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 ServiceKeyName
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 options to be set
see the build-in help: 'SC create' and 'SC config'Note 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.
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.
SC query messenger | FIND "STATE"
SC QUERY state= all |FINDSTR "DISPLAY_NAME STATE"
In the statement above the FIND command will set the ERRORLEVEL as follows
ERRORLEVEL 0 = Running
ERRORLEVEL 1 = Stopped or Paused
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 GOTO :s_not_runningThe 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”.
Examples:
SC GetKeyName "task scheduler"
SC GetDisplayName schedule
SC start schedule
SC QUERY schedule
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="" Watch out for extra spaces:
SC QUERY state= all Works
SC QUERY sTate =all Fails!