Security Center (wscsvc) Service Defaults in Windows 11
The WSCSVC (Windows Security Center) service monitors and reports security health settings on the computer. The health settings include firewall (on/off), antivirus (on/off/out of date), antispyware (on/off/out of date), Windows Update (automatically/manually download and install updates), User Account Control (on/off), and Internet settings (recommended/not recommended). The service provides COM APIs for independent software vendors to register and record the state of their products to the Security Center service. The Security and Maintenance UI uses the service to provide systray alerts and a graphical view of the security health states in the Security and Maintenance control panel. Network Access Protection (NAP) uses the service to report the security health states of clients to the NAP Network Policy Server to make network quarantine decisions. The service also has a public API that allows external consumers to programmatically retrieve the aggregated security health state of the system.
Default Settings
| Startup type: | Automatic |
| Display name: | Security Center |
| Service name: | wscsvc |
| Service type: | share |
| Error control: | normal |
| Object: | NT AUTHORITY\LocalService |
| Path: | %SystemRoot%\System32\svchost.exe -k LocalServiceNetworkRestricted -p |
| File: | %SystemRoot%\System32\wscsvc.dll |
| Registry key: | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\wscsvc |
| Privileges: |
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Default Behavior
Security Center is a Win32 service. In Windows 11 it starts automatically during the operating system startup. Then the Security Center service logs on as NT AUTHORITY\LocalService and running in a shared process of svchost.exe. If Security Center fails to start, the failure details will be recorded into Event Log. Then Windows 11 should boot up and notify the user about the wscsvc service startup failure.
Dependencies
Security Center cannot be started, if the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service won't start.
Restore Default Startup Configuration of Security Center
Before you begin doing this, make sure that all the services on which Security Center depends are configured by default and function properly. See the list of dependencies above.1. Run the Command Prompt as an administrator.
2. Copy the commands below, paste them into the command window and press ENTER:
sc config wscsvc start= auto
sc start wscsvc
3. Close the command window and restart the computer.
The wscsvc service is using the wscsvc.dll file that is located in the C:\Windows\System32 directory. If the file is removed or corrupted, read this article to restore its original version from Windows 11 installation media.