[fixed] Failed to connect to Windows Service

I installed Bitdefender Total Security 2017 successfully.

After restart I received a message that says "Failed to connect to Windows Service. Windows couldn't connect to the System Event Notification Service service. The problem prevents standard users from logging on to the system"

My laptop is running Windows 7-32 bit. The whole laptop is not not working well and all of my windows icons are "greyed" after the installation so I had to uninstall.

Anybody knows what the problem?

Sorin G. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The situation is known and we are currently working on a fix.

A temporary workaround is to disable the Bitdefender Device Manager from Services.msc

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2495-services-start-disable.html

Note that it will not affect the security of your machine.

Thank you for your patience.

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Comments

THX1138

Same issue: I get the same popup message. Additionally, BD says "Your device is at risk" so I go to see the security issue and it says the firewall is disabled. I precede to fix it, clicking on the fix button, but it says it failed.

These two issues, the firewall and "Failed to connect to Windows Service" message appeared today during some update.

Sorin G.

Hello,

/index.php?/profile/208111-thx1138/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="208111" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/208111-thx1138/" id="ips_uid_4272_6" style="" rel="">@THX1138 Please contact our support team via bitsy@bitdefender.com with the logs from the Bitdefender Support Tool.

https://www.bitdefender.com/support/How-to-generate-a-support-log--1168.html

Mmoussa has already submitted a log and our support team is investigating. These two occurrences might not be related.

Georgia

Hi,

Please make the registry adjustment recommended in this Microsoft article (applies to Windows 7 as well):

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/922918/

Then restart the computer and check if this message is gone: "Windows could not connect to the System Event Notification Service service. This problem prevents standard users from logging on to the system. As an administrative user, you can review the System Event Log for details about why the service didn't respond." And also if Bitdefender firewall remains active.

Georgia

feefifofum

10 hours ago, Georgia said:

Hi,

Please make the registry adjustment recommended in this Microsoft article (applies to Windows 7 as well):

https://support.microsoft.com/kb/922918/

Then restart the computer and check if this message is gone: "Windows could not connect to the System Event Notification Service service. This problem prevents standard users from logging on to the system. As an administrative user, you can review the System Event Log for details about why the service didn't respond." And also if Bitdefender firewall remains active.

Georgia

People really shouldn't need to go to these lengths. I had the same issue after installing Bitdefender 4 days ago. It is quite clearly an issue with the Bitdefender product ! Luckily for me i had system image back up from before i installed your product so i just removed your piece of crap and my laptop works fine. Bye bye BD, hello Kapersky or any other decent security software.

mmoussa

/index.php?/profile/34114-georgia/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="34114" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/34114-georgia/" rel="">@Georgia Thank you for your help.

I did the registry adjustment recommended in Microsoft article but that was not enough. After restart the problem was still there but I was able to partially fix it.

Here are the steps I did:

1- Adjust the registry as recommended by Microsoft.

2- Full shutdown of the system and restart, (the problem is still there)

3- Very Important: Open BitDefender Control Panel and wait until it updates, Go to Notifications and restart the system as instructed by BD.

The system should start normally but I still have one problem: I couldn't reconnect to my network drives nor to wireless devices.

Any solution?

Georgia

/index.php?/profile/22428-mmoussa/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="22428" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/22428-mmoussa/" rel="">@mmoussa Bring up Bitdefender and click on VIEW MODULES, then click on FIREWALL. Choose the "Adapters" tab and locate the network you're connected to. At "Network Type" select "Home/Office" > at "Stealth Mode" select "Off" > at "Generic" select "On".

Now check if you can connect to your network drives and devices.

If there is any recurrence, please continue with the steps from this article: https://www.bitdefender.com/support/-1792.html (if the adapter is set to Home/Office you need to add the exception for Home/Office networks as well, not for Trusted networks).

I will also e-mail you these steps via your existing ticket ID 2017040813350004 to make sure you receive them on time.

Let me know how it went.

