{"id":7681,"date":"2023-09-12T22:30:44","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T05:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/?p=7681"},"modified":"2025-10-04T22:23:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T05:23:58","slug":"startup-types-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/windows-services\/startup-types-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows Services Startup Types Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"<div align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"no-lazy-load\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/windows-service-startup-types-200x117.webp\" style=\"margin-bottom:20px;\" title=\"Windows Services Startup Types Explained\" alt=\"Windows Services Startup Types Explained\" border=\"0\" width=\"200\" height=\"117\" \/><\/div>\n<div id=\"blog-toc-container\" style=\"margin-top:20px;margin-bottom:40px;\">\n<p id=\"blog-toc-title\">In this article&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#overview\">What is a service&#8217;s Startup Type? Where do I find it?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#automatic\">Automatic<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#automatic-delayed-start\">Automatic (Delayed Start)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#manual\">Manual<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#disabled\">Disabled<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#trigger-start\">Intermission: What does &#8220;Trigger Start&#8221; mean?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#automatic-trigger-start\">Automatic (Trigger Start)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#automatic-delayed-trigger-start\">Automatic (Delayed Start, Trigger Start)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#manual-trigger-start\">Manual (Trigger Start)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#summary\">Windows Service startup types: Summary<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><a name=\"overview\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"blog-caption\">What is a service&#8217;s Startup Type? Where do I find it?<\/h2>\n<p>A <a href=\"\/WindowsServices\/FAQ.html#WhatIsAWindowsService\">Windows Service<\/a> is a special application whose lifecycle is managed by the operating system. That is, unlike a &#8220;normal&#8221; application that relies on a person to start or stop it, Windows itself is responsible for starting, stopping or restarting a service.<\/p>\n<p>To give you some control over how things work, each Windows Service has a <b>startup type<\/b> property that dictates how Windows should manage it. The options range from &#8220;start it as soon as you can&#8221; to &#8220;don&#8217;t run the service at all&#8221;. There&#8217;s even the ability to start a service when certain conditions are met. But more on those later as we dig into each of the startup types below.<\/p>\n<p>The built-in <a href=\"\/blog\/windows-services\/essential-tools-windows-services-msc\/\">Services<\/a> application shows the startup type for each service. You can launch the application by typing &#8220;services&#8221; into the search bar and clicking its icon:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/start-services-from-search-window.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"Start Services from the search bar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-padding\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/start-services-from-search-window.png\" title=\"Start Services from the search bar (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"Start Services from the search bar\" border=\"0\" width=\"520\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>The Services window lists all the Windows Services running on your computer. The &#8220;Startup Type&#8221; column indicates how each service is configured to start:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/services-startup-types.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"Services: The Startup Type column\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-padding\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/services-startup-types.png\" title=\"Services: The Startup Type column (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"Services: The Startup Type column\" border=\"0\" width=\"520\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Double-click a row to reveal the details of that service in the <b>Properties<\/b> window. You&#8217;ll see the &#8220;Startup type&#8221; field about half-way down:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/cryptsvc-service-general-tab.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"Service properties: The startup type field\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-padding\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/cryptsvc-service-general-tab.png\" title=\"Service properties: The startup type field (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"Service properties: The startup type field\" border=\"0\" width=\"406\" height=\"468\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>If permissions allow, you can change the startup type right there as well. Simply choose a new value from the list and click OK (or Apply) to record your change:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/cryptsvc-service-change-startup-type.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"Changing the Startup Type\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-padding\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/cryptsvc-service-change-startup-type.png\" title=\"Changing the Startup Type (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"Changing the Startup Type\" border=\"0\" width=\"406\" height=\"468\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>And now that you know how to find the startup type of any service, let&#8217;s review the values available and what each of them means.