{"id":4035,"date":"2026-10-13T11:47:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T08:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/?post_type=support_article&#038;p=4035"},"modified":"2026-10-13T11:47:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T08:47:50","slug":"withsecure-product-installation-fails-due-to-error-f-secure-hoster-restricted-failed-to-start","status":"publish","type":"support_article","link":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/support-articles\/withsecure-product-installation-fails-due-to-error-f-secure-hoster-restricted-failed-to-start\/","title":{"rendered":"WithSecure product installation fails due to error: &#8220;F-Secure Hoster (Restricted) failed to start&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Issue:<\/h3>\n<p>This articles applies to the following WithSecure products: Client Security, Server Security, Elements EPP for Computers, Elements EPP for Servers<\/p>\n<p>The WithSecure installation fails and I see windows system event log shows error message: &quot;Error 1920. Service &#39;F-Secure Hoster (Restricted)&#39; (fsnethoster) failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.&quot;\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Resolution:<\/h3>\n<p>The error message might indicate that there are missing permissions in the root-directory where the WithSecure product is trying to be installed or is installed.<\/p>\n<p>We recommend download and run the WithSecure Uninstallation Tool, then delete the entire C:\\Program Files (x86)\\F-Secure folder, reboot the, and retry the installation. Uninstallation Tool can be downloaded from here: <a href=\"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/support-tools\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/support-tools\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>If running the uninstallation tool and restarting the computer did not fix the issue:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You will have to verify that the default permission set. If you are using the default installation path (C:\\Program Files (x86)\\F-Secure), verify that the Program Files (x86) directory has permissions set for the following: NT AUTHORITY\\NETWORK SERVICE.<\/li>\n<li>In doubt, reset the permission on that specific directory back to defaults and retry the installation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Other possible solutions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check if Windows is fully updated<\/li>\n<li>Check or reinstall .NET Framework 4.7.x<\/li>\n<li>Check or reinstall Universal CRT<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Potential Workaround:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Rename following files to anything else (e.g. vcruntime140_old.dll):<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>On 64 bit Windows:\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>\n<pre class=\"ckeditor_codeblock\">C:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\vcruntime140.dll\nC:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\msvcp140.dll<\/pre>\n<p><i>\u200b<\/i>On 32 bit Windows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<pre class=\"ckeditor_codeblock\">C:\\Windows\\System32\\vcruntime140.dll\nC:\\Windows\\System32\\msvcp140.dll<\/pre>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><i>\u200b\u200b<\/i>Restart the host<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If the steps above still causing error message &quot;fsnethoster does not have sufficient privileges&quot;, there is a possibility that registry key HKEY_USERS\\S-1-5-20 doesn&#39;t have the required permission for NETWORK SERVICE and fsnethoster is unable to create an entry there. For this follow the steps below to try fix the issue:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Click\u00a0<b>Start<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Type\u00a0<b>regedit<\/b>, and press\u00a0<b>Enter<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Navigate to and select registry key\u00a0<b>HKEY_USERS\\S-1-5-20<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Select\u00a0<b>Edit<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Select\u00a0<b>Permissions<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Click\u00a0<b>Add&#8230;<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Type\u00a0<b>NETWORK SERVICE<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Click\u00a0<b>Check Names\u00a0<\/b>(the name should get underlined)<\/li>\n<li>Click\u00a0<b>OK<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Check\u00a0<b>Allow\u00a0<\/b>checkbox for Full Control (also Read permission should be automatically allowed)<\/li>\n<li>Click\u00a0<b>Apply<\/b><\/li>\n<li>Click<b>\u00a0OK<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Error message: Error 1920. Service &#8216;F-Secure Hoster (Restricted)&#8217; (fsnethoster) failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","support_article_product":[104],"class_list":["post-4035","support_article","type-support_article","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"source_foreign_id":"000011440","source_version":3,"source_system":"salesforce","source_date_updated":"2026-10-13 08:47:50","import_hash":"cbe1ef0f32e83738a2a6b157aa73b42fa9ce6269","vanilla_article_id":29385,"vanilla_url":"https:\/\/community.withsecure.com\/en\/kb\/articles\/29385-withsecure-product-installation-fails-due-to-error-f-secure-hoster-restricted-failed-to-start","vanilla_kb_id":30,"vanilla_category_id":106,"machine_translated":false,"reactions_helpful_yes":0,"reactions_helpful_no":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/support_article\/4035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/support_article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/support_article"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"support_article_product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/support.withsecure.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/support_article_product?post=4035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}