/index.php?/profile/208812-feefifofum/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="208812" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/208812-feefifofum/" rel="">@feefifofum Hope that you have a great experience with the other antivirus program and that you will reconsider Bitdefender products in the future. If you change your mind and decide to give us another chance please post back and we will gladly assist you.

mmoussa

@Georgia, Thank you. All working fine now

SplittingDis

Hi,

I also have this problem and I carried out all of Mmoussa & Georgia's recommendations but was still getting the same error.

However, I finally fixed it by running "services.msc" and setting the "Bitdefender Device Management Service" "Startup Type" to "Disabled" in the "General" tab of its "Properties" (Properties can be accessed by Right Clicking the service name), and rebooting.

I may be wrong but I think that the "Bitdefender Device Management Service" is a very recent addition - and it would seem to be at least part the problem.

I have left it "Disabled" and would like to know if that will be a problem?

Could Georgia please advise if BD also find "Bitdefender Device Management Service" to be the problem, and when we might expect a fix?

Many Thanks.

Sorin G.

Hello,

Open a command prompt with Administrator rights and type the following command : netsh winsock reset

Reboot the machine afterwards and you should no longer encounter the reported issue.

SplittingDis

Hi Sorin G,

Thanks for the response.

I ran "netsh winsock reset" from a command prompt with Admin rights as you suggested, then rebooted and amended "Bitdefender Device Management Service" to start automatically. Unfortunately, when I rebooted again the original problem reoccurred.

So I have returned "Bitdefender Device Management Service" to disabled, and (as before) the problem disappears.

I understand that this may stop some product features from functioning properly, but given that the "Bitdefender Device Management Service" is a new service, am I right in assuming that I am not compromising my system's security by leaving it disabled while BD work on a fix?

Thanks.

--------------------

I forgot to mention that the other symptom is significantly increased Windows boot & Shut Down times.

Thanks.

Sorin G.

Hello,

A EFX update was released today addressing the product's stability. Please let me know if you still encounter this issue, of course after resetting the winsock.

Build : 21.0.25.84

THX1138

Sorry for the late response, but I fixed my issue a few weeks ago by uninstalling Bitdefender, restarting computer, and making sure there were no traces of it (registry, etc). Then I did a fresh install and I haven't run into the issue since.

bruce

This is EXACTLY the same problem I am having on Win 7 64 bit, yet my support ticket has gone ignored the last few days. I told them the Bitdefender Device Management Service was hanging on startup and causing long start up times, with the same error message (also causes background colors to get changed as well). Resetting winsock and reinstalling Bitdefender doesn't help in my case, as I'm still experiencing the problem. I also tried modifying the ServicePipeTimeout to 60000 per the suggested Microsoft workaround, but that didn't fix it, either. Please let the devs know that there are still users being affected by this bug....

Sorin G.

Hello,

/index.php?/profile/209083-bruce/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="209083" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/209083-bruce/" style="" rel="">@bruce Rest assured that your ticket was not ignored.

We are currently investigating the matter.

SplittingDis

Hi Sorin G.

Regarding your reply below:

On 02/05/2017 at 5:52 PM, Sorin G. said:

Hello,

A EFX update was released today addressing the product's stability. Please let me know if you still encounter this issue, of course after resetting the winsock.

Build : 21.0.25.84

As per you instructions, I've updated BD, reset winsock, and reset BDMS to start automatically again.

But the problem is still there, the original error message still appears, and I still have slow boot, and close down.

My symptoms are the same as Bruce describes in the previous post except that I do not get the changed background colours.

As Bruce, I am also on Win 7 64bit.

I think we can be pretty certain that Winsock resets, and/or service pipe timeouts are not the answer . It certainly looks like a a problem with BDMS (Bitdefender Device Management Service) interacting with something in an unexpected way and causing this issue.

I have no problem accepting that 'stuff happens' even to the best of applications, but I think some guidance from BD staff regarding temporary mitigation would be useful.

So with that in mind, please can BD confirm that using "services.msc" to manually disable BDMS until a proper fix can be implemented, is OK and confirm that it will not compromise any of the protections that BD provides.

Many Thanks.

dualdecks

So grateful to find others with the same issue! Moved from Avast to BD today mainly for better spam control in outlook 2016, Win 7 x64.

Dropped $60 on BD suite 2017, uninstalled all other AV, fresh installed BD and outlook crashes on open. Restarts with plugin disabled.

