The Dependency Service Or Group Failed To Start is a very common error that Windows users have been facing since Windows 7. And it continues to show up with Windows 10 as well. So, what is The Dependency Service Or Group Failed To Start error in Windows 10? When a user is unable to connect to the internet in any way, this error shows up in the Network and Sharing Center. It affects all kinds of connections, whether wireless or ethernet connections.
Users usually try to resolve this issue by troubleshooting it through Network and Sharing Center. But that may or may not lead to yet another type of error, which is “The Diagnostic Policy Service is not running“. Some even try to restart their PC to fix it, and that may also not help the case at times. Whatever the case may be, there are a couple of solutions to The Dependency Service Or Group Failed To Start error in Windows 10. These solutions are definitely supposed to solve the issue for sure. Let us find out what they are:
How To Fix “The Dependency Service Or Group Failed To Start Error “
We are going to discuss three methods to fix the error. Try them in the order they are mentioned until your issue is resolved.
#1 – Do a Normal Startup to fix The Dependency Service Or Group Failed To Start Error
It might be possible that your PC is set to start in Selective Startup mode or Diagnostic Startup mode. These are the modes to boot a PC faster than normal. While starting in these modes, all the drivers and services do not start up with the PC. This might be the reason for all the trouble you are facing with the network connection.
You need to make sure that your PC is set to boot with Normal Startup mode, and this problem will be fixed. Here are the steps to do so:
Step 1: Open the Run box by pressing the Win + R keys on your keyboard. In the Run box, type msconfig and press the Enter key.
Step 2: In the System Configuration window that opens, stay on the General tab. There, you will find a Normal Startup option. Select the radio button beside it. Then click on Apply then Ok buttons.
Once the setting has been applied, restart your PC. Now, you would be able to access the internet without getting The Dependency Service Or Group Failed To Start Error in Windows 10.
#2 – Adding “Localservice” and “Networkservice” to Administrator Group using Command Prompt
In this process to fix The Dependency Service Or Group Failed To Start error, we are going to use Command Prompt in Admin mode to start a couple of services on your PC. To carry out this process, follow the steps given below:
Step 1: Press Win + X keys on your keyboard. From the list of options that appear, click on the Command Prompt (Admin) option. This will open the Command Prompt window in Admin mode.
Step 2: Enter the following command in the Command Prompt windows and press Enter key:
net localgroup administrators localservice /add
Step 3: Next, enter the following command in the same Command Prompt window and press the Enter key:
net localgroup administrators networkservice /add
After running both the above commands, type Exit in the Command Prompt window.
Then, restart your PC.
After the restart, see that you are able to access the internet and not getting The Dependency Service Or Group Failed To Start error again.
#3 Modify Registry-
Modifying the registry on your computer may solve the issue.
But, before going ahead to the main process, we strongly suggest you create a backup of the registry on your computer. After opening Registry Editor, click on “File” > “Export” to create the backup.
If anything goes wrong you can retrieve your registry by simply importing the backup.
1. Click on the Search box and then type “regedit“.
2. Now, click on “Registry Editor” from the search results to open it on your computer.
3. In Registry Editor window, on the left-hand side, navigate to this location-
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Spooler
4. Now, on the right-hand side, double click on “DependOnService” DWORD value to modify it.
5. Next, set the ‘Value data:‘ to “RPCSS“.
6. Click on “OK” to save the change on your computer.
Close the Registry Editor window.
7. Now, press Windows key+R to open the Run window.
8. In the Run window, type “services.msc” and then hit Enter.
Services window will open.
9. Now, scroll down and double click on the “Application Layer Gateway Service“.
10. Now, click on the drop-down beside, ‘Startup type:‘.
11. Select “Automatic” from the drop-down list.
12. Finally, click on “Apply” and then on “OK” to save the changes.
Follow all the steps mentioned above to automate these services-
a. Network Connections b. Network Local Awareness c. Plug and Play d. Remote Access Conection Manager e. Remote Procedure Call (RPC) f. Telephony
For all these servieces, double click on them one-by-one and change their startup type to “Automatic“.
Once you are done automating these services, reboot your computer to save the changes.
If the issue was not fixed with this action, try the next method, which will definitely help you.
#4 – Enable all the Network Services
In order to fix “The Dependency Service Or Group Failed To Start Error” in Windows 10, you can also try to enable all the network services of your PC to start automatically. Doing so will start all the network related services to start automatically when PC boots. It might be the case that these services are not starting with your PC and causing the trouble. Doing so is very simple. Follow these steps:
Step 1: Open the Run box. For this, press Win + R keys together on the keyboard. In the Run box, type services.msc and press Enter key.
Step 2: The Services windows will open. Here, you will find a list of services that Windows runs. You have to look for the following services in the list and make sure that their startup type to Automatic. If not, you have to change them to Automatic.
Look for the following services:
- Application Layer Gateway Service
- Network Location Awareness (NLA)
- Network Connections
- Plug and Play
- Remote Access Connection Manager
- Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
- Remote Access Auto Connection Manager
- Telephony
Step 3: When you find any of these services, right click on it, then click on Properties in the context menu.
Step 4: A new window will open. Here, in the General tab, you will find a Startup type drop-down menu. Click on it and select the Automatic option. Once done, click on Ok to return back to Services window.
Repeat the Step 4 for all of the services mentioned in the above list. When you are done with all the services, it’s time to restart your PC. After the restart, check if the internet is working and you are not getting The Dependency Service Or Group Failed To Start Windows 10 error.
Finally,
the Dependency Service Or Group Failed To Start error is not that hard to fix. You just need to follow the right approach and you will be done in minutes. If you are still not able to solve the issue, the last resort for this would be to reset PC without deleting personal files. This would, however, remove all the software and personal settings, but the personal data, such as videos, images, audio, documents, etc. So, make sure of what you are doing.
If any of the steps worked for you, do not forget to mention the same below in the comments.