[windows] IIS w3svc error

I am trying to start my website in IIS, whenever I try to start my website I get the following error

Cannot start service w3svc on computer

I tried to start "World wide web publishing service", but I was unable to start it as it said:

Error 1068: The dependency service or group failed to start

Meanwhile when I checked my log I found this error,

The World Wide Web Publishing Service service depends on the HTTP service which failed to start because of the following error:
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

Please help me, I am badly caught with this error, I have spent a week researching this error but haven't found a solution yet.

In my case, IIS suddenly stoped working, and after that Windows process activation service was unable to restart.

The solution to fix this was:

1. Find WAS service in the services tab of windows task manager
2. In context menu choose Go to process
3. Kill process (its name will be svchost.exe)
4. Restart Windows process activation service

Hope it will be usefull.

I know this post is old but I was getting this error. It turns out World Wide Web Publishing Service was disabled.

1. Click Start, type Services in the Search box, and then click Services.
2. Scroll until you find the World Wide Web Publishing Service that is stopped or disabled.
3. right-click the service, and then click Properties.
4. Click the Startup type list, and then click Automatic.
5. Click Apply, and then click OK.

In my case it was C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config\applicationHost.config which had an issue. I had a "system.web" section in this file which was causing the problem. Removed the section and everything started working

Make sure these 2 services running and their startup type is automatic.If they disabled and not running right click on them and go to properties and change from there.

1. Windows process activation service
2. Worldwide web publishing service.

As for me - I just restarted the computer.

I managed to solve after:

1. Ctrl+Shift+Esc = To open Task Manager
2. In the "Processes" tab locate the "IIS Worker Process" and finish it!
3. Run on cmd as an administrator. Type iisreset.

Ready! Be happy!

For me the solution was easy, there was no room left on drive C, once deleted some old files i was able to perform IISReset and all the services started successfully.

I have got same issue on my server. Follow below steps -

1. Open command prompt (run as administrator)
2. type IISReset and enter.

It works and solved my problem.

Run cmd as administrator. Type iisreset. That's it.

Go to Task Manager --> Processes and manually stop the W3SVC process. After doing this the process should start normally when restarting IIS

This is probably a rarer case, but...

If you are using a custom AppPool Identity configuration be sure to check the AppPool is running. It may be turned off because credentials are invalid (usually due to an expired password). Update your credentials and start the AppPool.

I have had this problem after a windows update. Windows Process Activation Service is dependent service for W3SVC. First, make sure that Windows Process Activation Service is running. In my case, it was not running and when I tried to run it manually, I got below error.

Windows Process Activation Service Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified

The issue seems to be, that windows adds an incorrect parameter to the WAS service startup parameters. I fixed the issue using the following steps:

• Start regedit (just type it into start) Navigate to

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WAS\Parameters

• Delete the NanoSetup variable. This variable is preventing WAS from starting

• Start the WAS service using task manager

• Now start the W3SVC service

• You can now start your website in IIS again

I found above WPA service solution in this stack overflow thread.

None of the answers above helped me.

It turns out my Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service was disabled. I changed its startup to manual, started the service, and then IISRESET worked.

I also verified that the following dependent services were started in Services ([windows]+[r] services.msc):

• World Wide Web Publishing Service
• Windows Process Activation Service
• Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
• DCOM Server Process Launcher
• RPC Endpoint Mapper
• Net.Msmq Listener Adapter
• Net.Pipe Listener Adapter
• Net.Tcp Listener Adapter
• Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service

I found this solution by going through all dependencies and child dependencies of the World Wide Web Publishing Service and making sure that each service was enabled and started.

To verify all services for yourself, do the following:

1. Open up Services (just search for it from the start menu in Windows 10)
2. Find the World Wide Web Publishing Service
3. Right click on the service and then click "Properties"
4. Click on the Dependencies tab
5. Go through each system component in the two boxes and verify that each service is started (in Services).
6. Repeat steps 3-5 for each of the dependencies' dependencies until you run out of child dependencies

Service Properties - Dependencies Tab