Spoke to support who asked me to run a repair of BD.

On restart Aero is disabled, PC takes forever to boot and become usable even with an i7 and 32GB of ram.

Error pops up stating windows is unable to connect to the system event notification service service.

Manual restart of the themes service to restore Aero works until reboot, performance is super slow.

Back to support, logs etc. emailed with screenshots - I'm waiting on an email/update.

Tried winsock reset, another couple of solutions on youtube - nada.

Outlook still crashing if plugin is enabled.

So far it's been 8 hours of pain!

kleinekate

Same issue here, along with the connection not private one.

The latest update has fixed it-ish, but if I connect a USB device while I'm logged in, the next reboot has me right back at the "Failed to connect". The only difference for me is that I have never lost my wallpaper, just very very slow boot then grey task bar and painfully slow performance.

I've tried the hotfix and resetting winsock numerous times as well as a system restore and a full unistall/reinstall of the software so similarly to SplittingDis I'm convinced it's something in BD2017.

I too submitted a support request (through the software) and have heard absolutely nothing back, not even confirmation it was received.

dualdecks

On 5/4/2017 at 1:40 PM, SplittingDis said:

It certainly looks like a a problem with BDMS (Bitdefender Device Management Service) interacting with something in an unexpected way and causing this issue.

So with that in mind, please can BD confirm that using "services.msc" to manually disable BDMS until a proper fix can be implemented, is OK and confirm that it will not compromise any of the protections that BD provides.

Out of pure frustration I tried this - disabled BDMS and restarted.

Aero back to normal.

Incredibly long boot time - 10 minutes maybe.

On opening Outlook 2016 I get a Microsoft splash screen with an error saying there's an issue and I need to run a repair on Office 2016. No Office programs will open.

I'm backing up 30GB of emails before I do anything else.

I will try and restart the BDMS and see if that fixes the Office 2016 issue before running any repairs.

I'm ready to ask for a refund.

An update to previous post -

Re-enabled BDMS, restarted. Over 15 mins to boot into usable state.

Aero is again broken.

Error pop-up is back - 'Windows could not connect to the System Event Notification Service service.'

Started Word 2016, 3 mins 26 seconds to open and launch new blank document, program became non-responsive - but eventually loaded.

Started Outlook 2016, 2 mins 15 seconds to open. Tried enabling BD plugin. Crashed Outlook. Restarted with plugin disabled.

So to compare - disabling BDMS broke Office 2016 and made it want to repair itself.

Another update -

Used BD removal tool to completely remove software. Reboot.

Windows loads faster, Aero works, no System Event Service error.

Fresh install BD.

BD updates for the first time.

Reboot.

Load time from boot to windows log-in - 5 mins, 20 seconds.

Log-in to usable state - 8 mins, 25 seconds.

Aero is again broken.

System Event Notification Service error is again present.

Outlook crashes on open, restarts with plugin disabled.

Just ridiculous. No option but to uninstall, will start the refund process.

SplittingDis

Sorin G.

Do I need to raise a ticket for this issue, or just wait for a fix to be announced on this thread?

Many Thanks.

Sorin G.

Hello,

The fix will be delivered as usual via automatic updates.

bruce

Why can't affected Bitdefender users have an option to fall back to an older, stable version, before all the new features/updates were introduced that "broke" our primary systems? Instead, everyone is forced to update to the latest version that hasn't been thoroughly tested on different operating systems/configurations, and just have to wait for a solution. I would rather have a slightly older engine with all the current virus definitions, if that meant a fully functioning pc, while all the bugs are being resolved.

Beej

I got the dreaded "Failed to connect to windows services" message as well.. I should have known better because I spent hours and hours trying every idea out there on the net to fix the problem and after experience I should have known to look at Bitdefender FIRST. I wonder how many other Bitdefender users out there that are having the same problem and have no idea that it is their antivirus system that is the cause of their misery... Maybe Bitdefender should not be patting themselves publicly on their back about the randsomeware and put out a message to their clients that if they are having this problem then there is a high probability that it is because of Bitdefender.

