Workaround Host process does not start

If the Host process fails to load even though it has been configured to do so by default using the  "Load Host at Windows startup (run as service)" setting then you may wish to take advantage of a new feature available in version 11.12.

When a Host was running on Windows 7 or 8, Server 2008 or 2012, and under certain conditions, it was reported that the Host module failed to launch as configured. Occasionally an error would appear after a logon that reads, "The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000142). Click OK to close the application." For a short while during Windows user session initialization, no interactive applications are allowed to start. Factors that could complicate the timing of the process launch after logging in to Windows include Windows group policies, logon scripts, autologon configuration, or other third-party software.

As a result, the Netop Host version 11.12 offers a new option to delay the start-up of the Host process after Windows logon. The new setting option is available in the inetop.ini file located in C:\Windows. Open this file in Notepad to edit it. Look for the heading [Service] if it does not exist, add it to the end of the file on a new line, and on the next line add the value DelayLoad=1000. Your entry should look like this.

[Service]
DelayLoad=1000

Save the netopo.ini file in its original location and restart the Netopo Helper Server to apply the setting. This setting creates a delay of 1000 milliseconds before the Host process is loaded. If the problem persists after a Windows reboot you may need to increase the value by increments of 1000 to find the optimum setting for your environment.  The default value is 0 and the maximum value is 30000.

This feature is designed to overcome occurrences of application start errors on nhstw32.exe, the Host process and it may also help with ctfmon.exe, a Windows process.