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a name=\"automatic\"><\/a><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:5px;\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<h2 style=\"font-size:24px;font-weight:bold;margin-bottom: 1em;\">Automatic<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"highlight-box-green\">\nWhen a service is set to &#8220;Automatic&#8221;, Windows will <b>start it as soon as possible whenever the system boots<\/b>.\n<\/div>\n<p>Because of that early start, all critical Windows Services &mdash; like those supporting networking, security and user management &mdash; are set to start automatically. That enables them to come to life quickly, to support key functionality across your computer.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"when-manual\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">When to set startup type to &#8220;Automatic&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>Automatic start is best for services that:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p>Implement technical functions that are <b>vital for the operation of your PC<\/b>;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Are needed to <b>support other services<\/b> or applications;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Must <b>run all the time<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"automatic-examples\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">Examples of &#8220;Automatic&#8221; services<\/h3>\n<p>Many of the built-in Windows Services are set to start automatically. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p>Windows Defender Firewall &mdash; helps protect your computer by preventing unauthorized users from gaining access to your computer through the Internet or a network. This service must be ready by the time the network is up.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Local Session Manager &mdash; a core Windows Service that manages local user sessions. Stopping or disabling this service will result in system instability.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Windows Event Log &mdash; manages events and event logs for other services. Stopping this service may compromise the security and reliability of the system.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a name=\"automatic-delayed-start\"><\/a><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:5px;\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<h2 style=\"font-size:24px;font-weight:bold;margin-bottom: 1em;\">Automatic (Delayed Start)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"highlight-box-green\">\nWindows launches &#8220;Automatic (Delayed Start)&#8221; services <b>about 1-2 minutes after your computer boots<\/b> &mdash; after Automatic services have started.\n<\/div>\n<p>You can think of Windows launching services in two rounds at boot. Automatic services go in the first round while &#8220;Automatic (Delayed Start)&#8221; services are kicked off in the second round.<\/p>\n<p>As such, the &#8220;Automatic (Delayed Start)&#8221; setting is most useful in lessening the mad rush for resources when your computer starts up.<\/p>\n<p>For example, suppose that there are 20 services all being started at the same time. In reality, they will all be competing for slices of the machine&#8217;s precious resources (CPU\/RAM\/Disk\/Network). The inevitable result is that each service will take longer to become available.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a few services that are critical, then you may want to set those few to &#8220;Automatic&#8221; and set as many of the others as you can to &#8220;Automatic (Delayed Start)&#8221;. This will ensure that the critical services get the most resources early and become available sooner, while the non-critical services start a bit later (which by definition is OK).<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"when-automatic-delayed-start\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">When to set startup type to &#8220;Automatic (Delayed Start)&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Automatic (Delayed Start)&#8221; is best for services that:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p>Should start at boot but <b>don&#8217;t perform mission-critical activities<\/b>;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Are best <b>started after supporting services are up and running<\/b>;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Should <b>run all the time<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"automatic-delayed-start-examples\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">Examples of &#8220;Automatic (Delayed Start)&#8221; services<\/h3>\n<p>On Windows 11, less than a dozen of the built-in Windows Services are set to start delayed. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p>Security Center &mdash; monitors and reports security health settings on the computer. This service should run all the time but there is no need to start it ASAP because it&#8217;s focused on reporting.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Update Orchestrator Service &mdash; manages Windows Updates. If stopped, your computer will not be able to download and install the latest updates. Since it&#8217;s not a critical service, Windows starts it in the second round.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Dropbox Update Service &mdash; keeps your Dropbox installations up to date. The service is certainly helpful but it doesn&#8217;t need to start the instant your PC reboots.