What are startup types of a service on the Windows 7 Services console? What's the difference between "Automatic" and "Automatic (Delayed Start)"?

The "Startup type" setting of a service specifies how the system will start this service.

Windows 7 supports 4 options for the "Startup type" setting:

• Automatic - Specifies that this service will be started automatically and immediately when the operating system starts.
• Automatic (Delayed Start) - Specifies that this service will be started automatically sometime time later after the operating system has completely started.
• Manual - Specifies that this service will not be started by the operating system. It will be started by other programs when it is needed.
• Disabled - Specifies that this service is disabled. It will never be started.

The difference between "Automatic" and "Automatic (Delayed Start)" is that "Automatic (Delayed Start)" will make the system starts faster, because those services will be included as part of the system startup process.

You can check the "Startup type" setting of a service on the General tab of the Properties screen on the Services console.

Picture below shows you the 4 options of the "Startup type" setting:

⇒ Disable/Enable Services on Windows 7 Service Console

⇐ Start/Stop Services on Windows 7 Service Console

⇑ Services Console on Windows 7

⇑⇑ Windows 7 Services Tutorials