was going to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium from Vista Home premium(factory installed) anyway, and knowing I would lose everything either way, I bought it. He also advised me against trying it cause it could make things work and they would do it for huge bucks. What a joke! Not only did the upgrade work with no problems, it corrected this corruption and sped up my connection as well. It is a $130 upgrade, but soooo totally worth every penny. It would have cost me a fortune to get my software and media files back. Vista sux!

Hi, i searched and tried for hours to resolve this issue with my HP laptop with vista. I saw on here a post to do the following and it worked. Thanks to that person. I had that many internet searches going I could not trackback to the person to thank them.

right click the 'cmd' prompt in start/allprograms/accessories and run as administrator.
type netsh winsock reset and hit enter.
it will come up with some error warning. don't worry about that.
then type netsh int ip reset and hit enter. it will ask you to restart.
This honestly worked after hours of searching and trying different things. something about a TCP/IP stack. Thanks to who that was that provided the tip. Great job.

For those who need administrator privileges in cmd follow these steps:

1. Pres WINDOWS button and type there CMD
2. When the CMD file shows up in the list right-click it and chose Run as Administrator. this way you can use sfc /scannow.

go to start menu and type cmd in the search bar and open cmd with
administrator rights

1.type netsh winsock reset and hit enter....nevermind if it sais
something about an error
2.type netsh int ip reset and hit enter....
3. restart you computer...and the error should be gone and the internet
working

Since my computer showed all the symptoms described above, I was very hopeful when trying the advised method:
1) netsh winsock reset
2) netsh int ip reset
3) reboot

However it didn't work.
Could the reason be that by mistake, I first did 2 instead of 1 ? however I redid 1 followed by 2 after that.
I also tried both cmd as user and as administrator.

Maybe a useful observation is that no error appeared after 1.
What did appear though was after 2: reseting Echo failed ! access denied

Any help will be greatly appreciated

I too have this problem I have tried all of the suggestions given short of a complete reinstall. Has anyone any idea how to solve this problem reliably without such drastic action?

Finally recovering the system from an earlier date worked.

I went through everything I could find to fix the same problem. I finally, in DOS did a startup repair ??? it worked for me. Good luck it was extremely frustrating!!!

I went through the CMD process of going through the netsh int ip and winsock reset and it still doesnt work .. ? Any suggestions? Resetting the netsh int ip lets me reset the interface, but fails to reset the echo request..

The problem is that I abnormally rebooted my computer, did even a few system restores and nothing is working out.. :(

[wallaroo]

I've got the same problem, I've tried a number of fixes (every fix listed on this thread) but haven't had any luck. If anyone has any other ideas I'd be really greatful!

thanks for the update - tried that... still no luck.

I'm thinking it's gonna have be given to my computer repair guru

[mebdrew]

If this is your problem: Reset the winsock countless times using netsh command, reinstalled your hardware through the device manager countless times, are virus free/ malware free, get errors when using netsh int ip reset, and the SFC finds errors but cannot repair them OR Location awareness Serivce, Diagnostic service, and several other internet related services are telling you "Access denied" this is most likely your solution!!!!!

Add localservice and networkservice to the administrator group.

Click the start button, search for cmd. Right click, run as Admin.

Type in the following commands:

net localgroup administrators localservice /add
net localgroup administrators networkservice /add
exit

Then reboot.

[mebobon]

Yes. That's it! And after 4 years my Asus A8V running vista ultimate X64 can finally access the internet through an added ethernet card instead of wirelessly! Asus never bothered to release any vista driver for this motherboard.

After hours of researching on the internet and trying different fixes, This one did the trick. I can stop pulling my hair out now.

[AmarAkbarAnthony]

"The dependency service or group failed to start"-Windows7


I get the above msg in "Network nd sharing center" in Windows7, so i couldnt connect to the net either through Lan or Wifi. When i go for troubleshooting option its says problem found:"The diagnostic policy service is not running", when i tried to start it manually from services.msc i get another error:"Windows could not start the Diagnostic Policy Service on Local Computer; Error 5: Access is denied".

I googled to find a solution for this problem. I referred the following sites
1.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943996

I had followed the steps given in those sites: "It is possible the permissions on a specific registry key was altered. You can try correcting this by going to Start, type regedit in the command prompt, right click the regedit program and select Run as Administrator. In the Registry Editor click the arrow to expand the selection, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM, CurrentControlSet, Services, DPS, right click Parameters and choose Permissions. On the Permissions screen, select the TrustedInstaller user. If you do not see the TrustedInstaller user, click Add, type NT Service\TrustedInstaller and press OK. Ensure that the Full Control and Read permissions are checked for the TrustedInstaller user".

But even after doing all that the problem persists i.e "The dependency service or group failed to start" nd "Windows could not start the Diagnostic Policy Service on Local Computer; Error 5: Access is denied" when tried to start the service manually.

I tried the following options:
1. sfc /scannow
2. Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults, type: netsh int ip reset reset.log
3. Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults, type: netsh winsock reset catalog
4. msconfig->"normal startup"
5. uninstalled all network devices nd restarted

Inspite of trying all the above options, the problem still persists.

Please help me out. Thnx in advance.

OTOH, in the Microsoft server on my newsreader, I see in this thread 16
posts (plus yours and the one you screamed at) dating back only as far as
2/16/09 (which has a Re: on it), including two others from August 2010, and
five from earlier in 2010

Oddly enough, the Albasani mirror has a somewhat different collection, with
18 posts starting at 2/07/10 and including four from this month. I suspect
(OK, I *guess*) that results from posts sent via a non-Microsoft server and
not copied by Microsoft.

Windows Vista Ultimate. New Dell D630 (O.S. factory installed). Sudden
inability to communicate with network either by Wi-Fi, ethernet card, or
Verizon Broadband wireless service. The message on the WiFi indicator says
Dependency service or group failed to start. The diagnosis utility says the
computer doesn't have a network card installed or configured. Everything was
working fine until all three stopped working. The Bluetooth module is still
working. Any help (and solutions) much appreciated.

I spent some time with Dell talking about this issue. System restore didn't
correct the problem. We checked out services and their dependencies. Before
going to the ultimate (and worst case) solution which would be to re-install
the O.S., I ran cmd/sfc /scannow which is the Windows file checker. It
corrected some errors and now things are working again.

I commend Dell for helping me fix what was clearly a problem caused by
faulty Microsoft software.

As someone who's used computers for almost 30 years, it still very
frustrating that errors like system file corruptions occur in a brand new
O.S., and that the system isn't capable of automatically identifying faults
and correcting them itself. Users should not have to dig around in Windows
services. Ideally, a computer would identify that all is not well and either
fix it itself, or connect to a Microsoft website for a comprehensive
diagnosis and repair of all damaged files.