Failed to Connect to a Windows Service message

Anonymous
2009-11-05T12:57:08+00:00

I upgraded my Notebook to Windows 7 yesterday. It was fine for a little while, but now I am getting the message:

Failed to connect to a Windows service - Windows could not connect to the System Event Notification Service service (sic). Now Windows is slow to startup, slow to shut down, and the graphics have been "dumbed down" (no Aero graphics). Anyone have any ideas as to what I can do to get back to normal ?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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Anonymous
2009-11-05T21:54:44+00:00

Hi Prufrockster,

Welcome to Microsoft Windows 7 Answers Forum!

You can try  resetting the winsock.

To repair and reset the winsock in Windows 7.

  1. Click on Start button.
  2. Type Cmd in the Start Search text box.
  3. Right click on cmd.exe  and Run Command Prompt as an Administrator. Allow elevation request.
  4. Type netsh winsock reset in the Command Prompt shell, and then press the Enter key.

    Restart the computer.

The similar issue was discussed on the below mentioned Microsoft websites also.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itproinstall/thread/baa536f6-ca78-494b-8416-c1eef18c68a9

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/windowscompatibility/thread/983e0736-57ef-4c6a-bb10-cfb2712dde24/

For advanced troubleshooting you can check in Safe Mode and perform a Clean Boot Troubleshooting.

Please check whether you face the same issue while working in the safe mode. 

  1. Restart your computer.
  2. When the computer starts you will see your computer's hardware being listed. When you see this information start to gently tap the F8 key on your keyboard repeatedly until you are presented with the Windows 7 Advanced Boot Options screen.
  3. Using the arrow keys, select the Safe Mode option you want.
  4. Then press the enter key on your keyboard to boot into Windows 7 Safe Mode.
  5. When Windows starts you will be at a typical logon screen. Logon to your computer and Windows 7 will enter Safe mode.
  6. Do whatever tasks you require, and when you are done, reboot to go back into normal mode.

Clean Boot Troubleshooting. 

  1. Click Start, type msconfig in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

   User Account Control permission.

   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the

   password, Or click Continue.

  1. On the General tab, click Selective Startup.
  2. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the Load Startup items check box.
  3. Click the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All.
  4. Click OK.
  5. When you are prompted, click Restart.
  6. After the computer starts, check whether the problem is resolved.

If the issue is resolved check which third party is causing the problem, referring the link given below:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

Also you need to uninstall and reinstall the problem software on your computer.

Reset the computer to start as usual

After you have finished troubleshooting, follow these steps to reset the computer to start as usual:

Click Start, type msconfig.exe in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue. On the General tab, click the Normal Startup option, and then click OK.

When you are prompted to restart the computer, click Restart.

Hope it helps.   

Thanks and Regards:

**Shekhar S - Microsoft Support.**Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-03-31T22:04:07+00:00

    This chaps fix worked for me.  In fact a  lot of errors occur from the winsock error it just depend on which error you came across first.

    Windows 7 only mind

    http://www.simpletechs.com/1/post/2013/05/windows-7-winsock-reset-not-working-initialization-function-inithelperdll-in-nshttpdll-failed-to-start-with-error-code-11003.html

    Thanks simpletechs

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-03-04T07:56:39+00:00

    Solved, for me Windows 7 Ultimate x64

    I just encountered this problem 3 days ago. it  took 3 days for me to solved this problem. 

    I tried every solutions from google starting from

    1. Remove/uninstall Antivirus software
    2. Install Microsoft Essential Security, Malwarebytes, Ad-aware, Advanced System Careand no  important malware found.
    3. netsh windsock reset catalog
    4. checking hardware drivers

    5.  system restore

    6.  sfc /scannow

    7.  Remove  Update KB  971033 from microsoft

    1. try to update windows update

    7.  use Hiren boot cd to start Mini Windows XP to delete files from this fiolder

          C:\Windows\System32\LogFiles\WMI\RtBackup and let them to be re-created automatically.

    1. My next step to have it to be repaired installed

    But luckily, today I end up with deleting  all files from this folder

    c:\windows\system32\winevt\Logs  and the problem resolved.

    I tried this but the problem in my computer still don't resolved.

    Is there any other solution?

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-02-11T01:27:49+00:00

    Thanks, I really don't know what have caused this problem but it was solved by the "netsh winsock reset" command.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-10-10T13:50:06+00:00

    whoow! thanks God, deleting the files from  c:\windows\system32\winevt\Logs really did it. It just took one more than an hour to work on normal start-up, so i did start it and use the safe mode with internet, i tried to clean my computer and shut it down. . later on i started again and then there it goes it worked fine. . i almost do the reformat but i tried to start it again and it worked, thanks man!!

    well, after i did deleting the files from it, i shut it down and start again. it start fast but it didnt shown the desktop, it was all black i saw. . i didn't stop there, maybe cleaning the disk help me too to recover my desktop. . hoooh, feels great right now. .

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