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a name=\"manual\"><\/a><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:5px;\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<h2 style=\"font-size:24px;font-weight:bold;margin-bottom: 1em;\">Manual<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"highlight-box-green\">\nA &#8220;Manual&#8221; service isn&#8217;t automatically started by Windows at boot. Instead, it will be <b>started on demand<\/b> &mdash; either by a user or by an application.\n<\/div>\n<p>For the most part, &#8220;Manual&#8221; services sit idle until they&#8217;re needed. And often, they return to an idle state once they&#8217;ve performed the work they were summoned to do. As such, they tend to be the most efficient group of services, only running when they need to.<\/p>\n<p>Note that in previous versions of Windows, the vast majority of services were set to &#8220;Automatic&#8221; and only a handful were &#8220;Manual&#8221;. But over the years, as Microsoft focused on streamlining the boot process, the situation has fully reversed. Most of the built-in Windows Services are now started on demand!<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"when-manual\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">When to set startup type to &#8220;Manual&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>The &#8220;Manual&#8221; startup type is appropriate for services that:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p><b>Don&#8217;t need to run 24\/7<\/b>;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Are only <b>used occasionally<\/b>;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Provide <b>uncommon functionality<\/b> that only some devices (or users) will need;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Aim to achieve <b>maximum efficiency<\/b>, only running when necessary;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"manual-examples\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">Examples of &#8220;Manual&#8221; services<\/h3>\n<p>Many of the built-in Windows Services are set to &#8220;Manual&#8221;. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p>Windows Backup &mdash; provides backup and restore capabilities, which are only necessary at defined times.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Fax Service &mdash; enables you to send and receive faxes. Who uses that anymore? \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Microsoft Edge Elevation Service &mdash; keeps Microsoft Edge up to date. This service only comes to life a few times per day.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a name=\"disabled\"><\/a><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:5px;\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<h2 style=\"font-size:24px;font-weight:bold;margin-bottom: 1em;\">Disabled<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"highlight-box-green\">\nSetting the startup type to &#8220;Disabled&#8221; tells Windows <b>don&#8217;t allow the service to start<\/b> &mdash; under any circumstances. You cannot run a disabled service.\n<\/div>\n<p>If you wish to start a disabled service, you must first change its startup type to another value. Setting to &#8220;Manual&#8221; usually makes the most sense.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"when-disabled\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">When to set startup type to &#8220;Disabled&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>You should disable services that:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p><b>Shouldn&#8217;t (or cannot) run<\/b>;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Are responsible for <b>unused functionality<\/b>;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Are insecure and <b>may compromise the system<\/b> in some fashion.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"disabled-examples\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">Examples of &#8220;Disabled&#8221; services<\/h3>\n<p>Here are a few examples of services with startup type set to &#8220;Disabled&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p>Shared PC Account Manager &mdash; Manages profiles and accounts on a SharedPC configured device. It&#8217;s disabled on our machine because we&#8217;re not using the <a href=\"https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows\/configuration\/set-up-shared-or-guest-pc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SharedPC feature<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>OpenSSH Authentication Agent &mdash; holds private keys used for public key authentication. Citing security concerns, Microsoft disables this rarely used service in new installations of Windows 10 &amp; 11.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Remote Registry &mdash; enables remote users to modify registry settings on this computer. Certainly not for everyone!<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a name=\"trigger-start\"><\/a><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:5px;\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<h2 style=\"font-size:24px;font-weight:bold;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom: 1em;\">Intermission: What does &#8220;Trigger Start&#8221; mean?<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p>Because the remaining startup types all mention &#8220;Trigger Start&#8221;, we thought this would be a good time to explain what that means. Here goes&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>In older versions of Windows, the only startup types available were the ones we&#8217;ve already reviewed &mdash; Automatic, Automatic (Delayed Start), Manual and Disabled. Each service was assigned one of those values. (Incidentally, most were set to &#8220;Automatic&#8221;, which made for utter chaos as they all scrambled to start at boot.)