Managing the Remote Service

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows XP

This topic shows you how to start, stop, and set the startup type for the Web Deployment Agent Service.

Starting or Stopping the Web Deployment Agent Service

After installation, the service status of the Web Deployment Agent Service is Stopped and the startup type is Manual. You can start or stop it in one of the following four methods.

  1. Use the Services Microsoft Management Console. Click Start, Administrative Tools, and then Services. Right-click the Web Deployment Agent Service and select Start. To stop the service, select Stop.

  2. At the command prompt, type Services.msc and follow the steps in method 1.

  3. Use the Service Control Manager command-line tool Sc.exe. At the command prompt, type sc start msdepsvc. To stop the service, type sc stop msdepsvc.

  4. Use the Net.exe command. At the command prompt, type net start msdepsvc. To stop the service, type net stop msdepsvc.

Setting the Web Deployment Agent Service Startup Type

If you want the Web Deployment Agent Service to start automatically after a reboot, you can change the service startup type to Automatic. To do this, use one of the following three methods.

  1. Use the Services Microsoft Management Console.

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

    2. Right click the Web Deployment Agent Service and select Properties.

    3. On the General tab, set the Startup type to Automatic.

  2. At the command prompt, type Services.msc and follow the preceding steps.

  3. Use the Service Control Manager command-line tool Sc.exe. At the command prompt, type sc config msdepsvc start= auto. Notice that there is a space between the equal sign and "auto."

Locating the Web Deployment Agent Service Log File

If the Web Deployment Agent Service (MsDepSvc) fails to start, you can examine the Msdepsvc.log file to diagnose the cause. The location of this file depends on the operating system version. The following list describes these locations.

  • On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, the default location is

    %SystemDrive%\Documents and Settings\NetworkService\Local Settings\Temp\msdepsvc.log

  • On Windows Server® 2008 and Vista Ultimate, the file location is

    %SystemDrive%\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Temp\msdepsvc.log

  • If the logon identity for the MsDepSvc service has been changed, this file path will differ from the default. For example, if the service has been set to run as "userlab1" instead of Network Service, the location of the log will change to

    %SystemDrive%\users\userlab1\appdata\local\temp\msdepsvc.log

See Also

Web Deploy Remote Service

Installing the Remote Service

Using the Remote Service

Customizing and Securing the Remote Service