Summary

Service '[SERVICE]' failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.

Symptoms

When running an installation, error 1920 occurs:

Service '[SERVICE]' failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.

[SERVICE] resolves to the name of the service.

Cause

• Cause A: The service name specified in the InstallShield interface is not the correct service name. This may happen if the Windows Control Panel Services name was used instead of the 'internal' name of the service. The service has a registered, or internal, name and also has a displayed name. These names do not necessarily match. The 'internal' name must be specified in the interface in order for the service to be controlled.
• Cause B: A dependent service is not installed or is disabled on the target machine. Some services require other services to be running on the target machine before it will successfully run itself. If these service are not available, the service attempting to be controlled may fail.
• Cause C: The user does not have rights to run the service. Some services are only available to run under a specific Log On account. The user must be logged on under this account to successfully run the service.
• Cause D: The service executable is not marked as the key file of the component.

Resolution

Resolution A

1. Open the Components view and expand the Component node in your project that is controlling the service in question.
2. Expand the component's Advanced Setting folder and click the Control NT Services section.
3. Take note of the service name on the right. You will see the name of the service the component is trying to control. Make sure that you do not confuse the event with the service name (the event is found under the service name).
4. To find the 'internal' name you must go to a machine that already has the service installed. On that machine, go to the registry by typing regedit at the Start | Run command box.
5. Once in the registry, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services. The service's 'internal' name has its own key under the Services key. Because the internal name can be different from the display name, you may not recognize the name displayed. If this is the case, you can click each key under the Services key and check the DisplayName value for the key. The DisplayName value is the name as it appears in the Windows Control Panel. Once you find the correct DisplayName, take note of the key it is found within.
6. If the 'internal' name matches the name specified determined under Step 3, this is not the cause of the issue. Otherwise, change the name from Step 3 to match the internal name.
7. Rebuild the release.

Resolution B

1. If you are not sure which services the service you are trying to control depends upon, check on a machine that the service is already installed. On Windows 2000/XP machines, dependencies can be checked by right-clicking the service and choosing Properties. Under the Dependencies tab, there is a list of the dependent services.
2. Verify that all dependent services are installed and running.

Resolution C

1. If you are not sure which account the service logs on as, check on a machine that the service is already installed. On Windows 2000/XP machines, the Log On field can be checked by right-clicking the service and choosing Properties. Under the Log On tab, you can see which account the service logs on as.
2. Verify that the user is logged on under the correct account when launching the installation.

Resolution D

1. In the Project file, browse to the component which contains the service executable and expand the component.
2. In the files view for the component, right-click the service executable and set it as key file.
3. Rebuild the setup.

Additional Information

Error 1920 is documented in the Windows Installer Help Library topic Windows Installer Error Messages.