Windows service

Windows administrators can manage services via:

• The Services snap-in (found under Administrative Tools in Windows Control Panel)
• Sc.exe
• Windows PowerShell

The Services snap-in, built upon Microsoft Management Console, can connect to the local computer or a remote computer on the network, enabling users to:{{cite web|title=Services overview|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc783643%28v=ws.10%29.aspx|work=TechNet |publisher=Microsoft|access-date=29 March 2013}}

• view a list of installed services along with service name, descriptions and configuration
• start, stop, pause or restart services{{cite web|title=Start, stop, pause, resume, or restart a service|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc736564%28v=WS.10%29.aspx|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=29 March 2013}}
• specify service parameters when applicable
• change the startup type. Acceptable startup types include:
• Automatic: The service starts at system startup.
• Automatic (Delayed): The service starts a short while after the system has finished starting up. This option was introduced in Windows Vista in an attempt to reduce the boot-to-desktop time. However, not all services support delayed start.{{cite web|title=ServiceInstaller.DelayedAutoStart Property (System.ServiceProcess)|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.serviceprocess.serviceinstaller.delayedautostart.aspx|publisher=Microsoft|postscript=See Remarks section|access-date=28 November 2017}}
• Manual: The service starts only when explicitly summoned.
• Disabled: The service is disabled. It will not run.
• change the user account context in which the service operates
• configure recovery actions that should be taken if a service fails
• inspect service dependencies, discovering which services or device drivers depend on a given service or upon which services or device drivers a given service depends
• export the list of services as a text file or as a CSV file

{{Infobox software

| name = sc

| logo =

| screenshot =

| screenshot size =

| caption =

| developer = Microsoft, ReactOS Contributors

| released =

| latest release version =

| latest release date =

| operating system = Windows, ReactOS

| genre = Command

| license = Windows: Proprietary commercial software

ReactOS: GNU General Public License

| website = {{URL|https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/cc754599(v%3dws.11)}}

}}

The command-line tool to manage Windows services is sc.exe. It is available for all versions of Windows NT.

{{cite web|title=How to create a Windows service by using Sc.exe|url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/251192 |work=Support |publisher=Microsoft |access-date=29 March 2013|date=11 September 2011}} This utility is included with Windows XP{{cite web|title=Command-line reference A-Z: SC|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490995.aspx|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=8 January 2014}} and later{{cite web|title=Command-Line Reference: Sc|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754599.aspx|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=8 January 2014|quote=Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Vista}} and also in ReactOS.

The sc command's scope of management is restricted to the local computer. However, starting with Windows Server 2003, not only can sc do all that the Services snap-in does, but it can also install and uninstall services.

The sc command duplicates some features of the net command.[https://ss64.com/nt/sc.html SC - Service Control - Windows CMD - SS64.com]

The ReactOS version was developed by Ged Murphy and is licensed under the GPL.[https://github.com/reactos/reactos/blob/master/base/applications/sc/sc.c reactos/sc.c at master · reactos/reactos · GitHub]

The following example enumerates the status for active services & drivers.[https://www.computerhope.com/sc-command.htm MS-DOS and Windows command line sc command]

C:\>sc query

The following example displays the status for the Windows Event log service.

C:\>sc query eventlog

The Microsoft.PowerShell.Management PowerShell module (included with Windows) has several cmdlets which can be used to manage Windows services:

• Get-Service{{cite web|title=Get-Service|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/library/hh849804.aspx|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=29 March 2013}}
• New-Service{{cite web|title=New-Service|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/hh849830.aspx|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=29 March 2013}}
• Restart-Service{{cite web|title=Restart-Service|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/hh849823.aspx|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=29 March 2013}}
• Resume-Service{{cite web|title=Resume-Service|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/hh849811.aspx|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=29 March 2013}}
• Set-Service{{cite web|title=Set-Service|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/hh849849.aspx|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=29 March 2013}}
• Start-Service{{cite web|title=Start-Service|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/hh849825.aspx|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=29 March 2013}}
• Stop-Service{{cite web|title=Stop-Service|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/hh849790.aspx|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=29 March 2013}}
• Suspend-Service{{cite web|title=Suspend-Service|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/library/hh849791.aspx|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=29 March 2013}}

Windows also includes components that can do a subset of what the snap-in, Sc.exe and PowerShell do. The net command can start, stop, pause or resume a Windows service.{{cite web|title=Start, stop, pause, resume, or restart a service|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc736564%28v=ws.10%29.aspx|work=TechNet|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=8 January 2014}} In Windows Vista and later, Windows Task Manager can show a list of installed services and start or stop them. MSConfig can enable or disable (see startup type description above) Windows services.

Windows services are installed and removed via *.INF setup scripts by SetupAPI; an installed service can be started immediately following its installation, and a running service can be stopped before its deinstallation.{{cite web|title=INF AddService Directive|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/windows-hardware/drivers/install/inf-addservice-directive|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=10 July 2017}}{{cite web|title=SetupInstallServicesFromInfSection function|url=https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/aa377402.aspx|work=MSDN|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=10 July 2017}}{{cite web|title=SetupInstallServicesFromInfSectionEx function|url=https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/aa377403.aspx|work=MSDN|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=10 July 2017}}

For a program to run as a Windows service, the program needs to be written to handle service start, stop, and pause messages from the Service Control Manager (SCM) through the [https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/system-services System Services API]. SCM is the Windows component responsible for managing service processes.

The Windows Resource Kit for Windows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 provides tools to control the use and registration of services: SrvAny.exe acts as a service wrapper to handle the interface expected of a service (e.g. handle service_start and respond sometime later with service_started or service_failed) and allow any executable or script to be configured as a service. Sc.exe allows new services to be installed, started, stopped and uninstalled.{{cite web|title=How To Create a User-Defined Service|url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/137890|work=Support|publisher=Microsoft|access-date=29 March 2013}}

; Windows services

• {{Section link|List of Microsoft Windows components|Services}}
• Windows Service Hardening
• svchost.exe

; Concept

• Background process
• Daemon (computing)
• DOS Protected Mode Services
• Terminate-and-stay-resident program
• Device driver
• Operating system service management
• Service Control Manager
• Service Management Facility
• Service wrapper

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite web |url=http://windowsitpro.com/windows/what-are-errorcontrol-start-and-type-values-under-services-subkeys |title=What are the ErrorControl, Start and Type values under the Services subkeys? |work=Windows IT Pro |publisher=Penton Media |date=5 March 1999 |access-date=29 March 2013 |first=John |last=Savill}}
• David B. Probert, [http://www.i.u-tokyo.ac.jp/edu/training/ss/lecture/new-documents/Lectures/11-WindowsServices/WindowsServices.ppt Windows Service Processes]

{{Wikibooks|Guide to Windows Commands}}

• [https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx Windows Sysinternals: Autoruns for Windows v13.4] – An extremely detailed query of services
• [https://www.poftut.com/service-management-windows-sc-command-line/ Service Management With Windows Sc From Command Line] – Windows Service Management Tutorial
• [https://github.com/patrikx3/service-manager-tray-for-windows/ Windows Service Manager Tray]

{{Microsoft Windows components}}

{{Windows commands}}

Category:Process (computing)