Diagnostic Policy Services not running - and won't run

[Louiscar]

Not expecting too much here. I've trawled the net far and wide for a solution to this without of course having to re-install and there appears to be no real answer but I'm going to attempt another try by asking if anyone knows of something else to try.

1) Firstly the problem.

When trying to diagnose any network problem it cannot proceed due to "diagnostic policy services not running"
This is set to auto run and will simply stop if it is started giving the unhelpful message : "A diagnostic Policy service on the local computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs"

Dependencies are list as nil (no dependencies) - however two other services exist that are clearly related:

Diagnostic Service Host (set to manual) Start is greyed out
Diagnostic System Host (set to manual) Start is greyed out

These presumably are started with the DPS service.


2) Network issues

Currently none - ie. I don't have a connection issue now. Often people report this because they lose wireless connection and use the diagnostics. In my case I have no real issues. I had this problem when I tried to track another problem down and now I'm curious why this has happened.
Also no problems with firewall.

3) Things I've tried :

a) reset winsock and IP stack
b) Added Local Service and Network service to admin group.
c) Checked the permissions on the DPS, WDI?
d) Tried system restore but frankly as I don't know when this actually happened I wasn't hopeful in the first place given also that MSE keeps making pointless restore points every few days or so and thus wiping out the older ones.
e) Run SFC several times
f) Tried Safe reboot - DPS doesn't run in Safe mode so useless
g) tried clean reboot

Most of these are what are recommended due to many problems causing DPS not to run however, some of those are when getting access denied messages and loss of wireless connectivity neither of which affect me.

I've spend quite a long time on this and can't really think of what might be the problem and so if anyone has another suggestion that doesn't involve any of the currently tried solutions I'd be grateful for their input.

The last thing is to re-install but that to me isn't a viable option right now.

 

[torchwood]

Hi, GrayedOut services tend to imply permissions errors.
try this little prog, select RESET permissions

Download Windows Repair (All In One)

 

[Louiscar]

Hi, GrayedOut services tend to imply permissions errors.
try this little prog, select RESET permissions

Download Windows Repair (All In One)

Normally I'd agree but I searched for evidence that these 2 services:
Diagnostic Service Host
Diagnostic System Host

Were manually start-able. I never found the evidence. I saw images from others of the 2 services in a started state but the ability to stop or start were greyed out in on their machines. I assumed that these services are therefore kicked in by DPS when needed.

Sorry and no offense, I never run those 1 click fix all programs. Many of them are fake or do very little and I just don't want to take the chance. I am capable of fixing permissions manually if they need it but as in my OP you will see I did the recommended steps even though there's no indication that this is the problem.
The 2 services mentioned are not the problem, DPS is and that is what doesn't run. Usually anything that isn't running becuase of permissions will end up in "you don't have permission to run that" or "access denied" message neither of which I have so far.

Thanks for the input though, I do appreciate it.

 

[torchwood]

no offence taken, however its not quite a one click fix prog... have a look at it.

lets go another way then, do you have any group policy restrictions
using the run command --- rsop.msc

note greyed-out boxes does actually mean you dont have permissions and/or access denied
its implicitly implied and the reason why neither of those messages are displayed

 

[Louiscar]

no offence taken, however its not quite a one click fix prog... have a look at it.

lets go another way then, do you have any group policy restrictions
using the run command --- rsop.msc

Thanks I did go to the page and have a look and the app looks ok especially as you can select what to fix. It was the (all in one) that got me wondering. I can try it in a bit.

I just ran rsop.msc. Nothing seems to jump out at me although I'm not sure what / where to look.
Things like :

System services (everything is undefined in both the permission and startup columns)
Account Policies (all undefined)
Local Policies (all undefined)
Most of the other stuff under "computer configuration" is empty.

What is clear about this DSP problem is that it seems to happen to a lot of people and often (like me) they don't know when it happened but when they do it's reported to have done so suddenly. It's not often one uses the diagnostic function so this may have occurred months or years ago.

Also in my experience on trawling through the "solutions" often unless people have had the "access denied" problem a fix hasn't been found other than re-install.

As I say I'm just very curious about why this has happened and frankly if the worst comes to the worst I can live with out the diagnostics I guess.

 

[torchwood]

hi
rsop looks good any restrictions would have shown.
sounds like its a more underlying OS prob, you could run sfc/scannow and kb947821 both standard ms fix options
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/download/details.aspx?id=20858

if that doesnt show/repair anything, i'd opt for system repair - keeps your data
Repair Install

btw that little progams author has his own forum

 

[Louiscar]

I'm not aware of kb947821 - the link you gave is dud now as MS have dropped W7.
SFC /scannow has been run several times - first run when I did it found a small problem but after that all ok. It didn't fix it.

A repair install is worth trying at some point although I noticed again those that had this problem (not the access denied version), couldn't fix it with that either.

What a strange little problem.