Plug and Play (PlugPlay) Service Defaults in Windows XP
Enables a computer to recognize and adapt to hardware changes with little or no user input. Stopping or disabling this service will result in system instability.
Default Settings
| Startup type: | Automatic |
| Display name: | Plug and Play |
| Service name: | PlugPlay |
| Service type: | share |
| Error control: | normal |
| Group: | PlugPlay |
| Object: | LocalSystem |
| Path: | %SystemRoot%\system32\services.exe |
| Registry key: | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PlugPlay |
Default Behavior
Plug and Play is a Win32 service. In Windows XP it is starting automatically along with the operating system. Then the Plug and Play service is running as LocalSystem in a shared process of services.exe. Other services and drivers are allowed to run in the same process. If the Plug and Play 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 PlugPlay service has failed to start.
Dependencies
The following components depend on Plug and Play:
- Logical Disk Manager
- Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service
- Messenger
- Smart Card
- Telephony
- Windows Audio
Restore Default Startup Configuration of Plug and Play
1. Run the Command Prompt.
2. Copy the commands below, paste them into the command window and press ENTER:
sc config PlugPlay start= auto
sc start PlugPlay
3. Close the command window and restart the computer.
The PlugPlay service is using the services.exe 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.