A service is not running

The information in this article applies to:

  • Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010

  • Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 

  • SQL Server 2008

  • All servers in the deployment of Team Foundation

  • Team Foundation Server Complete Health Check

  • Team Foundation Server Framework Health Check

The Best Practices Analyzer tool for Team Foundation Server queries a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) class (Win32_Service Microsoft) to determine the values of the Started key for several Windows services. An error appears if a value for a Started key is False, which indicates that a required service is not running.

To resolve this issue, perform one or more of the following tasks (especially if other services that use the same account have not started either):

  • Install the most recent service pack for your version of Team Foundation Server.

  • Verify that the startup type for the service is set to Automatic, and restart the service. If you try to start services and your effort fails, you should check the event logs for more information about the failure. For more information, see Reset a Service to Start Automatically or Start a Service later in this topic.

  • Determine whether the password for the service account has expired. If the password has expired, reset it. For more information, see An account password has expired or is about to expire.

Required Permissions

To reset or start a service, you must be a member of the Administrators security group on the server on which the service runs.

Services that are Checked

The following table lists the services that the tool verifies are running on each server in a deployment. The Name column lists the display name for each element with its service name (if different) in parentheses. Which services you need depends on which features of Team Foundation you have installed.

Location

Name

Application-tier server

  • HTTP SSL (HTTPFilter) (checked only if the server is configured to use Secure Sockets Layer)

  • Internet Information Services Administration Service (IISADMIN)

  • Visual Studio Team Foundation Build (VSTFBUILD) (checked only if Team Foundation Build is installed)

  • Visual Studio Team Foundation Background Job Agent (TFSJobAgent)

  • World Wide Web Publishing Service (W3SVC)

Server that hosts Team Foundation Build Service

  • Build Service Host

Server that hosts the databases for Team Foundation

  • SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER or TFSINSTANCE) (MSSQLSERVER)

Server that hosts SQL Server Reporting Services

  • HTTP SSL (HTTPFilter) (checked only if the server is configured to use Secure Sockets Layer)

  • SQL Server Reporting Services (MSSQLSERVER or TFSINSTANCE) (ReportServer)

Server that hosts SQL Server Analysis Services

  • SQL Server Analysis Services

Server that hosts SharePoint Products 

  • IIS Admin Service (IISADMIN)

  • HTTP SSL (HTTPFilter) (checked only if the server is configured to use Secure Sockets Layer)

  • Windows SharePoint Services Timer (SPTimer) (Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007)

  • World Wide Web Publishing Service (W3SVC)

Manage the Team Foundation Service Account

The service account for Team Foundation Server (TFSService) is the service account for the following Windows services:

  • Visual Studio Team Foundation Background Job Agent (TFSJobAgent)

  • Windows SharePoint Services Timer (SPTimer or SPTimerV3)

The TFSService account is also the identity for the following application pools:

  • DefaultAppPool

  • SharePoint Central Administration v3

  • Team Foundation Server Application Pool

For security reasons, the TFSService account should not be an administrator on a server that is running a component of Team Foundation. If you have deployed Team Foundation Server in an Active Directory domain, you should select the Account is sensitive and cannot be delegated check box for service accounts. For more information, see the following page on the Microsoft Web site: Enabling Delegated Authentication.

To determine the service account for Team Foundation Server, you can open the Team Foundation Administrator Console, click Application Tier, and then look under the Application Tier Summary section. Or, if you have run a scan, you can view the service accounts in the detailed view of the tree report. In this report, you must expand Team Foundation Server Complete Health Check, expand Team Foundation Server, expand User Information, expand Group Membership, and then expand Team Foundation Service Accounts.

For more information, see the following page on the Microsoft Web site: Change the Service Account or Password for Team Foundation Server.

Reset a Service to Start Automatically or Start a Service

To reset the service to start automatically and start a service that is not running

  1. Log on to the server on which the service should be running.

  2. Open the Start menu, point to Administrative Tools, and click Services.

    The Services snap-in opens.

  3. Right-click the relevant service, and then click Properties.

    The properties dialog box for the service opens.

  4. On the General tab, in the Start-up type list, click Automatic.

  5. Click Apply, and then click OK.

  6. Right-click the service, and then click Start.

See Also

Other Resources

Issues That Relate to the Application Tier for Team Foundation