<\/p>\n<p>However, in Windows 7 (circa 2009), Microsoft introduced a new capability &mdash; the ability to start (or stop) a service when a key operating system event occurs. They called those events <b>triggers<\/b> and services that react to the events <b>trigger start services<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Putting it all together, <b>a service has &#8220;Trigger Start&#8221; in its startup type if it has at least one trigger.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>But why did Microsoft introduce trigger start services?<\/p>\n<p>Well, by offering trigger start as an option, Microsoft made it easier for Windows Services to avoid starting at boot and running 24\/7. For example, if your service works with USB drives, you can configure it to start whenever someone inserts a USB drive. Similarly, a network-monitoring service may choose to run only when your computer signs out of a domain or leaves the network. Options abound, and you can read about the technical details in the <a href=\"http:\/\/download.microsoft.com\/download\/a\/d\/f\/adf1347d-08dc-41a4-9084-623b1194d4b2\/BackgroundProcs.docx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Developing Efficient Background Processes for Windows<\/a> white paper.<\/p>\n<p>So service triggers are great. But there is one major inconvenience&#8230;<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">You can&#8217;t view or edit triggers with the Services application<\/h3>\n<p>Until Microsoft updates the Services application to manage triggers, you either have to: <\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<p>rely on the Windows <a href=\"\/products\/ServiceTriggerEditor\/sc.html\">SC command-line program<\/a>, or<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>use our free <a href=\"\/products\/ServiceTriggerEditor\/\">Service Trigger Editor<\/a> GUI utility, which shows you all the trigger start services on your system:<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/products\/ServiceTriggerEditor\/service-trigger-editor-screenshot-win2019.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"Service Trigger Editor managing trigger start services\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/products\/ServiceTriggerEditor\/service-trigger-editor-screenshot-win2019.png\" class=\"image-padding\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Service Trigger Editor managing trigger start services\" title=\"Service Trigger Editor managing trigger start services\" width=\"520\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p>Anyway, back to startup types&#8230;<\/p>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a name=\"automatic-trigger-start\"><\/a><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:5px;\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<h2 style=\"font-size:24px;font-weight:bold;margin-bottom:1em;\">Automatic (Trigger Start)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"highlight-box-green\">\n&#8220;Automatic (Trigger Start)&#8221; means <b>start the service immediately at boot &mdash; and also restart it whenever specific operating system events (triggers) occur<\/b>.\n<\/div>\n<p>It&#8217;s the same as <a href=\"#automatic\">Automatic<\/a>, plus with one or more triggers too.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, an &#8220;Automatic (Trigger Start)&#8221; service can be very efficient. Even though Windows starts it as soon as possible, the service can do its initial work and quickly exit &mdash; secure in the knowledge that Windows will fire it up again whenever it&#8217;s needed.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"when-automatic-trigger-start\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">When to set startup type to &#8220;Automatic (Trigger Start)&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Automatic (Trigger Start)&#8221; start works best for services that:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p>Should to <b>start as soon as possible<\/b> after boot;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><b>Don&#8217;t need to run all the time<\/b>;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Can be <b>reactivated by a triggering event<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"automatic-trigger-start-examples\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">Examples of &#8220;Automatic (Trigger Start)&#8221; services<\/h3>\n<p>On our Windows 11 computer, only six services are set to &#8220;Automatic (Trigger Start)&#8221;. Here are a few of them:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p>Server &mdash; supports file, print, and named-pipe sharing over the network. As you might expect, the two triggers are network-related:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/server-windows-service-triggers.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"Triggers for the Server Windows Service\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/server-windows-service-triggers.png\" class=\"image-padding\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Triggers for the Server Windows Service\" title=\"Triggers for the Server Windows Service\" width=\"500\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Windows Connection Manager &mdash; makes automatic connect\/disconnect decisions based on the network connectivity options currently available to the PC and enables management of network connectivity based on Group Policy settings.