Enabling the WebClient service in Windows

Every so often I see a report that OneNote cannot sync to SkyDrive and see the user is getting error : "OneNote cannot sync changes in this notebook because WebDAV support is not enabled on your computer. (Error code: 0xE0000784)".  Pinki Tuscaderro (there's a reference that goes back to the 70s) reported this here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-onenote/help-i-am-having-trouble-syncing-my-notebooks-with/119e207b-7241-43e1-8648-ff075cbeecf3.  It can be a bit confusing to change Windows services if you don't do this often, so I figured I would give a step by step guide to enable this service.

The first step to fix this error is to enable the DAV service (aka "Webclient" service) in Windows. Here's how.

First, right click "My Computer" and select "Manage". You may get a pop up that asks you if you are sure you want to make changes here, so click Yes.

You will get the Windows Management console now, and it should look something like this:

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Expand the "Services and Applications" at the bottom. Select "Services" from here:

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The middle window pane will expand to list all the services installed and whether or not they are running. Scroll down to find the "WebClient" service. Double click it:

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Finally, you should see this property sheet:

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Change the Startup type here to Automatic. Go ahead and Start it too (click the Start button) if that does not automatically happen. Then save all your changes.

Now when you start Windows this will start this process as well.

I hope this helps.

Questions, comments, concerns and criticisms always welcome,

John