Remove Network Load Balancing Startup Error on Windows 2003 Server

A default installation of Windows 2003 Server, including Small Business Server, will have the Network Load Balancing Service enabled. This will cause the Service Control Manager to display an Application popup before login: "At least one service or driver failed during system startup. Use Event Viewer to examine the event log for details". In the Event Viewer a Service Control Manager Event ID: 7000 will be displayed with the following details:

Description:
The Network Load Balancing service failed to start due to the following error:
The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it.

A supposed fix for this is to view the properties of the network connections on the server and remove the check for the Network Load Balancing Service in the list of Services. I have yet to see this fix work.

The fix that I have found and use on my productions servers requires a quick registry change. Please note that changing the Windows registry can have disastrous results if you make the wrong changes. If you are not sure about the changes you are making, contact qualified professionals like New Age Digital to assist you!

1. Start Registry Editor. Click Start, Run, type "regedit" in the Open box, and click OK.
2. Drill down to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WLBS registry key.
3. Right click the WLBS registry key and click Export. Save the file with a descriptive filename to a secure location. This will backup the registry key and allow you to restore the key if you make a mistake or decide to use Network Load Balancing in the future.
4. In the right window pane, right click registry entry named Group, and then click Modify.
5. Clear the Value data. Simply delete the PNP_TDI and leave the field blank. Click on OK, and close the Registry Editor.
6. On reboot the Error message will no longer be displayed.

If you wish to enable Network Load Balancing, browse to the backup of the registry key and double click it. Windows will ask you to confirm importing the data into the registry. Approve the import and reboot. Note that any registry key restore will overwrite existing registry values. Any changes made to the other values under the WLBS key will be overwritten as well.