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Group Policy Client &mdash; responsible for applying settings configured by administrators for the computer and users through the Group Policy component.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a name=\"automatic-delayed-trigger-start\"><\/a><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:5px;\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<h2 style=\"font-size:24px;font-weight:bold;margin-bottom: 1em;\">Automatic (Delayed Start, Trigger Start)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"highlight-box-green\">\nAn &#8220;Automatic (Delayed Start, Trigger Start)&#8221; service <b>starts a few minutes after boot &mdash; and also in response to a trigger<\/b>.\n<\/div>\n<p>As you may have guessed, &#8220;Automatic (Delayed Start, Trigger Start)&#8221; is similar to <a href=\"#automatic-trigger-start\">Automatic (Trigger Start)<\/a>, except that the service starts 1-2 minutes after boot (instead of ASAP).<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"when-automatic-delayed-trigger-start\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">When to set startup type to &#8220;Automatic (Delayed Start, Trigger Start)&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Automatic (Delayed Start, Trigger Start)&#8221; can apply to services that:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p>Should to <b>start at boot but can wait for a couple of minutes<\/b>;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><b>Don&#8217;t need to run all the time<\/b>;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Can be <b>reactivated by a triggering event<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"automatic-delayed-trigger-start-examples\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">Examples of &#8220;Automatic (Delayed Start, Trigger Start)&#8221; services<\/h3>\n<p>Few of the built-in Windows Services use this startup type. Here are three examples:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p>Microsoft Edge Update Service &mdash; keeps your Microsoft software up to date.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Software Protection &mdash; enables the download, installation and enforcement of digital licenses for Windows and Windows applications.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Windows Time &mdash; maintains date and time synchronization on all clients and servers in the network. Because it&#8217;s all about networking, the service will trigger-start when your computer joins a domain:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/windows-time-service-trigger.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"The Windows Time domain service trigger\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/windows-time-service-trigger.png\" class=\"image-padding\" border=\"0\" alt=\"The Windows Time domain service trigger\" title=\"The Windows Time domain service trigger\" width=\"500\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a name=\"manual-trigger-start\"><\/a><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:5px;\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<h2 style=\"font-size:24px;font-weight:bold;margin-bottom: 1em;\">Manual (Trigger Start)<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"highlight-box-green\">\nWindows never starts a &#8220;Manual (Trigger Start)&#8221; service at boot. It only <b>starts the service in response to a trigger<\/b>.\n<\/div>\n<p>This is the most efficient startup type of them all. Windows only starts the service when its needed.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"when-manual-trigger-start\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">When to set startup type to Manual (Trigger Start)<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Manual (Trigger Start)&#8221; is a fine choice for services that:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p><b>Don&#8217;t need to start at boot<\/b>;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><b>Don&#8217;t need to run all the time<\/b>;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Can be <b>reactivated by a triggering event<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a name=\"manual-trigger-start-examples\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"blog-caption\" style=\"font-size:16px\">Examples of Manual (Trigger Start) services<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Manual (Trigger Start)&#8221; is the most popular startup type on our Windows 11 computer. That&#8217;s a testament to the work that Microsoft has put in to ensure that its services don&#8217;t hog resources by running when they don&#8217;t need to.<\/p>\n<p>Example services include:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p>BitLocker Drive Encryption Service &mdash; provides secure startup for the operating system, as well as full volume encryption for OS, fixed or removable volumes. It only needs to run under special conditions (when a custom event is triggered).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Windows Update &mdash; enables the detection, download, and installation of updates for Windows and other programs. As you can see, the service will spring to life whenever a policy changes:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/windows-update-service-triggers.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"Windows Update service policy triggers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/windows-update-service-triggers.png\" class=\"image-padding\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Windows Update service policy triggers\" title=\"Windows Update service policy triggers\" width=\"500\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Portable Device Enumerator Service &mdash; enforces group policy for removable mass-storage devices. It employs a dozen triggers!