Service Control - Create, Start, Stop, Query or Delete any Windows SERVICE. The command options for SC are case sensitive.
Syntax
SC [\\server] [command] [service_name] [Options]
Key
server : The machine where the service is running
service_name : The KeyName of the service, this is often but not always
the same as the DisplayName shown in Control Panel, Services.
You can get the KeyName by running:
SC GetKeyName DisplayName
commands:
query [qryOpt] Show status.
queryEx [qryOpt] Show extended info - pid, flags.
GetDisplayName Show the DisplayName.
GetKeyName Show the Service KeyName.
EnumDepend Show Dependencies.
qc Show config - dependencies, full path etc.
start START a service.
stop STOP a service
pause PAUSE a service.
continue CONTINUE a service.
create Create a service. (add it to the registry).
config permanently change the service configuration.
delete Delete a service (from the registry).
control Send a control to a service.
interrogate Send an INTERROGATE control request to a service.
Qdescription Query the description of a service.
description Change the description of a service.
Qfailure Query the actions taken by a service upon failure.
failure Change the actions taken by a service upon failure.
sdShow Display a service's security descriptor using SDDL.
SdSet Sets a service's security descriptor using SDDL.
qryOpt:
type= driver|service|all
Query specific types of service.
state= active|inactive|all
Query services in a particular state only.
bufsize= bytes
ri= resume_index_number (default=0)
group= groupname
Query services in a particular group.
Misc commands that don’t require a service name:
SC QueryLock Query the LockStatus for the ServiceManager Database.
This will show if a service request is running.
SC Lock Lock the Service Database.
SC BOOT Values are {ok | bad} Indicates whether to save
the last restart configuration as the `last-known-good`
restart configuration.
Options
The CREATE and CONFIG commands allow additional service options to be set
e.g. to disable a service: SC config "Name of Service" start= disabled
see the built-in help for more: 'SC create' and 'SC config'
The qryOpt options above are case sensitive, they must be entered in lower case, also the position of spaces and = must be exactly as shown.
Kernel device drivers are not displayed in the Windows Control Panel ➞ Services but can be displayed by SC.
The SC command duplicates some aspects of the NET command but adds the ability to create a service.
SC query will display if a service is running, giving output like this:
SERVICE_NAME : messenger TYPE : 20 WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS STATE : 4 RUNNING (STOPPABLE,NOT_PAUSABLE,ACCEPTS_SHUTDOWN) WIN32_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0) SERVICE_EXIT_CODE : 0 (0x0) CHECKPOINT : 0x0 WAIT_HINT : 0x0To retrieve specific information from SC's output, pipe into FIND or FindStr
e.g.C:\> SC query messenger | FIND "STATE" | FIND "STOPPED" C:\> SC query messenger | FIND "STATE" | FIND "RUNNING"The statements above will return an %ERRORLEVEL% = 1 if the text is not found
IF errorlevel 1 GOTO :my_subroutine
The NET START command can be used in a similar way to check if a service is running:NET START | FIND "Service name" > nul IF errorlevel 1 ECHO The service is not runningWatch out for extra spaces:
SC QUERY state= all Works
SC QUERY state =all Fails!
Start the schedule service:
SC start schedule
The service control manager will normally wait up to 30 seconds to allow a service to start, you can modify this time (30,000 milliseconds) in the registry
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
ServicesPipeTimeout (REG_DWORD)Some options only take effect at the point when the service is started e.g. the SC config command allows the executable of a service to be changed. When the service next starts up it will run the new executable. Config changes requires the current user to have “permission to configure the service”.
Like every other external command SC can be run under PowerShell instead of CMD, however there is one extra complication for SC and that is the standard PowerShell alias SC which redirects to the Set-Content cmdlet.
To avoid that, use the call operator to run SC.exe from PowerShell:
& sc.exe
SC GetKeyName "task scheduler"
SC GetDisplayName schedule
SC start schedule
SC QUERY schedule
SC CONFIG "Schedule" start= disabled
SC QUERY type= driver
SC QUERY state= all |findstr "DISPLAY_NAME STATE" >svc_installed.txt
SC \\myServer CONFIG myService obj= LocalSystem password= mypassword
SC CONFIG MyService binPath=c:\myprogram.exe obj=".\LocalSystem" password=""
Disable Windows Update (Windows 10)
SC config wuauserv start= disabled NET stop wuauserv SC config bits start= disabled NET stop bits SC config dosvc start= disabled NET stop dosvc
To re-enable Windows Update set the start= back to auto and start the services.
Enable remote registry access on computer64:
SC \\computer64 config remoteregistry start= auto SC \\computer64 start remoteregistry
“There is always room at the top” ~ Daniel Webster
DELSRV - Delete a service.
INSTSRV - Install a service (run under a specific account).
NET - manage network resources.
PsService - View and control services.
Svcmon - Monitor services and raise an alert if they stop. (Win 2K ResKit)
SUBINACL - Set service permissions.
WMIC SERVICE - WMI access to services.
Win32_Service class error return codes.
List of Windows Services
Q251192 - Create a Windows Service using SC.
Q166819 - Control Services Remotely.
Q170738 - Debug a Windows Service.
Equivalent PowerShell: Get-Service - Get a list of services / Invoke-CimMethod - start/stop services via CIM.
Equivalent bash command (Linux): nice - Change job scheduling priority.