Speed Up Windows 10/11: Set Background Services to Manual (On‑Demand)

In this part of the debloat series, we’ll tune Windows services so they don’t run all the time, but still start automatically when needed. Instead of aggressively disabling everything, we’ll follow a safer approach: set most non‑critical services to Manual (on‑demand).

What “Manual” Really Means (And Why It’s Safer Than Disabled) 🔗

Windows services have several startup types:

• Automatic: Starts at boot and keeps running in the background.
• Automatic (Delayed): Starts shortly after boot instead of immediately.
• Manual / Manual (Trigger Start): Does not start at boot, but can start when an app or Windows feature actually needs it.
• Disabled: Never starts, even if something needs it, which can break features.

We’ll focus on:

• Leaving core system services like AudioSrv, Dhcp, LanmanServer, Winmgmt as Automatic (so Windows remains stable).
• Turning a large set of “nice to have” or rarely used services (e.g. AppReadiness, MapsBroker, Xbox* services) to Manual, so they only start on demand.
• Disabling a few specialized services (DiagTrack, AppVClient, UevAgentService, RemoteRegistry, etc.) that are safe to turn off on a typical home/gaming machine.

This is why these tweaks are relatively harmless: if Windows or an app truly needs a service that is set to Manual, it will simply start it when required.

How to Change Services to Manual (GUI and Command Line) 🔗

You can use both a point‑and‑click and a script‑friendly method.

Method 1 – Using the Services App 🔗

1. Press ⊞ Win + R , type services.msc, and press ↵ Enter.
2. Find the service by its name (for example: App Readiness for AppReadiness, Windows Update for wuauserv).
3. Double‑click the service.
4. In Startup type, choose Manual (or Automatic (Delayed Start) if you like that).
5. Click Apply → OK, and reboot when you’re done editing several services.

Method 2 – Using sc config (for automation) 🔗

The WPFTweaksServices preset can be translated to one‑liners like:

sc config AppReadiness start=demand
sc config DiagTrack start=disabled
sc config WSearch start=delayed-auto
sc config wuauserv start=demand

• start=demand → Manual
• start=auto → Automatic
• start=delayed-auto → Automatic (Delayed Start)
• start=disabled → Disabled

You can bundle these into a .bat or .cmd script, or apply them from PowerShell with sc.exe.

What We’ll Actually Do (Plain Language Overview) 🔗

1. Keeps core system and network running 🔗

We do not break basic Windows functionality. Critical services stay Automatic, for example:

• AudioSrv / AudioEndpointBuilder – Audio output.
• Dhcp – Automatically gets an IP address from your router.
• LanmanServer / LanmanWorkstation – File and printer sharing, network access.
• EventLog, Power, SamSs, UserManager, Winmgmt – Logging, power management, user logon, WMI, etc.

These are left on so Windows boots and behaves normally.

2. Moves “first‑run / helper” services to Manual 🔗

Many services are only needed when you install new software or use rare features. We’ll set them to Manual, for example:

• AppReadiness – Prepares apps the first time you sign in or install them.
• AppMgmt – Application Management for Group Policy deployed apps.
• PcaSvc – Program Compatibility Assistant.
• MapsBroker – Offline maps platform.
• UsoSvc – Orchestrator for Windows Update tasks (still works when needed).

Result: these services don’t sit in memory at every boot, but still launch when Windows actually needs them.

3. Tames telemetry and remote/enterprise‑style components 🔗

A few services are set to Disabled because they’re primarily telemetry or enterprise‑only:

• DiagTrack – Connected User Experiences and Telemetry.
• dmwappushservice – Telemetry push service.
• AssignedAccessManagerSvc – Assigned Access / kiosk scenarios.
• RemoteAccess, RemoteRegistry – Remote routing & registry access.
• AppVClient, UevAgentService – App‑V and UE‑V, used mostly in enterprise virtualized app setups.

For a typical home system, disabling these reduces background chatter and attack surface with little downside.

4. Puts feature‑specific services on demand 🔗

We’ll also set a lot of optional and “scenario‑only” services to Manual, for example:

• Xbox stack: XblAuthManager, XblGameSave, XboxGipSvc, XboxNetApiSvc – Only needed if you use Xbox apps/Game Pass.
• Device/connection helpers: bthserv (Bluetooth support), WMPNetworkSvc, WFDSConMgrSvc, wcncsvc (Wi‑Fi Direct), PhoneSvc.
• Backup/defrag/diagnostics: wbengine, defragsvc, diagsvc, fhsvc, VSS.

These will start when a feature calls them, and otherwise stay idle.

5. Slight optimization on heavy services 🔗

A few heavier services get softened instead of fully disabled:

• BITS is set to Automatic (Delayed Start) so it doesn’t compete with boot, but still handles background transfers.
• WSearch (Windows Search) is set to Automatic (Delayed Start) so indexing happens, just not immediately at boot.
• SysMain stays Automatic for reliability; if you are a power user, you can still choose to disable it manually if you know what you’re doing.

This keeps the steps safe for most users, while still shaving off some startup load.

When Should You Restore a Service to Automatic? 🔗

Even with a careful guide, there are edge cases. You can revert a service if you notice:

• Windows Update errors → consider returning UsoSvc or wuauserv to Automatic.
• Network profile or firewall oddities → keep NlaSvc, nsi, networking‑related services at least on Manual, not Disabled.
• Microsoft account sign‑in issues → wlidsvc (Microsoft Account Sign‑in Assistant) may need to be enabled again if you use online accounts.

All actions in one script 🔗

If you are a power user, CLI wizard, or a software developer, you can use this script (or each command of it) to set background services “manual”:

:: Core telemetry and remote access
sc config DiagTrack start=disabled
sc config dmwappushservice start=demand
sc config RemoteRegistry start=disabled

:: Put helper services on-demand
sc config AppReadiness start=demand
sc config PcaSvc start=demand
sc config MapsBroker start=delayed-auto
sc config UsoSvc start=demand
sc config WSearch start=delayed-auto

:: Optional Xbox stack
sc config XblAuthManager start=demand
sc config XblGameSave start=demand
sc config XboxGipSvc start=demand
sc config XboxNetApiSvc start=demand

We’re done disabling Unnecessary Windows 10/11 Services (Without Breaking Your PC).

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