Would be great if they get this fixed sooner rather than I suspect but later.. Not such a quick fix but for now boot your machine, disable the antivirus for 15 minutes and reboot which with Bitdender will take about 15 minutes then when rebooted without the error message just restart the anitvirus. Pain in the butt I know but only solution I can find other than finding another antivirus..

peon

I'm shocked about this desaster!

Yesterday I installed Bitdefender Total Security 2017 on three Windows 7 machines.

Result:

- Computer 1 can't log into Windows anymore ("failed to connect to windows service..."), three hard reboots 'solved' the problem (for the moment, at least)

- Computer 2 lost his Microsoft Office license... Office had to be reinstalled after installing Bitdefender

- Computer 3 also can't log into Windows anymore. Rebooting didn't help so I had to remove Bitdefender via Safe Mode

So this "genius" product managed it to cripple 3 out of 3 computers and made working impossible to me and others for a significant time period.

Afterward I come to this forum and read that the problem is known for weeks! Let me ask you one question: why in the name of god do you continue shipping this defective software trough the "Bitdefender Central" if you have known for weeks that it will cripple your customers?

And why has the problem not been solved yet? How many more paying customers will have to walk right into the trap because you continue shipping your defective software? It's outrageous!

Voluntarily installing the WannaCry Trojan and pay 300$ in ransom is probably cheaper that having all of your computers crippled by BitDefender.

SplittingDis

On 09/05/2017 at 0:15 PM, Sorin G. said:

Hello,

/index.php?/profile/197676-splittingdis/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="197676" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/197676-splittingdis/" rel="">@SplittingDis No need for a ticket, we are currently working on this issue and will update the thread when we release a fix.

The fix will be delivered as usual via automatic updates.

Hi Sorin G.

10 days have passed since that message and I was wondering if you could provide an update?

It would also be useful for users if you could provided a confirmation (or otherwise) that stopping the Bitdefender Device Management Service does not affect any of the protections afforded by BitDefender.

Regards.

Evenserv

I've been watching this thread for a while, but haven't gotten around to posting. I'm faced with the same issue as most others here. I'm also on Windows 7 64-bit.

For me, in hindsight, there was another symptom I experienced before this occurred. My PC is usually running 24/7. I only reboot for updates etc when the PC was free.

On the 3rd of April, I discovered I was no longer able to access the Computer Management Console, or at least the Event Viewer. I googled for a solution and found a quick fix. Install Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 Redistributable. After that everything worked fine for a while.

Then my PC unexpectedly lost power due to a power cut. When I powered it back up, I was greeted with that dreadful message. Only, I couldn't even log in, as my primary user account is a "Standard User". I only use the administrator account with for elevated permissions.

I tried logging into the Administrator account, and even that wasn't working right. No Aero, Desktop Freezing... It was effectively useless.

Next step, Safe Mode. After backing everything up for good measure, I ran a System Restore from less than 24 Hours back. After rebooting everything was up and running again... Except Bitdefender, it was completely broken and had to be reinstalled from scratch.

A day later, there was another power cut. Same problem, back to square one. Rinse and repeat at least 5 times after that.

When it happened yet again, I was ready bash my fists against the keyboard (resisted the urge fortunately). Instead of a System Restore, I tried running a Diagnostic Startup via msconfig. Rebooted, and was able to log in. Then I reverted back to Normal Startup via msconfig, and was still able to log in. Excellent, or so I thought... Bitdefender was broken again. I reinstalled it one last time, and ran into the same issue yet again.

Finally after putting myself through all of that punishment, and scouring the Bitdefender Forum to find this thread, I finally gave up.

I'm currently running AVAST Free until this issue is resolved, and my PC is working PERFECTLY.

I'd love to be able to reinstall Bitdefender again, I've been using it since 2014.

I hope the issue is resolved soon, and would appreciate it if it could be posted here once the issue is officially resolved.

Beej

On 09/05/2017 at 0:15 PM, Sorin G. said:

Hello,

/index.php?/profile/197676-splittingdis/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="197676" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/197676-splittingdis/" rel="">@SplittingDis No need for a ticket, we are currently working on this issue and will update the thread when we release a fix.

The fix will be delivered as usual via automatic updates.

