SC.exe (Resource Kit)

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          : 0x0

To 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_running

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”.

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!

"There is always room at the top" - Daniel Webster

Related Commands:

DELSRV - Delete NT service
INSTSRV - Install an NT service (run under a specific account)
NET - manage network resources
NETSVC - Command-line Service Controller (Win 2K ResKit)
PsService - View and control services
SCLIST - Display NT Services
START /HIGH - Start a specified program or command.
Svcmon - Monitor services and raise an alert if they stop. (Win 2K ResKit)
Svcacls - Service ACL Editor (Win 2K ResKit)
SUBINACL - Set service permissions
WMIC SERVICE - WMI access to services

List of Windows Services
Q251192 - Create a Windows Service using SC
Q166819 - Control Services Remotely
Q170738 - Debugging a Windows NT Service

Equivalent Linux BASH commands:

nice - Change job scheduling priority