Server 2016 "Startup items are not enabled on this system"

Question

Server 2016 "Startup items are not enabled on this system"

Gareth Davies 55

I have a Server 2016 VM a dev has reported does not have the startup tab in task manager. On checking, the tab is indeed missing

User's image

I went into msconfig and see Startup is there, but it says startup items are not enabled, as shown below User's image

I searched Google, but there is nothing related to this, the search returns hundreds of reports/solutions for startup pograms not running or not displaying in msconfig but not for what I see. All services are checked in msconfig, it is set to normal startup and no boxes are checked in the boot tab C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp has 3 shortcuts listed but nothing starts automatically on boot or login. How can I enable this?

Darrell Gorter 2,731 Reputation points

2024-02-29T03:19:58.76+00:00

Hello. Can you please try cutting those shortcuts and pasting them in temp folder. Restart. This s to check there is nothing corrupted in those shortcuts Also check this folder exists, it needs to be present as well. C:\Users"username"\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Gareth Davies 55 Reputation points

2024-03-01T16:48:53.7333333+00:00

The folder is there, it is in the default user profile and in each "real" user profile.

This is a production server so rebooting it needs approval and downtime so I have not been able to test if removing the shortcuts resolves the issue yet. I did speak to the developer who wants to have scripts run at logon, he tells me he added the shortcuts AFTER he noticed the startup tab was missing and msconfig said it was disabled so I highly doubt removing the shortcuts will make any difference
Darrell Gorter 2,731 Reputation points

2024-03-01T20:32:04.48+00:00

Hello,

I would check the permissions on each of those folders to ensure they are correct. Validate the permissions against a working server.

Have you checked logging on with a different account to ensure that the issue is not user profile related for this user?