11 days since you posted this.. Any chance of an update? Are we likely to see a fix say sometime this year.. Having been a customer of yours for over 13 years I am now forced to start looking at alternative providers despite the fact that I have over 400 days left. Bitdefenders handling of this incident is to say the least abysmal.

Nec

I'm also on Windows 7 64-bit, same issue as described above. While 2016 version was amazing and the reason I switched to bitdefender, I have to say the same does not seem to apply for 2017. It is unacceptable not to come up with a fixing update until now. As others have posted before me, this is clearly a bitdefender issue as stopping the related service seems to solve the problem. Please fix this properly asap.

peon

I'm astonished how calm some of you take this issue.

We are facing here a situation where people pay for a software that should protect their computers and in reality it cripples their computers.

Moreover we face a company which knows that their product is crippling the computers of their customers but continues shipping the crippling software all the same.

(I also wrote a support ticket about this and still got no reaction.)

So basically "bitdefender" is malware we paid for!

Evenserv

6 hours ago, Nec said:

I'm also on Windows 7 64-bit, same issue as described above. While 2016 version was amazing and the reason I switched to bitdefender, I have to say the same does not seem to apply for 2017. It is unacceptable not to come up with a fixing update until now. As others have posted before me, this is clearly a bitdefender issue as stopping the related service seems to solve the problem. Please fix this properly asap.

The thing is, and I neglected to mention this in my earlier post, I tried going back to the 2016 version in the hopes that it would solve the problem, but the same issue occurred.

Beej

13 hours ago, peon said:

I'm astonished how calm some of you take this issue.

We are facing here a situation where people pay for a software that should protect their computers and in reality it cripples their computers.

Moreover we face a company which knows that their product is crippling the computers of their customers but continues shipping the crippling software all the same.

(I also wrote a support ticket about this and still got no reaction.)

So basically "bitdefender" is malware we paid for!

I absolutely agree with you and given how long Bitdefender has known about this and the fact that they have not bothered to fix this problem of their causing they clearly are not that bothered about it or for that fact about us their customers.

In most likelihood it is only the most savy of PC users will have come to the conclusion that it is Bitdefender which has caused this problem and have probably spent a great deal of time and anguish trying to resolve the issue with absolutely no help, warning or sense of urgency from Bitdefender despite the fact that they know it is their PAID FOR Software which is causing the problems.

Bitdender should have firstly warned their users as soon as they became aware of the problem and then because clearly it is not a quick fix offered the 2016 version instead of their paying customers having to resort to free versions of other vendors products whilst they drag their heels in fixing this problem.

I used to recommend Bitdenfender to anyone I knew with a PC.. Thanks Bitdefender for making me look like a right idiot. I'll not be making that mistake again.

Evenserv

9 hours ago, Beej said:

I absolutely agree with you and given how long Bitdefender has known about this and the fact that they have not bothered to fix this problem of their causing they clearly are not that bothered about it or for that fact about us their customers.

In most likelihood it is only the most savy of PC users will have come to the conclusion that it is Bitdefender which has caused this problem and have probably spent a great deal of time and anguish trying to resolve the issue with absolutely no help, warning or sense of urgency from Bitdefender despite the fact that they know it is their PAID FOR Software which is causing the problems.

Bitdender should have firstly warned their users as soon as they became aware of the problem and then because clearly it is not a quick fix offered the 2016 version instead of their paying customers having to resort to free versions of other vendors products whilst they drag their heels in fixing this problem.

I used to recommend Bitdenfender to anyone I knew with a PC.. Thanks Bitdefender for making me look like a right idiot. I'll not be making that mistake again.

But going back to the 2016 version, although possible, doesn't fix the issue. The same problem occurs with the 2016 version after installation, update and reboot.

I suspect the problem is may be due to a conflict between a Windows 7 Update and Bitdefender.

If the problem doesn't get resolve soon, I'll have no choice but to find another premium Internet Security Suite. I can't keep using AVAST Free while I wait months for this issue to be resolved.

peon

Obviously the Bitdefender support is also more or less nonexistent. The support ticket I sent them three days ago stays unanswered and in this thread they are also not replying anymore.

In the meantime I found out, that the remains of Bitdefender crippled even more parts of my little network even after uninstalling this malicious piece of software they call "Total Security 2017".