<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/images\/portable-device-enumerator-service-triggers.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" title=\"Portable Device Enumerator Service triggers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/portable-device-enumerator-service-triggers.png\" class=\"image-padding\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Portable Device Enumerator Service triggers\" title=\"Portable Device Enumerator Service triggers\" width=\"500\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a name=\"summary\"><\/a><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:5px;\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<h2 style=\"font-size:24px;font-weight:bold;margin-bottom: 1em;\">Windows Service startup types: Summary<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p>To recap, the <b>startup type tells Windows how it should start your service<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>Here is what each value communicates to the operating system:<\/p>\n<div class=\"highlight-box-green\">\n<ul style=\"margin-bottom:24px\">\n<li>\n<p><b><a href=\"#automatic\">Automatic<\/a><\/b>: &#8220;Start this service at boot, early in the cycle.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><b><a href=\"#automatic-delayed-start\">Automatic (Delayed Start)<\/a><\/b>: &#8220;Start this service at boot, but delay it by a couple of minutes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><b><a href=\"#manual\">Manual<\/a><\/b>: &#8220;Don&#8217;t start this service at boot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><b><a href=\"#disabled\">Disabled<\/a><\/b>: &#8220;Don&#8217;t start this service at boot, and don&#8217;t allow anyone (or any program) to start it either.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><b><a href=\"#automatic-trigger-start\">Automatic (Trigger Start)<\/a><\/b>: &#8220;Start this service early in the boot cycle and start\/stop it when specific events occur.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><b><a href=\"#automatic-delayed-trigger-start\">Automatic (Delayed Start, Trigger Start)<\/a><\/b>: &#8220;Start this service a couple of minutes after boot and start\/stop it when specific events occur.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><b><a href=\"#manual-trigger-start\">Manual (Trigger Start)<\/a><\/b>: &#8220;Don&#8217;t start this service at boot, only start\/stop it when specific events occur.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top:30px\" align=\"center\">\n<div class=\"cta-button-1\">\n<table role=\"presentation\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/tag\/windows-services-2\/\" title=\"More articles about Windows Services\"><span><nobr>More articles about Windows Services&#8230;<\/nobr><\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- relpost-thumb-wrapper --><div class=\"relpost-thumb-wrapper\"><!-- filter-class --><div class=\"relpost-thumb-container\"><style>.relpost-block-single-image, .relpost-post-image { margin-bottom: 10px; }<\/style><h3>You may also like...<\/h3><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><!-- relpost-block-container --><div class=\"relpost-block-container relpost-block-column-layout\" style=\"--relposth-columns: 3;--relposth-columns_t: 2; --relposth-columns_m: 2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/windows-services\/lanmanserver\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"relpost-block-single-image\" alt=\"Essential Windows Services: LanmanServer \/ Server\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/server-service-150x150-1.png\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\"><\/img><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\"  style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial;  font-size: 12px;  color: #333333;\"><h2 class=\"relpost_card_title\">Essential Windows Services: LanmanServer \/ Server<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/alwaysup\/see-java-console\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"relpost-block-single-image\" alt=\"Q&amp;A: How can I see my Java Console Window when Running as a Service with AlwaysUp?\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/qa-150x150.png\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\/1\"><\/img><div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\"  style=\"height: 75px;font-family: Arial; 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What is a service&#8217;s Startup Type? Where do I find it? Automatic Automatic (Delayed Start) Manual Disabled Intermission: What does &#8220;Trigger Start&#8221; mean? Automatic (Trigger Start) Automatic (Delayed Start, Trigger Start) Manual (Trigger Start) Windows Service startup &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/windows-services\/startup-types-explained\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[37,328,38,330,331,329,101,332,150,151,169,196],"class_list":["post-7681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-windows-services","tag-automatic-delayed","tag-automatic-start","tag-automatic-trigger-start","tag-disabled-service","tag-manual-service","tag-manual-start","tag-manual-trigger-start","tag-sc-command","tag-service-trigger-editor-2","tag-services-msc","tag-trigger-start-services","tag-windows-services-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7681"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13144,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7681\/revisions\/13144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}