WSCSVC Service Greyed Out

Question

_{Saturday, July 11, 2020 11:20 PM}

I was having issues with Outlook saying the antivirus status was invalid, which eventually led me to find the Windows Security Center Service, stopped/disabled, and greyed out! By default this service is supposed to be enabled and set to automatic.

I can't seem to get it to allow me to change it. Here is what I've tried - please provide suggestions on what I'm missing.

Win10 Pro 64bit v1903
Windows updates/Restarts/ Ensured no more updates
Running services as admin
Cmd as admin, Sc config wscsvc Start= auto
OpenService failed 5: Access is denied
Net start wscsvc
System error 1058 has occurred
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices.
Dependent services are enabled/automatic/running (RPC?WMI)
Sfc /scannow
Window Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. 
Restarted
Second sfc /scannow did not find any integrity violations.
Sc query wscsvc returned the service name and info as intended
TYPE : 20 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
STATE : STOPPED
WIN32_EXIT_CODE : 1077 (0x435)
SERVICE_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0)
CHECKPOINT : (0x0)
WAIT_HINT : (0x0)

All replies (5)

_{Tuesday, July 14, 2020 8:59 PM ✅Answered}

Need to correct myself, the default setting for wscsvc is not automatic, it's automatic delayed start.

I discovered a workaround to my issue. I found the service in the registry and set the value to make the service automatic delayed start.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wscsvc

Start - REG_DWORD - Value changed from 4 to 2
DelayedAutoStart - REG_DWORD - Value set to 1

The following two websites helped me to decipher which values the data needed to be set for.

Step 5 in https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4499-start-stop-disable-services-windows-10-a.html
and
https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/windows-update-service-properties-are-grayed-out-in-services-mmc/

I said this was a workaround because I've not yet found what's locking it down in the first place/ why it's still greyed out. This might be another registry key that I'm not familiar with and cannot find yet when researching. I scoured through local policies - nothing set there. For now, this gets the job done so I'm happy. 

_{Sunday, July 12, 2020 2:26 AM}

You need to verify that the following services are configured to Automatic (delayed start) and are running.

• Security Center
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• Windows Management Instrumentation

S.Sengupta,Microsoft MVP Windows and Devices for IT, Windows Insider MVP

_{Sunday, July 12, 2020 5:37 AM}

Same issue with Security Center. Disabled and greyed out. RPC and WMI are running as intended. 

_{Monday, July 13, 2020 6:30 AM}

Check if there is any third-party antivirus or security software are running.

Next, check the methods here to repair.

4 Solutions to Windows Security Center Service Can’t Be Started

https://www.minitool.com/backup-tips/windows-security-center-service-cannot-be-started.html

Please note: Information posted in the given link is hosted by a third party. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy and effectiveness of information.

Regards

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_{Tuesday, July 14, 2020 8:36 PM}

Currently there is no third party antivirus although I do plan to install Sophos later.

Thank you for sharing the site, it ran through 4 things to try. Here are the results:

1. Enable Security Center - I can't do this, it's greyed out. This is my main issue. 
2. Try to repair the WMI repository - I hadn't tried this yet, the repository returned consistent.
3. Check whether the service is running as local service - yes but it's greyed out.
4. Run System File Checker - I already did this in my previous post. I went ahead and did it again, found no integrity violations.

Do you have any other thoughts of what I could try?