It's an absolute disgrace.

Beej

On 20/05/2017 at 8:00 PM, peon said:

I'm astonished how calm some of you take this issue.

We are facing here a situation where people pay for a software that should protect their computers and in reality it cripples their computers.

Moreover we face a company which knows that their product is crippling the computers of their customers but continues shipping the crippling software all the same.

(I also wrote a support ticket about this and still got no reaction.)

So basically "bitdefender" is malware we paid for!

I used to recommend Bitdenfender to anyone I knew with a PC.. Thanks Bitdefender for making me look like a right idiot. I'll not be making that mistake again.

Beej

Oh so bitdefender have time to delete posts from justified grievances from their customers but no time to fix the shambles that they caused..

Shame on you...

peon

/index.php?/profile/209227-beej/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="209227" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/209227-beej/" rel="">@Beej

Haha, true. My post is gone too. Now they just delete our posts in order to cover up their epic failure.

Maybe it's time to start writing some mails to PC magazines an tech websites if Bitdefender wants to play this kind of game...

SplittingDis

Sorin G.

Clearly this issue is causing considerable trouble to your paying customers, and it has to be said, the fix seems to be a long time coming. It's not unreasonable to expect people who paid money for your product to start getting vocal when you seem to be at best, slow to respond, and at worse simply ignoring their perfectly justified complaints.

In order to minimize the reputational damage and keep your customers on-side BD just need to communicate a lot more effectively. I'm sure all of us would forgive the occasional dud release, as long as we're told quickly and given a workaround / mitigation measure to allow the product to function whilst a permanent solution is sought. The vast majority of people (customers) are prepared to cut you some slack if you treat them fairly and don't ignore them.

That simply has not happened in this case.

I have to say that I have asked twice if disabling the "Bitdefender Device Management Service (BDMS)" would in any way impinge on the protection BD provides but I'm yet to receive a response to that very reasonable question. For me that simple option worked - with the BDMS service prevented from starting my BD works perfectly and has no adverse effects on my system at all. Might that be the workaround / mitigation measure we seek, especially if that module turns out to be nothing to do with the actual protections BD provides.

Incidentally, and in the spirit of trying to get this problem sorted, I noticed that other posters seem to get a problem with MS Office and/or Outlook and that it seems to make discovering a workaround more problematic. It might then be relevant that I don't have MS Office or Outlook installed on my system and the simple BDMS 'hack' fixes the problem completely (I hope!).

BD, please show these PAYING CUSTOMERS (no apologies for the caps) the respect of a comprehensive response which addresses their (and my) reasonable concerns. These things can get out of hand very quickly, and with the greatest respect, so far this has not been your finest hour.

bruce

I doubt there is a simple workaround that doesn't compromise the software's security in some manner, or else an official representative would have already provided one . The latest response I received on my support ticket is that the program updates are only released once a month, plus the debugging time. I originally reported the problem on 4/30 and it took some time for the problem to get escalated to the devs. Personally, I only disable BDMS when absolutely necessary, and this was never a recommended short term "fix".

peon

Now after Bitdefeder had the nerve to start censoring this forum while they are still not replying to support tickets I demanded a refund from my software distributor.

It's self-evident that we as customers can't be expected to wait any longer for a fix for this critical issue, especially now that we all can see how dubious the company that should provide the fix acts against paying customers (censoring their complaints, not responding to support tickets)

I hope my software distributor refunds the money quickly so that I'll never have to deal with this disgraceful "bitdefender" company again. Depending on how this matter continues (in particular if there will be more censorship or any objection against the refund) I also consider informing the specialized press about this.

Sorin G.

Hello,

I understand that this issue is generating a lot of inconvenience among our customers, We deeply apologize for it and we thank you for your patience so far.

This exact issue only affects the Tools part of the product from communicating with the Central account (Device Manager), it does not pose a security risk what so ever. Keep in mind the Tools still function, however they will not report on your Activity page in Central.

Offtopic replies and passive threats as per our forum rules will be removed, There is no need to clutter the thread.

I completely understand the need to voice your dissatisfaction regarding all this, however a thread housing a issue is not the place. Please use this to send any feedback.

