Task Scheduler wouldn't start: Time Broker Service

jailbird

New Member
Sorry if this is a dupe, I didn't find anything in a search.

This is just a heads up to save others the headache I went through for about a week trying to figure out why Software Protection Service was bouncing every few seconds and why Task Scheduler wouldn't start: Time Broker!

Time Broker's description says:

Coordinates execution of background work for WinRT application. If this service is stopped or disabled, then background work might not be triggered.

Since I didn't want to use WinRT/UWP crap, I marked it as "Disabled", which seemed safe since it's normally "Manual". Well long story short, no, it's not JUST for WinRT! And of course &*#$ Microsoft didn't mark it as a required dependency for the other services! :mad:
 
Best way totest service disabling is inside a vm, i use virtual box on a host with 4gb ram and nopagefile. Create a default w10/8.1/7 virtual machine, clone it, then start disabling services one by one, it the os breaks then you havnt lost nothing. I recently did some service work 8.1 and disabled 151 out of 170 services.
 
Makes sense! I was doing somewhat similar by making a VM in VBox, then making a snapshot before I booted off of the ISO. That way if it didn't work, I could just revert to the clean snapshot and let it reinstall again. Not quite as fast as your method, but it sure as hell beat deleteing/remaking the entire virtual disk every time.

Thanks for the tip!
 
Yeah its quicker, create a default then full clone. Use shared folders so you can transfer reg files between host and vm. What you can do with service reg files is make them controlset001 instead of current control set, controlset001 is the default values that current controlset uses. I havnt used snapshot yet, just clone.
 
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There are many services that are run at start and stop after doing it's own/needed task(s) and others runs "on request", otherwise those services could be removed with the tool.

Quicker and safefor testing is to create a vm, install and shutdown.

Make copies/backup the vhd file, this way if you are activating once NTLite inside the VM you won't loose 1 activation on cloning because clonning makes changes to the vhd.

Clanger you can add ImDisk too to your Interesting Programs and other stuff thread, usefull if you use virtualbox and you want quick access to the vhd and read/make changes without running the vm. I have used ImDisk to troubleshoot a couple of ui "issues".
 
Added, i just copy.pasted the last paragraph for now. Im just using VB for making sure tweaks work during install.
 
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Which version of Windows? Here in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 LTSB 2016 I disable Time Broker and I have no problems. What causes me problems is System Events Broker also related to WinRT/UWP. When I disable this in 8.1 I get errors during the installation of VMware Tools in the step that installs drivers.

I think the Windows version matters. In newer versions it is more difficult to apply tweaks.

In LTSC 2019 if I disable Device Setup Manager (DsmSvc) the icon to safely remove USB devices no longer appears, while in LTSB 2016 and 8.1 this service can be disabled without causing this.
 
Thanks Jailbird and others, keep them coming. I'll add a warning to the mentioned service descriptions.
 
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