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AD FS: The AD FS Windows Service Is Not Set to Start Automatically

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This topic is intended to address a specific issue identified by a Best Practices Analyzer scan. You should apply the information in this topic only to computers that have had the Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) Best Practices Analyzer run against them and are experiencing the issue addressed by this topic. For more information about best practices and scans, see Best Practices Analyzer.

Operating System

Windows Server 2012

Product/Feature

Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS)

Severity

Error

Category

Configuration

Issue

The AD FS Windows Service startup type is not set to Automatic for this instance.

Impact

If the startup type of this AD FS Windows Service is not set to Automatic, the AD FS Windows Service cannot respond to client directory requests.

Resolution

Change this AD FS Windows Service startup type to Automatic in Services Control Manager or by running the following Windows PowerShell command: Set-Service {0} -StartupType Automatic.

Use one the following procedures to change the AD FS Windows Service startup type to Automatic. After you change the AD FS Windows Service startup type, rerun the AD FS BPA to verify compliance.

To perform any of the following procedures, you must be a member of the Builtin\Administrators group on the target server.

To use Services Control Manager to change the AD FS Windows Service startup type

  1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

    -Or-

    Click Start, click Run, then type the following command and click OK:

    Services.msc

  2. Right-click AD FS Windows Service and click Properties.

  3. On the General tab, change the Startup type: to Automatic, and then click OK.

To use Windows PowerShell to change the AD FS Windows Service startup type

  1. Open Windows PowerShell on the Windows Taskbar.

  2. Type the following command and press ENTER:

    Set-Service AD FS Windows Service name -StartupType Automatic

    For example, if the AD FS Windows Service name is ADFS1, type the following command and press ENTER:

    Set-Service ADFS1 -StartupType Automatic

To use the sc.exe to change the AD FS Windows Service startup type

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.

    -Or-

    Click Start, click Run, then type the following command and click OK:

    cmd

  2. Type the following command and press ENTER:

    sc UNC path for server config AD FS Windows Service name start=auto

    For example, to change the startup type for an AD FS Windows Service named ADFS1 on a server named ADFSServer15, type the following command and press ENTER:

    sc \\ADFSServer15 config ADFS1 start=auto

    The command should return the following result:

    [SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS

Additional references

Using the Set-Service Cmdlet