Srv service does not exist as an installed service

I am failing to turn on File and printer sharing on my Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition. Drilling down into the issue at hand I found that the following services were failing to start:

• Computer Browser
• Server

On attempting to start the Server service manually the following message was returned on Windows System log file:

The Server service depends on the following service: Srv. This service might not be installed

Querying the service status as follows:

sc query srv

Returned:

The specified service does not exist as an installed service.

I have tried the following to remedy this problem:

sfc /scannow

which returned no errors.

I have run and applied latest Windows updates. I have scanned the server for viruses and malware.

I have also run netsh advfirewall reset

None of the above attempts resolved the problem.

Copying srv.sys file from a good running server also proved to be a challenge as the server stopped responding. I had to copy back the original srv.sys file.

And the problem persists. I have run out of ideas I just need someone to point me in the right direction. The server can not be formatted since it's in a production environment.

sincerely appreciate your insights.

A service has a display name, and an actual name. In this case, "Server" is the display name, "Lanmanserver" is the actual name. You need to the actual name with SC.EXE, so try

SC.EXE query lanmanserver

SERVICE_NAME: lanmanserver
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        STATE              : 4  RUNNING
                                (STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, IGNORES_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

Also check the PATH environmental variable for invalid drives and remove them, or apply the hotfix described here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2316513

On a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, you have a volume that is referenced in the PATH system-environment variable. If the volume is inaccessible, the Lanmanserver service does not start after you restart the computer or after you stop and then restart the service manually. Additionally, event ID 7023 is logged in the System log.