Windows 7: Can not turn on Windows Security Center Service

Good People,
Why can't i turn the windows security center service on?

Check in Services that it is set to auto and has started.

That would be well and good but..

Already looked in services and there is no service there with that name.

If this just happened, have you tried System Restore? Otherwise, the next question is whether your computer was recently infected. I ask based on this thread archived from the newsgroups at the Vista forums: Windows Security Service missing. - Vista Forums

Note: Jesper in that thread is the extremely knowledgeable Jesper Johansson (Jesper's Blog).

Corrine,
What is the name of the service that I am missing?

Problem has existed for awhile and I've just ignored it. Have no idea for how long.

Hove run MalwareBytes and found nothing. Do you have any suggestions as to what else I can run or do you think that the bad guy left the scene of the crime a long time ago?

Have you tried a SFC (System File Checker) scan which will check and fix any corrupted files on your system?

Steps to perform SFC scan:
1. Click the Start button
2. From the Start Menu, Click All programs > Accessories
3. In the Accessories menu, right-click on the Command Prompt option
4. From the drop down menu that appears, select the 'Run as administrator' option
5. Authorize any User Account Control (UAC) elevation request.
6. In the Command Prompt window, type: sfc /scannow (including the space rior to the backslash) and press Enter
7. A message will appear stating that 'The system scan will begin'
8. Be patient because the scan may take some time
9. If any files require replacing SFC will replace them. You may be asked to insert your DVD for this process to continue
10. If everything is okay you should, after the scan, see the following message "Windows resource protection did not find any integrity violations"
11. After the scan has completed, close the command prompt window, restart the computer and check.

If no joy, your next step would sensibly be a repair install. However, you could first try Jesper's code to see if it will work on Windows 7:

Run this command from an elevated command to create the SC:

sc create wscsvc type= share start= delayed-auto error= normal binPath=
"C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe -k LocalServiceNetworkRestricted" depend=
RpcSc/WinMgmt obj= "NT AUTHORITY\LocalService" DisplayName= "Security Center"

From Jesper's post, this should provide the right security descriptor:

sc sdset wscsvc
D:(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLO CRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCLCSWRPLOCRRC;;;IU)(A;;CCLCSW LOCRRC;;;SU)(A;;CR;;;AU)(A;;CCLCRP;;;S-1-5-80-2006800713-1441093265-249754844-3404434343-1444102779)S:(AU;FA;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;W D)

(Note: I've disabled smilies in this response so Jesper's code is properly displayed.)

Many thanks Corrine,

Running SFC was next on my list after updating SysInternals suite and then running AutoRuns to see if I saw anything unusual, although i really think the damage has been done and the bad guy has fled the scene.

Thanks for eliminating smilies as I was uncertain as to what should be.

Now to perform the tasks at hand. Thanks

Corrine,

Did a few cleanups, but the real solution, pleasantly, turned out to be SFC.

Had to reboot twice to get things to take. Did manage to run SFC and get a clean bill of health from SFC.

Although at first the error indicator was gone but Action Center still showed the security center as being off but now it was possible to turn it back on.

Another restart and now everything is as one expects. I still don't see a Windows Security Center Service in my list of services. Am I looking for the wrong thing?

I'm glad System File Checker worked. As to locating the service, when looking in Services, you should find it under Services (Local) as Security Center. When I look at services with WinPatrol, I have the same in both Windows Vista Ultimate (32-bit) and Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit) with C:\Windows\System32\wscsvc.dll in startup as automatic. The command is identified as svchost.exe.wscsvc.dll.

Hi Karl, look again by typing services.msc in the start search box ... you should see this: