How to block a Service from turnig from Manual to Automatic

Megahertz · 09 Mar 2022

I have Macrium Reflect 8 on my Win 10 21h2.
It has a service - " Provides scheduling and communication services for Macrium Reflect and associated products. This is a required service that should not be disabled or turned off."
I don't use Macrium Reflect as a schedule backup so it doesn't need the service
I don't want it running every time I start the computer so I set it to Manual. Every time I run Macrium Reflect it switch back to Auto.
Is there any way to set the Macrium Reflect service so it doesn't change from Manual to Auto?
There must be a register setting to do it.

TairikuOkami · 09 Mar 2022

Take ownership of the key, allow it to be Read only, but it might lock/freeze Macrium, if it tries to change it.

Code:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MacriumServiceName

margrave55 · 09 Mar 2022

I wonder what is causing the service to be placed in Automatic mode?

It must be that some other Macrium service is doing that.
Or maybe it's an auto run process or a scheduled task.

BTW ... if you don't use Macrium for backups or imaging, what are you using it for?
I was not aware that it could do anything other than backup and imaging.

f14tomcat · 09 Mar 2022

The key here may be that the service is also used for communications, not just scheduling. The Comm part may be that it needs to check for updates, etc. Macrium states it should not be turned off or disabled. Setting it to Manual is tantamount to turning it off. Macrium just turns it back on.

How to block a Service from turnig from Manual to Automatic-2022-03-09_17h12_44.png

Megahertz · 09 Mar 2022

margrave55 said:

I wonder what is causing the service to be placed in Automatic mode?

It must be that some other Macrium service is doing that.
Or maybe it's an auto run process or a scheduled task.

BTW ... if you don't use Macrium for backups or imaging, what are you using it for?
I was not aware that it could do anything other than backup and imaging.

Every time I run Macrium Reflect it switch back to Auto.

I use it to make images of the OS. My data is backed up every week by another way.

Ghot · 09 Mar 2022

Megahertz said:

Every time I run Macrium Reflect it switch back to Auto.

I use it to make images of the OS. My data is backed up every week by another way.

In Task Manager > Startup there is an item called Reflect UI, which is set to start with Windows.
You might want to play around with that also.

But I think those that mentioned that it might break Macrium Reflect... may be correct.
A lot of backup software has Services and startup items that you have to leave running.

Megahertz · 09 Mar 2022

Ghot said:

In Task Manager > Startup there is an item called Reflect UI, which is set to start with Windows.
You might want to play around with that also.

But I think those that mentioned that it might break Macrium Reflect... may be correct.
A lot of backup software has Services and startup items that you have to leave running.

My Task Manager > Startup has nothing.

Macrium Reflect runs as it should every time I launch it even with the Service set to Manual. Also it does on the rescue drive.
This means that the service isn't necessary if you launch Macrium Reflect manually. It only makes sense for schedule tasks, that I don't use.

Ghot · 09 Mar 2022

Megahertz said:

My ask Manager > Startup has nothing.

Macrium Reflect runs as it should every time I launch it even with the Service set to Manual. Also the does on the rescue drive.
This means that the service isn't necessary if you launch Macrium Reflect manually. It only makes sense for schedule tasks, that I don't have.

I realize that turning off Services that may be useless, is a good thing.
But... it would not be fun... if one day you needed to restore from a backup...and for some reason it didn't work, or the backup itself was no good.

So, whatever you decide,,, test it a LOT and make SURE it all works as it should... if you disable that Service.

Megahertz · 09 Mar 2022

TairikuOkami said:

Take ownership of the key, allow it to be Read only, but it might lock/freeze Macrium, if it tries to change it.

Code:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MacriumService

So I did an Export of the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MacriumService (backup) and then deleted the content
The service now is never launched. If things go wrong I can load the backup.

Thanks for all