Restore Missing BITS Service in Windows 10/11

The Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) service transfers files in the background using idle network bandwidth. If the service is disabled, then any applications that depend on BITS, such as Windows Update, will be unable to automatically download programs and other information.

If the BITS service is missing in the Services MMC console in Windows 10/11, use the registry fix in this article to restore it.

How to Restore Missing BITS Service in Windows 10/11

To restore the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) service in Windows 10/11 computer, follow these steps:

  1. Download bits_service.zip and extract the contents to a folder.
  2. Double-click the appropriate registry file applicable to your OS (Windows 10 or 11) and Build/Version.
  3. Click Yes to apply the settings to the registry.
  4. Restart Windows for the BITS service to get registered correctly.

(Note that the registry files have been extracted from computers running Windows 11 Version 21H2 & 22H2 and Windows 10 Version 21H2 & 22H2.)

*Important*: If the Windows Update services are deleted at every restart, your system could be infected. See the article Windows Update services are deleted at every restart for more information.

The BITS service registry key is located at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BITS

By default, the Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) service is set to Manual start.

I hope the above registry fix has restored the missing BITS service to the Services console in your Windows 10/11 device.

See also:  [Fix] Missing Windows Update (wuauserv) Service in Windows 10/11

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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

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4 thoughts on “Restore Missing BITS Service in Windows 10/11”

  2. I followed this whole thing and it appeared in the registry editor, and then I restarted and it appeared in the services.msc program. It wasn’t running though, and when i right clicked and pressed start, it said “Windows could not start the Background Intelligent Transfer Service service on Local Computer.

    Error 2: The system cannot find the file specified.”

    Then, when I look in the registry editor, the “bits” file that i added from this tutorial before restarting is gone

    Reply

    • If BITS is getting deleted after every restart, your computer might be infected. Please post a question at Microsoft Answers and post the link here.

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