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Using the Windows System Configuration utility

Symptoms

A guest or host operating system: 
  • Fails
  • Stops responding
  • Stops responding and displays a blue screen with a stop code
  • Keeps rebooting for no apparent reason
  • Has performance problems
  • Performs slowly
  • Has applications that are not working properly
  • Is experiencing network problems

Purpose

This article describes how to use the Window's System Configuration utility. The Windows System Configuration utility helps determine if a service or application being loaded into Windows is causing unexpected operating system behaviour. This utility allows services and applications to be selectively disabled. If the unexpected behaviour stops after disabling a service or application then the source of the problem is identified.  

Resolution

To launch the Windows System Configuration utility:  
 
Note: Not all versions of Windows include this utility. If you have a version of Windows where the following procedure does not work, you must use a third party utility to selectively disable services and applications.  Windows 2000 does not include this utility, but you can use the version that comes with Windows XP. Locate a Windows XP computer and copy the file msconfig.exe from the C:\WINDOWS\pchealth\helpctr\binaries directory to the Windows 2000 computer.
  1. Click Start > Run.
  2. Type msconfig and click OK.
To use the Window's System Configuration utility to disable services and applications:
  1. Click the Services tab.
  2. Click Hide all Microsoft services.
  3. Click Disable all.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Reboot the computer.
If the issue no longer occurs, it is likely that one of the service or startup applications was the source of the problem.  To selectively disable individual services from the Window's System Configuration utility select or deselect each service from the Services tab. To selectively disable individual startup applications, select or deselect each application from the Applications tab. 
 
Note: Depending on your problem, following this procedure may remove a software environment that is required to test the health of your operating system.

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  • KB Article: 1004010
  • Updated: Aug 14, 2009
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