Windows could not start the Windows Event Log service on Local Compurter. Error 5: Access is denied
I am logged on as administrator. Usin Win7 Ultimate 32 bit. can not start Event Log service. Any suggestions?
March 18th, 2010 2:15am

Hi Bob, This issue can be caused due to the incorrect permission settings for the administrators group. I would like to suggest you perform the following steps to troubleshoot the issue. 1. In the "Start" menu, locate "Command Prompt". Right-click and choose "Run as Administrator". If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. 2. Type the following commands, then press "Enter" to execute them one by one. Please note the space before the command and its parameter. takeown /f C:\windows\system32\logfiles\wmi\rtbackup cacls C:\windows\system32\logfiles\wmi\rtbackup /G administrators:F 3. Restart the computer to check the issue. What’s the result?Arthur Li - MSFT
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March 19th, 2010 4:31am

Arthur_Li Thank you for your help. This did solve my problem. I do not understand what the problem was? What do you mean by incorrect permission settings fot the admin group? I thought that they were all enabled when I checked. Thanks, Bob Bilmanis
March 20th, 2010 1:48am

I would like to explain that the administrators group do not have the correct permission on rtbackup folder. It’s hard to say what cause such issue. Regards,Arthur Li - MSFT
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March 22nd, 2010 5:06am

This hint did NOT work for me. I have been using Windows 7 RTM Ultimate 32b and without ANY system modification my Event Log service failed to start. The above and all over the net suggestions for solving this issue did not work in my case. In my case I had to change NTFS permissions on %WINDIR%\System32\WinEvt\Logs directory for Local Service and Network Service to FULL access. I'm just curious what kind of software Windows is if it fails to run after half of a year? Viva la Windows XP!!! 1Rosomak
August 16th, 2010 11:39am

Arthur, that worked for me too (Win 7 Professional 64-bit), thanks! One has to wonder why there is such a glaring bug in Windows 7 though.
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August 24th, 2010 10:18am

did any of you also getting error 4201 beside error access denied?
September 8th, 2010 5:58am

On two occasions, this Windows 7 Ultimate 32-biy system has inexplicably disabled the event viewer with "Error 5: Access is denied" In the first instance, I was able to repair the system by adding SYSTEM permissions to the RTBackup folder. On the recent failure, nothing works. i've tried the above fix, the reset repository fx, the permissions fix, the delete and recreate the logfiles fix. No soap. The startup window on the Services panel is grayed out. If it was assessable, one might be able to find a user account that would work. So the questions are: What is the bug in W7 that causes the event service to fail intermittently? Why is the Log On panel grayed out (I'm running the Services panel as administrator)? Ted Ted Gage
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February 2nd, 2011 7:58pm

Hi Tedmac did you ever solve this issue? Ive tried everything on every forum to try fix and start my event viewer but nothing has worked. I was alerted to it whilst trying to install symantec and it kept failing! After more research the failing pointed to event sevice problems. I have been trying ever since to restart service to no avail. Please help someone!! Im on windows 7 64bit and all else seems normal with my system. Its the same error 4201 when i try start it in services.msc.
March 20th, 2011 8:41pm

Well.. I tried everyhting here without avail... then I ran cmd as Administrator and typed netsh winsock reset Rebooted Which worked perfectly.
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April 1st, 2011 9:32am

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