Problem with Network service, Win 7

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So I have a problem that cropped up and I checked this with my other Windows 7 machines. My system is a Windows 7 64-bit Pro. The problem is as of the past 3 months I noticed that when I click on Start > Network my system would take a long time to scan my network. I checked my settings and compare those to my other Windows 7 machines and those match.

My machine has the exact same parts on another Win7 machine and that one does not exhibit this slow issue. I ran the SFC /scannow and no issues there.

Then I found some notes I had written some time ago and I went poking around and found something. In the services, my “Computer Browser” service was set to “Manual” like all my other machines. But the status was stopped whereas all my other machines the status is “Started”. So when I forced it to start, this got back to normal. When I rebooted the status was “Started”. But then I reboot again and it was stopped.

So is there a fix to this service? I did check the associated file against my other systems and they are the same version and dated the same. So not sure why this is happening, all computers have the same Microsoft updates as I keep a log of which ones are installed.

If anyone can shed some light on this it would be appreciated.

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Have you tried chkdsk /f as it can find and fix some issues with windows. Start>accessories>right click on cmd and choose run as administrator to run the command. It will run the next time you boot your computer.
HTH

Don't take yourself so seriously, no one else does
All W10 Pro at 22H2,(2 Desktops, 1 Laptop).

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Did you right click on Computer Browser – select Properties and check the Dependencies ?

There are two – Server and Worktation but when you expand each, you will see other Dependencies – one of which is the Security Accounts Manager which should be showing as Started and Auto.

When it next stops as well as checking the Dependencies are started, go into Device Manager/View/Show hidden devices/Non-Plug and Play Drivers and check for any yellow alerts.

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Thank you for the quick replies

@lumpy95 – not sure since I have an SSD.

@Sudo15 – YEs I did check all those dependencies. I made sure that they were all started and they are. I also double checked with my other systems and they all match. Now here we go. About 17 minutes ago the “Computer Browser” service was started. I had rebooted and then checked it. I left my machine running as I went to get some breakfast. Now I am back and it is stopped. So I went to the Device Manager as you mentioned and nothing with a yellow exclamation.

I just checked the Event Viewer and nothing in there in red, I do see a yellow item which seems to have started on 11-25-2014 which states;
“WLAN AutoConfig service has successfully stopped.”

That is strange as I am comparing all my other systems and mine is different with this service. My wireless systems show “WLAN AutoConfig” as Automatic and started while all my ethernet connected systems show this one as Manual and stopped. My system shows this as Automatic and started. Going to set this like my other ethernet systems.

Again thanks for the responses.

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I often get that WLAN AutoConfig has stopped in my Event Viewer but it hasn’t had any detrimental results and have never found out why it does stop.

WLAN AutoConfig is for wireless as far as I know and if you don’t have wireless capability on the Ethernet connected machines, this is probably why it is showing as Manual and Stopped – also if you have wireless switched off.

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Been having a dig around and this can be caused by Windows Firewall and as this article also mentions File and Printer Sharing – wonder if this could be contributing to the SideBySide errors. https://www.techhack.co.uk/2012/06/14/the-computer-browser-service-starts-then-stops/

This one is for XP but gives more specific instructions for setting up the Firewall. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/875362/en-us

And another suggestion http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-networking/why-computer-browser-service-automatic-stop/42a954ec-8a42-47e1-a16a-f410b6aa7793

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OK, so my machine has no wireless capabilities so I went ahead and changed it to manual and I rebooted. now it is at “Manual” and stopped, this matches all my ethernet connected machines.

I have my Windows Firewall off since I am using Comodo’s Firewall. But there should be some sort of entry like this as well. I am going to go through the settings

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Well, following these steps I ran in to this problem. Check out the picture39299-Capture1

Everything is greyed out.

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OK, found the Microsoft Fixit, ran it, rebooted and it is now available. The DEP is no longer greyed out.

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One way to confirm if it is Comodo’s Firewall is to boot up into Safe Mode with Networking where it will be isolated to check if the service remains started, but Windows Firewall will be auto activated.

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OK, I will try that out Sudo15

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OK so I rebooted in to Safe Mode with Networking and same thing, the service was stopped. This was with the setting to Manual. So I rebooted back to normal, set the setting to Automatic and then rebooted in to Safe Mode with Networking again. Same thing, stopped. I tried to manually start the service and this is what came up
39307-Capture

So still not sure what is going on. In Safe Mode with Net I was able to see my other systems if I typed in there path.

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OK, well I may have found the issue, but does not explain why my other systems are running with this service just fine.

I have an old habit from the XP days which was when I use a third party firewall I turn off the Windows Firewall. For me this is a two step process, first turning off the firewall and then going in to the services area and then disabling it. I turned it back on, rebooted then went to just turn off the Windows Firewall under the Security Center only; leaving the service to Automatic. Since then the service “Computer Browser” has been set to Manual and it is Started. I have shutdown, rebooted, left the system running for more than 30 minutes and the Computer Browser service is still “Started”; it has not shut off.

I wonder if there is a remnant of the XP days with this back if you had SP2. If you turned off the firewall in the services it also shut off some network service which is why they released a hotfix and/or just update to SP3 which fixed that.

Hopefully this can help anyone else, but maybe it is not the true fix either as I am not sure. Only that the service is still running fine for my system. When I click on Network all my other systems pop up pretty quickly compared to before so something got UN-constipated. I will keep this open for a day or two; to report back whether good or bad results occur.

Thank you again Sudo15 for your time and help.

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I run Norton 360 which disables Windows Firewall on installation but when I look at System and Security, it looks as if it’s still running.

If you physically turn off Windows Firewall, I’m not sure if that would interfere with the Base Filtering Engine (BFE) as that manages the Firewall and Internet Protocol security (IPsec) and could lead to anomalous IPsec management problems such as the one you have been experiencing.

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Well, it’s a few hours later, been doing work and playing and it still has not shut off. I’ll report back from time to time for the next day before closing this out just to make sure.

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So my system has been running for a good part of today and still the Computer Browser service is still running. It does not shut off, setting is Manual. I cannot be sure, but ever since turning the Windows Firewall back on I do not exhibit the problems from before.

Thanks to all for helping out on this issue

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