As previously mentioned the situation is being worked on, at this time there are no new developments. If new information is available, I will update the thread as promised.

Evenserv

5 hours ago, Sorin G. said:

This exact issue only affects the Tools part of the product from communicating with the Central account (Device Manager), it does not pose a security risk what so ever. Keep in mind the Tools still function, however they will not report on your Activity page in Central.

It also stops me from being able to log in to my computer as a Standard User, which is the account I primarily use on my computer for added security measures.

For this reason, I had no choice but to uninstall Bitdefender until the issue is resolved.

I'd really like to reinstall Bitdefender, I'm not particularly comfortable running a free version of AVAST.

Sorin G.

Hello,

/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="209355" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/" style="" rel="">@Evenserv I believe that is unrelated to the issue at hand.

Can you please start a different thread regarding this issue and provide me with more details ?

A screenshot of the error if you receive one, windows build.

CMM

I have been having the same issues -- the warning pops up that the system could not connect to Windows services. Background colors are changed and Aero is dysfunctional. This has been happening since May 9th, and I thought it was a Windows update that was causing the problem, so I disabled Windows updates and have been running a system restore back to May 9th every time I lose the Aero functions. I had no idea it was a BitDefender problem, though I began to get a clue after I ran the repair process on BitDefender and immediately lost Aero functions.

While waiting for BitDefender to figure this out, I saw a fix on a Windows forum which will work to restore the Aero functions AND, for me, it also eliminated the system pop-up message. That is to go into the Services window, stop both the Themes service and the Desktop Window Manager Session Manager, then restart them both. Both should also be set to automatic start.

Evenserv

13 hours ago, Sorin G. said:

Hello,

/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="209355" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/" rel="">@Evenserv I believe that is unrelated to the issue at hand.

Can you please start a different thread regarding this issue and provide me with more details ?

A screenshot of the error if you receive one, windows build.

/index.php?/profile/201429-sorin-g/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="201429" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/201429-sorin-g/" rel="">@Sorin G.

This is absolutely a related issue, it's just that not many people use a Standard User Account for day to day use. Bitdefender effectively bricks my machine until I remove it.

The issue I have is explained well /index.php?/profile/209437-cmm/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="209437" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/209437-cmm/" rel="">@CMM's post as well. System Restore may not have been the best approach to recovering functionality, but it was the only thing I could think to do at the time, and it did actually work for brief periods.

As for the pictures:

The first one shows what happens when I try to Log in with my Standard User Account with Bitdefender installed. I receive the following message:

"Windows could not connect to the System Event Notification Service service. Please consult your system administrator"

If I click "OK" the goes blank with a cursor, and I can't do anything except reset the machine.

The second one shows the message bubble I receive when I log in as an Administrator (The image was taken from Google since I didn't take a screenshot of mine:

"Failed to connect to a windows service - Windows could not connect to the System Event Notification Service service. This problem prevents standard users from logging on to the system. As an administrative user, you can review the System Event Log for details about why the service didn't respond"

At this point, Aero is disabled, and the machine is either frustratingly slow to respond or completely unresponsive.

Please let me know if you still feel my issue is unrelated.

After removing Bitdefender, and installing Avast Free in the interim, I no longer experience the issue.

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (Build 7601: Service Pack 1) with all of the latest Important/Critical Updates installed.

Thanks.

SplittingDis

Sorin G,

Thanks for your response and acknowledgement of your customer's patience.

The lack of progress is a little alarming, especially as simply undoing the BD update that caused all this seems, at least to us users, to be all that's required to give us back a working system! If there's more to it than that, feel free to tell us, I'm sure we'd all be genuinely interested to hear.

20 hours ago, Sorin G. said:

This exact issue only affects the Tools part of the product from communicating with the Central account (Device Manager), it does not pose a security risk what so ever. Keep in mind the Tools still function, however they will not report on your Activity page in Central.

So, and promise this is the final time I'll ask - does that mean that using "services.msc" to prevent "Bitdefender Device Management Service (BDMS)" from running will not effect any of the protections provided by BD? (I know this fix doesn't work for everyone, but it does for me, and may well do for others).

