Windows Vista Server Service Refuses to Run
On my laptop, I recently tried to turn on File and Printer Sharing, but they won't turn on. File Sharing is stuck on "Custom" and Printer Sharing is off. I tried turning on everything but nothing works. Upon investigation in the the system services, I noticed that the RPC server was off. I tried turning it on, and the dependency wasn't on. I check and the server service is a dependency. I tried turning that on, and ITS dependency isn't on. Its dependencies are Computer Browser and srv/srv2/srvnet, all system files. Computer Browser is on, so I assumed srv was the problem. I went to C:\Windows\system32\drivers\ and found the three files, and decided tocheck them out. They were in computer blab gibberish that I couldn't understand, but srvnet.sys was completely blank. There was no text at all, and the file was even 0 bytes big. I think that may be causing the problem. I checked the registry and everything looks fine, but I don't know what the registry was supposed to look like. Please help me with this problem. I've tried searching everywhere, but the forums that I found always ended before a solution was found. =( The laptop I'm using is a Lenovo something-or-other... running Windows Vista Home Premium. Please help me. Thanks. -- Peter =)
May 12th, 2009 11:11pm

First thing is to fix the srvnet.sys that is 0 byes. I would say that this will clear up this chain reaction of problems. Couple of options. 1. If you have the installation cd I would recommend opening an elevated command prompt and runing sfc /scannow. 2. If you have access to another system with the same OS Version as yours then you can replace your srvnet.sys file from the other system.
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May 13th, 2009 7:24am

First of all, thank you for the response. I don't have another Vista Home Premium computer, so that was ruled out. I ran the elevated command prompt sfc /scannow, and it told me to look in the log file. I did, and I decided to use the find command thing to find "srvnet". It popped up a few times, and almost every single place it came up it said that it either didn't match the source file, or it was corrupted and couldn't be repaired. What do I do now? It didn't say anything about my installation CD. Should I put that in and redo the scan?
May 14th, 2009 10:44pm

The sfc scan should have asked you for the CD it it needed it. You could try again with the install cd in the drive. Couple of other things to try. 1. Go to your windows directory then right click on the system32 directory. Go to the previous versions tab. You may have a shadow copy of the system32 directory from before the problem started. If you do then you can copy the srvnet.sys from this previous version shadow copy. 2. System restore might get it back if you have a restore point prior to this happening. 3. Open your C Drive and then type srvnet.sys in the search box at the top right. You might find copies of it in the Winsxs folders. 4. Kind of an extreme approach, but a repair install would get it back as well. I would make this a last resort option. Also... could you copy out the relevant error messages from the log and post them here?
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May 14th, 2009 11:18pm

I followed your advice and did the search of the C Drive. I did find a good copy of srvnet.sys. I tried replacing the good copy with the bad copy, but it wouldn't let me. If I tried just putting the good text into the file and saving it, it said the file path was incorrect, despite the fact that it was correct. How do I get the good file in? Thank you so much for your help so far.
May 18th, 2009 10:44pm

You will need to go to the properties of c:\windows\system32\drivers\srvnet.sys and then to the Security tab. From here you will need to take ownership of the file and then grant yourself full permission on the file. After that you will be able to rename it so you can copy the good version in.
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May 19th, 2009 1:04am

Hi, Please try applying the Hotfix to upgrade or repair the file Srvnet.sys: Stop errors in Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008: Stop: 0x00000018 or STOP: 0x000000C2 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967776/en-us Meanwhile, please run Windows Update to ensure that all the updates have been applied on Windows Vista.Hope this helps. Thanks. Nicholas Li - MSFT
May 19th, 2009 10:01am

Hi. Sorry for the exrta long delay in my responce. I wasn't able to get on the computer for a while.Anyway, I've tried everything you said except reinstalling Windows... I fixed all the srv files, but the Server service still will not start. All of its dependencies are working except for what seems the SRV family. I'm starting to think it isn't SRV that's causing the problem, but that was the only logical theory I had. I've checked the Event Logs, and nothing shows up relating to the problem. Please help! =(
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May 30th, 2009 1:15am

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