Windows 10 has many builtin troubleshooter tools which help you to resolve many issues. Some times these tools fail to launch and you get the error A Problem Is Preventing The Troubleshooter From Starting like in the screenshot below.
In this article I will show you how to resolve this issue.
What Causes A Problem Is Preventing The Troubleshooter From Starting
The most common issue is that some windows 10 system files has become corrupted or are missing from your system. This is a common issue with Windows 10 and it can be easily fixed without having to reset or reinstall your operating system.
Usually when you get the error you can click on view error details and it will show you more details about the issue. In the example below you can see the package NetworkDiagnosticsWeb caused the error with an error code of 0x80070057. I will go through what the error codes mean below.
How Do You Fix A Problem Is Preventing The Troubleshooter From Starting?
To fix the error A Problem Is Preventing The Troubleshooter From Starting in Windows 10 follow these steps
1. Scan Drive For Errors
The first thing we need to do is scan your local drives for errors / corrupt files. To do this follow these steps
- Click On the Start menu
- Type in File Explorer and click on the application
- Now click on This PC, then right click on Local Disk (C:) and select properties
- Click on the tools tab and click on Check under error checking
- If you get a prompt from UAC click YES
- Click on scan drive,
- Your system will now be scanned for any errors. If any errors are found they will be automatically fixed
- Wait for the scan to complete
- Reboot your machine
- Try the troubleshooter tool again
2. Run a SFC Scan
An SFC scan will scan your windows 10 operating system files for errors and will replace any files it detects issues with. To run a SFC scan do the following
- Left click on the start menu
- Type in cmd and click on the command prompt application
- In the black windows that opens enter the command sfc /scannow then hit enter
- The scan will now run, expect the scan to take between 5 minutes and 30 minutes depending on how fast your machine is.
- If you see the message Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them this means the scan found issues and fixed them.
- Restart your machine.
- Try running the troubleshotter application again. If you are still getting the A Problem Is Preventing The Troubleshooter From Starting error continue to the next step
3. Check Temp Folder Location
When you run a troubleshooter scan in windows 10 it writes files to the Temp location on your machine. If this temp location is incorrectly set it will cause the troubleshooter application to error.
To check the temp folder location follow these steps
- Click On the Start menu
- Type in File Explorer and click on the application
- Now right click on My Computer or This PC and click on properties
- Click on Advanced system settings in the left hand side column, then click on environment variables under start-up and recovery
- Double click on the temp variable, to the right of variable value: confirm the path is correct and exists. To confirm you can select the text, right click on it and select copy, then open file explorer and paste the location and see if you can browse to it.
- If you did change the variable, reboot your machine then try the troubleshooter application again.
- If you still get an error continue to the next step.
4. Check Free Space On C: Drive
The troubleshooter application will also error if it does not have enough space on the C: drive. To check if you have enough free space on your C: drive do the following.
- Click On the Start menu
- Type in File Explorer and click on the application
- Now check under where it says Local Disk (C:) it should tell you how much free space your machine has. If it is less then 5GB follow the next steps to clear down some space
- Right click on Local Disk (C:) and select properties
- Click on Disk Clean-up
- Review the list of items (The items with a tick next to them will be deleted) and click ok to remove these items from your machine.
- Again run the troubleshooter application and if you still get an error continue to the next step
5. Set The Cryptographic Service To Automatic
The windows 10 Cryptographic Service is required to be started and in some cases also set to automatic for some of the troubleshooter applications to run. To set this service to automatic do the following.
- Click On the Start menu
- Type in services.msc and click on the application
- Scroll down and double click on Cryptographic Services
- In the startup type box drop it down and select Automatic or Automatic (Delayed Start), Click ok
- Reboot your machine
6. Run Windows Updates
Microsoft are releasing hotfixes for the windows 10 operating system every month. Some of these hotfixes include fixes for know issues with the troubleshooter application. So installing the latest updates might resolve the error we are getting.
To run windows updates follow these steps
- Click start > Settings
- Next click on Update & Security
- Now click Windows Updates and then click Check for updates
- Windows updates will now get downloaded and automatically installed
- When the updates have been installed reboot your machine
7. Disable User Account Control
You can disable user account control by doing the following
- Click start and type in user account control and select the application
- In the user account control settings page drag the blue slider down to never notify then click on ok
- Restart your machine
- Try the troubleshooter application again. If you are still getting an error I recommend you go back to the user account control settings page and move the slider to where it was originally
8. Disable Anti Virus
Try to disable the anti virus tempary on your machine and try to run the troubleshooter tool again.