Currently, I've removed BD from my system and bought a one year license for Kaspersky Internet Security 2017. I'll treat it as a long term trial and see how long BD take to fix this issue and then decide where my money goes based how confident I feel about each product.

peon

Bitdefender censored this Thread AGAIN and once more deleted several critical posts. It's ridiculous.

Instead of fixing the issue they just keep deleting the complaints of the users.

I'm going to make this public via spec. press. People have to be warned about this shady company.

Sorin G.

Hello,

/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="209355" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/" id="ips_uid_9924_7" style="" rel="">@Evenserv So far I have been unlucky in reproducing the effect its having on your machine. Will look further into it, I have also notified the devs to look into this as well,thank you for your persistence.

/index.php?/profile/197676-splittingdis/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="197676" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/197676-splittingdis/" style="" rel="">@SplittingDis I'm sorry, didn't notice the question. Disabling the Device Manager from Services.msc will not affect the security of your machine in anyway. /index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="209355" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/" id="ips_uid_9924_8" style="" rel="">@Evenserv have you tried disabling the Device Manager from the services to see if you can access your standard account ?

Evenserv

3 hours ago, Sorin G. said:

Hello,

/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="209355" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/" rel="">@Evenserv So far I have been unlucky in reproducing the effect its having on your machine. Will look further into it, I have also notified the devs to look into this as well,thank you for your persistence.

/index.php?/profile/197676-splittingdis/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="197676" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/197676-splittingdis/" rel="">@SplittingDis I'm sorry, didn't notice the question. Disabling the Device Manager from Services.msc will not affect the security of your machine in anyway.

/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="209355" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/" rel="">@Evenserv have you tried disabling the Device Manager from the services to see if you can access your standard account ?

/index.php?/profile/201429-sorin-g/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="201429" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/201429-sorin-g/" rel="">@Sorin G. Thanks for the reply, I'll give it a shot, now that you've confirmed it's safe to do. Going to need some time to get it done, but will post back with the results.

Evenserv

/index.php?/profile/201429-sorin-g/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="201429" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/201429-sorin-g/" rel="">@Sorin G.UPDATE:

After reinstalling Bitdefender, updating it, and disabling "Bitdefender Device Management Service" in services.msc, I shut down my PC. Upon starting it up again, I was able to log in without any issues. So thanks for giving the "All Clear" to disable that particular service, and thanks to /index.php?/profile/197676-splittingdis/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="197676" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/197676-splittingdis/" rel="">@SplittingDis for the initial suggestion and your persistence in getting us a definitive answer.

There's still an issue though...

While Bitdefender appears to be working, the Windows Action Center is not convinced. See attached screenshots below.

At this point I'll have to take your word for it that Bitdefender is working as it should, but I'll feel a lot more comfortable once this issue has been properly resolved.

pdrexel

This started for me about a week ago. Lost my Aero interface and I had the "could not connect to event service" notification. After a few days of that, I uninstalled Bitdefender TS and the symptoms went away. Yesterday, I reinstalled Bitdefender and all was fine until I booted up this morning. Back to the same symptoms. So either Microsoft changed something in an update or Bitdefender changed something or both. I would bet on the former. We need a fix for this, even a temporary one. BTW, I tried the ServicesPipeTimeout, no joy.

One more odd thing. I have these issues on my HP laptop at work, but not on my tower at home. Both run Windows 7 64-bit fully updated.

Restarting Themes service brings back Aero

Sorin G.

Hello,

/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="209355" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/209355-evenserv/" rel="" style="">@Evenserv Thank you for the update, I was able to reproduce the issue on my testbeds and sent all the data to our devs.

Please also follow the steps in the article below to resolve the issue with the Action Center.

https://www.bitdefender.com/support/what-to-do-when-windows-security-center-reports-antivirus-antispyware-and-or-firewall-are-turned-off-1091.html

/index.php?/profile/202566-pdrexel/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="202566" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/202566-pdrexel/" rel="" style="">@pdrexel You can disable the Device Manager service as per /index.php?/profile/197676-splittingdis/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="197676" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/197676-splittingdis/" rel="" style="">@SplittingDis 's instructions as a temporary workaround.