Cannot reset Background Intelligent Transfer Service to 'manual'!

Question

Hi, All,

I am running an Inspiron 5150 laptop, 3.06GHz HT, 1.25GB RAM, Windows XP Professional.

I recently did a format/reinstall of Win XP, and have just finished reloading my programs, and I'm now at the "tweaking" stage.

I am setting the system up for digital music recording, and this application requires as few background services running as possible.

I would like to have the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) set to "manual", which I understand is the default setting for both Win XP home and Pro.

I have not had any problems at all with the setup so far, but I have run into a "glitch" that I can't figure out! I can't find any relevant info on the web. Also, I've had no problems with Microsoft Update, even after an interrupted download.

Here is the problem: No matter what I try, I cannot get the Background Intelligent Transfer Service to stay set to "manual"!

I have been trying to reset the service using the Services App. under Administrative Tools. I've stopped the service, reset it to manual, rebooted, and after multiple tries it always comes back to automatic.

I tried again in safe mode, but no luck.

I also tried manually changing the Start dword value in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BITS from 00000002
to 00000003, but again it came back to automatic after a reboot.

I even got exaspirated and tried setting the service to "disabled", and it was STILL reset back to automatic after a reboot!

Anyone have any Idea what might be causing my machine to insist on BITS being set to "automatic"?

Any suggestions as to how I can resolve this?

Thanks!

Ken

BELL BOY · Answer

Correct, the BITS default setting is Manual & changing Service default settings is normally not recommended.   If it wasn’t for your recent clean install, I’d suggested some virus/Trojan attack, interesting & very strange!   Presumably BITS Properties > Log On tab settings are correct & that the Allow Service to interact with desktop is check box clear?   Do the before & after values change in Registry when you change BITS Startup to Manual (not rebooting)? Normally Service properties stored in the registry control how service applications are started at boot time & run as background processes.   Since the Admin Tools doesn’t appear to permit correct default Manual setting on boot, doubt if the SC command (SC.exe) would work either (similar function).

spampup · Answer

Thanks for the reply, Bell Boy,   Yes, BITS is set to LogOn as a local service, and the 'Allow service to interact with the desktop' box is cleared.   I checked the registry, and after I stop BITS and reset it to manual in Administrative Tools the 'start' DWORD value under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BITS is properly reset to 0x00000003 (3).   When I reboot the DWORD remains set to 0x00000003 (3) until wuauclt.exe starts up, about 30 seconds after startup. At that point the SWORD resets to 0x00000002 (2).   So Automatic Updates is obviously resetting BITS to automatic startup, rather than simply causing it to start as needed.   On my other systems BITS is set to manual by default, and wuauclt.exe DOES start BITS as it's supposed to. But BITS always remains set to manual startup!   Wierd! Any suggestions?

JRosenfeld · Answer

Try disabling automatic updates (not the service, leave that on automatic), but control panel, system applet, automatic updates tab, check Turn off automatic updates, Apply, OK.. Then see if BITS will stay on manual on restart of the PC.   If that works, you could then see if enabling automatic updates again causes the problem to return.   Or you could leave automatic updates off.  With rare exceptions Windows updates (except forWindows defender) are issued on second tuesday each month, so not having automatic updates running is nota serious issue. You can always check manually by going to Microsoft Updates.   An alternative is just to stop BITS when you want to run your music recording app.

spampup · Answer

Thanks JRosenfeld,   Automatic updates is already set to 'off' in the Control Panel applet.   Any other ideas? This is really wierd!   If I stop BITS, then set it to 'disabled', It STILL returns set to automatic again after a reboot (after wuauclt.exe starts)!   The only way I can stop BITS from automatically starting is to set BOTH Automatic Updates and BITS to disabled.   The reason I am worried about this in the first place is that I am setting this computer up for digital music recording, an application which requires as few background services to be running as possible.   I would like to be able to simply disable Automatic Updates in MSCONFIG, which ordinarily would also prevent BITS from starting if it wsa set to manual.   I have never seen a machine where BITS could not be permanently set to manual!   Ken

JRosenfeld · Answer

If automatic updates is set to off, why is wuauclt.exe starting on PC startup? I don't have it showing in processes in task manager. However if I switch on automatic updates, wuauclt.exe shows in processes. If I then turn off automatic updates, wuauclt.exe stays loaded until the next restart of the PC.

My settings are:

Automatic updates set to off in control panel/system/automatic updates (or in security center, manage security settings for Automatic updates).
Security center shows it is off ( I also set it not to alert me for that).

Services:

Automatic updates: automatic, started
BITS: manual, not started.
Both set to log on local system account, allow interaction with desktop unchecked.

Try setting the Automatic updates service to manual or disabled (for diagnostic purposes: it needs to be started also for manual updates check).

Do you have a related scheduled task (I don't)? If so try disabling that as well.

Can't think of anything else...

Windows General

Cannot reset Background Intelligent Transfer Service to "manual"!

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