9. Enable Troubleshooter Functions Via Group Policy
It is possible that enabling a setting in the local group policy will fix the troubleshooter error we are getting. To enable these settings do the following.
- Click start and type in gpedit.msc and click on the application
- Browse to Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Troubleshooting and Diagnostics > Scripted Diagnostics
- There will be three items in this folder, click on each one and enable them all
- Reboot your machine for the settings to apply
9. Disable Auto detect In IE
The troubleshooter applications require access to the internet to function correctly. Some times when “Automatically Detect Settings” is enabled in internet explorer is causes internet access issues for applications.
To disable Automatically Detect Settings in internet explorer follow these steps
- Open internet explorer
- click on the cog then select internet options
- On the internet options page click on the connections tab, then LAN Settings
- Untick the box “Automatically Detect Settings”
- Click ok, then click ok
- Close down internet explorer
- Try running the troubleshooter application again
10. Try Different User Account
It could be an issue with your windows 10 user account. Create another user account on your machine (Make sure to give is administrator rights) and log in with that user account and try to run the troubleshooter application again.
Conclusion
I am confident that one of the above ten fixes will resolve the error A Problem Is Preventing The Troubleshooter From Starting for you when you launch a windows 10 troubleshooter tool.
If you are still having issues you can post about it in a comment below and I will advise you what you can try. Please make sure to include as much information as possible including error codes.
I will cover how to get the error code in the next section below.
A Problem Is Preventing The Troubleshooter From Starting : Error Codes
In this section I will go over error codes you might get with the error A Problem Is Preventing The Troubleshooter From Starting.
When you run a troubleshooter application you might get an error like the one below. If you click on view error details it will show more details about the error.
In the example below I can see the error code 0x80070057
Below I will go through some of the common error codes I know of
How to fix a problem is preventing the troubleshooter from starting 0x80070490?
To fix this error first run a scan for errors on your machine, then run a SFC scan which will fix any issues with operating system files. Make sure your Temp folder location is correct and also make sure the Cryptographic Services is set to automatic.
How to fix a problem is preventing the troubleshooter from starting 0x8000ffff?
To fix this error first run a scan for errors on your machine, then run a SFC scan which will fix any issues with operating system files. Make sure your Temp folder location is correct and also make sure the Cryptographic Services is set to automatic.
How to fix internet troubleshooter error 0x80300113?
To fix this error first make sure your machine has access to the internet, then make sure the Cryptographic Services windows service is started and set to automatic. Open internet explorer and make sure the automatically detect internet settings is disabled, Also disable any firewalls you might have running.
How to fix an error occurred while troubleshooting 0x80131700?
To fix this error first run a scan for errors on your machine, then run a SFC scan which will fix any issues with operating system files. Make sure your Temp folder location is correct and also make sure the Cryptographic Services is set to automatic.
FAQ: Windows 10 Troubleshooter Tool
What is the Windows 10 Troubleshooter Tool?
The Windows Troubleshooter is a set of programs that are meant to help your Windows OS with detecting and fixing common issues that may arise while using it.
The following troubleshooter tools are built in to windows 10.
- Internet Connections : Fix issues relating to the internet
- Playing Audio : Fix issues relating to playing sound
- Printing : Fix issues with printing
- Windows Update : Fix issues downloading and installing windows updates
- Bluetooth : Fix issues relating to Bluetooth
- Incoming Connections : Fix issues relating to Incoming Connections
- Keyboard : Fix issues relating to Keyboard
- Network Adapter : Fix issues relating to Network Adapter
- Power : Fix issues relating to Power
- Program Comparability : Fix issues relating to Program Comparability
- Recording Audio : Fix issues relating to Recording Audio
- Search and Indexing : Fix issues relating to Search and Indexing
- Shared Folders : Fix issues relating to Shared Folders
- Speech : Fix issues relating to Speech
- Video Play back : Fix issues relating to Video Play back
- Windows Store Apps : Fix issues relating to Windows Store Apps
How do I run a basic Windows Troubleshooter?
To run a basic windows troubleshooter follow these steps
- Select Start
- Click Settings
- Click Update & Security
- Click Troubleshoot (Shown below in screenshot)
- Select the type of troubleshooting you want to do
- Click Run the troubleshooter
- Allow the troubleshooter to run and then answer any questions on the screen.
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