Workstation (lanmanworkstation) Service Defaults in Windows XP
Creates and maintains client network connections to remote servers. If this service is stopped, these connections will be unavailable. If this service is disabled, any services that explicitly depend on it will fail to start.
Default Settings
| Startup type: | Automatic |
| Display name: | Workstation |
| Service name: | lanmanworkstation |
| Service type: | share |
| Error control: | normal |
| Group: | NetworkProvider |
| Object: | LocalSystem |
| Path: | %SystemRoot%\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs |
| File: | %SystemRoot%\System32\wkssvc.dll |
| Registry key: | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanworkstation |
Default Behavior
Workstation is a Win32 service. In Windows XP it is starting automatically along with the operating system. Then the Workstation service is running as LocalSystem in a shared process of svchost.exe. Other services and drivers are allowed to run in the same process. If the Workstation fails to start, the technical information about the error is added to the Event Log. Windows XP startup should proceed, but a message box should be displayed informing the user that the lanmanworkstation service has failed to start.
Dependencies
The following components depend on Workstation:
- Alerter
- Background Intelligent Transfer Service
- Computer Browser
- Messenger
- Net Logon
- Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator
Restore Default Startup Configuration of Workstation
1. Run the Command Prompt.
2. Copy the commands below, paste them into the command window and press ENTER:
sc config lanmanworkstation start= auto
sc start lanmanworkstation
3. Close the command window and restart the computer.
The lanmanworkstation service is using the wkssvc.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 XP installation media.