Enabling the WebClient service in Windows

Every so often I see a report that OneNote cannot sync to SkyDrive and see the user is getting error : "OneNote cannot sync changes in this notebook because WebDAV support is not enabled on your computer. (Error code: 0xE0000784)".  Pinki Tuscaderro (there's a reference that goes back to the 70s) reported this here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-onenote/help-i-am-having-trouble-syncing-my-notebooks-with/119e207b-7241-43e1-8648-ff075cbeecf3.  It can be a bit confusing to change Windows services if you don't do this often, so I figured I would give a step by step guide to enable this service.

The first step to fix this error is to enable the DAV service (aka "Webclient" service) in Windows. Here's how.

First, right click "My Computer" and select "Manage". You may get a pop up that asks you if you are sure you want to make changes here, so click Yes.

You will get the Windows Management console now, and it should look something like this:

Expand the "Services and Applications" at the bottom. Select "Services" from here:

The middle window pane will expand to list all the services installed and whether or not they are running. Scroll down to find the "WebClient" service. Double click it:

Finally, you should see this property sheet:

Change the Startup type here to Automatic. Go ahead and Start it too (click the Start button) if that does not automatically happen. Then save all your changes.

Now when you start Windows this will start this process as well.

I hope this helps.

Questions, comments, concerns and criticisms always welcome,

John

Comments

• Anonymous
  June 26, 2012
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  June 26, 2012
  You could use Process Explorer to see what is happening.  Also check out Mark Russinovich's blog.

• Anonymous
  February 26, 2013
  It really worked.  I am so glad I thought I had to unistall onenote.  Thank you very much.

• Anonymous
  January 23, 2014
  Awesome post. thanks a lot :)

• Anonymous
  January 29, 2014
  Thank YOU!!!!!

• Anonymous
  June 26, 2014
  Awesome! I struggled (surfed on net) hard for hours, tried with registry keys, but no luck. This is a simple great solution. THANKKKK YOU!!

• Anonymous
  July 06, 2014
  Thank you. It worked.

• Anonymous
  July 15, 2014
  Dear all,       We are facing a issue with the Windows Embedded Standard 7(SP1).When tried to access the sharepoint library through Internet explorer 8 we are not able to access it.Please refer to the Error below.         "Your client does not support opening this list with Windows Explorer" Awaiting  your resolution asap Regards, Surya

• Anonymous
  July 15, 2014
  I'm not really sure - maybe SharePoint would be better to ask.  social.technet.microsoft.com/.../home Or try this: mcgeeky.blogspot.com/.../your-client-does-not-support-opening.html

• Anonymous
  October 12, 2014
  Configured WebClient service on 2008 R2, running under Local Service, but it gets disabled on logoff????? any suggestions

• Anonymous
  November 26, 2014
  User opens the Open Text Webclient and tries to run, that is when the error Webclient service is not installed.

• Anonymous
  May 07, 2015
  You made it so easy.  Thanks for all your time and effort for all of us!

• Anonymous
  November 04, 2015
  Thank you John, these are the best and easiest instructions to follow.  They have helped me now 3 years after you originally posted!  Much appreciated.