Starting and Stopping Microsoft Locator
The RPC run-time libraries automatically start Microsoft Locator when necessary. You can manually stop and start the Locator if, for example, you need to clear the database while debugging a distributed application.
To stop and start Microsoft Locator
From Control Panel, click the Services icon.
The Services dialog box appears.
In the Service dialog box, select Microsoft Locator and then click Start or Stop.
You can also start and stop Microsoft Locator from the command line by typing:
net [start/stop] rpclocator
Only an administrator can start Microsoft Locator once it is stopped. If stopped, it will be restarted as necessary by the RPC run-time libraries.