How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

August 21, 2010

How to start windows update

It’s observed that just stopping the service does not work in some cases and it restarts automatically. In such cases one can disable the service completely by running below command.

This article will show you how to open and use services.msc and other methods to access Windows services, like the command prompt, control panel, and computer management window. Whether you are using Windows 10, Windows 11, or older versions of Windows, this guide will walk you through the preferred methods to manage all the services running on your computer.

How to Stop and Start a Service with Net Command

So this is it! This detailed guide was about Windows services in which we learn what are they, what they do, what is their significance, and how you can stop, start, disable & enable a service as per our requirement. We also learn to change their startup behavior along with all the things. We learned many ways through which we can stop, start, disable & enable a service.

Although the system does a pretty good job managing background services, you may sometimes need to control them manually when a feature or app is not working correctly or requires you to manage its services manually.

Whatever the case may be, in this guide I will tell you everything about Windows services and how to start, stop, restart, enable & disable them. Let’s begin the journey.

Start, Stop, and Disable with Confidence

It is crucial to be cautious when modifying services, as disabling or stopping a critical service can cause system instability or even crash the operating system. In cases where you are unsure, it is recommended to consult with a professional or do thorough research before making any modifications. With the knowledge gained from this article, you can now quickly access and manage all the services running on your Windows computer.


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

What is a Windows service?

A service in Windows is essentially just another type of program. Rather than being presented to you on-screen in the form of a GUI, it runs in the background, sometimes continuously, to enable things like networking tasks, or intermittently to check for updates.

Though there are various lists of Windows services to disable, you’re likely better off looking at the ones created by third-party applications. Most have one associated with them, and some run all the time. Others are unstable and will require restarting or disabling to get your PC functioning as normal. We’re going to cover several ways you can do so, as well as restarting Windows Explorer services and others so you can continue using your OS.

How to Stop, Start, and Disable Services with ‘Sc’ in Command Prompt

The ‘sc’ command gives us a little more control over our services, but requires more specificity.

How to Stop, Disable, Start, and Restart a Service via Services. msc

Windows 10 has a dedicated program to service management, and that should always be your first point of call. With it, you can quickly perform any of the tasks listed above.

How to Stop, Start, and Restart a Service via Task Manager

Task Manager is where you’re most likely to notice misbehaving services, so it makes sense to address the problem within its interface.

August 15, 2010

We normally use Services.msc to start or stop or disable or enable any service. We can do the same from windows command line also using and utilities. Below are commands for controlling the operation of a service.

Command to stop a service:

net stop servicename

To start a service:

net start servicename

To disable a service:

sc config servicename start= disabled

To enable a service:

sc config servicename start= demand

To make a service start automatically with system boot:

sc config servicename start= auto

Note: Space is mandatory after ‘=’ in the above sc commands.

Note that the service name is not the display name of a service. Each service is given a unique identification name which can be used with net or sc commands. For example, Remote procedure call (RPC) is the display name of the service. But the service name we need to use in the above commands is RpcSs.
So to start Remote procedure call service the command is:

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net start RpcSsTo stop Remote procedure call service

net stop RpcSs

These service names are listed below for each service. The first column shows the display name of a service and the second column shows the service name that should be used in net start or net stop or sc config commands.

How to Stop, Start, Disable, and Restart Services with PowerShell

September 16, 2010

We can enable or disable system restore from Windows command line by modifying the relevant registry keys. We can also configure system restore service from command prompt using sc command.

We can disable system restore by setting the registry key DisableSR to1 under the node

Reg add “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionSystemRestore” /v DisableSR /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f

To enable System restore from command line you can run the below command:

Reg add “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionSystemRestore” /v DisableSR /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Disable System restore service from command line

We can disable system restore service from command line using the below command.

sc config srservice start= disabled

To enable system restore service from command line you can run the below command.

sc config srservice start= Auto

sc config srservice start= demand

Note that the above commands do not change the current running status of the system restore service. If the service is running currently, disabling the service won’t stop it in the current session, but when the system is restarted this service won’t be started.

To stop system restore service from command line we can run the below command.

net stop srservice

To start system restore service from command line we can run the below command.

net start srservice

How to Start, Stop, Restart, Enable & Disable Windows Services

There are a couple of ways to manage Windows Services. All of them are mentioned below.

Manage Services using Windows Services Manager or Services Console

Using the Windows Services Manager is the simplest method to stop, start, restart, disable or enable services in Windows 10 or Windows 11.

How to Stop a Service using Windows Service Manager

Once you have done these steps that particular service will be disabled.

How to Enable a Service using Windows Service Manager

After completing these steps Windows will enable the service, but if it was in a stopped state, you will need to start it manually or restart the device for the service to run.

Manage Services using Windows Powershell

After getting the list you will be able to see the Status of the Service along with their Name and Display Name. To start, stop, disable, and Enable a service you can use both Name and Display Name. The only difference is a little change in the command. Let me show you both.

First, with Name only:

Stop-Service -Name “SERVICE-NAME”

For example, if we want to stop Adobe Acrobat Update Service then the service name is AdobeARMservice and the actual command will be:

Stop-Service -Name “AdodeARMservice”

Second, with Display Name:

Stop-Service -DisplayName “SERVICE DISPLAY NAME”

For example, if we want to stop Adobe Acrobat Update Service then the display name is Adobe Acrobat Update Service and the actual command will be:

Stop-Service -DisplayName “Adobe Acrobat Update Service”

Now let’s learn how to stop, start, disable and enable windows services using Powershell.

How to Stop a Service using PowerShell

Stop-Service -Name “AdobeARMservice”

How to Start a Service using PowerShell

Start-Service -Name “AdobeARMservice”

How to Disable a Service using PowerShell

To disable a service using a PowerShell command, use these steps:

Set-Service – Name “AdobeARMservice” -Status stopped -StartupType disabled (Replace AdobeARMservice with the service name of your choice.

How to Enable a Service using PowerShell

After hitting enter service will start in the mode of your choice. As already told you can also use the service name in place of the display name and the command will change slightly.

In the above the command is Set-Service -DisplayName “Adobe Acrobat Update Service” -Status running -StartupType automatic. If we want to use the service name then the command will be:

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Set-Service -Name “AdobeARMservice” -Status running -StartupType automatic

Manage Services using Command Prompt

You can also use the command Prompt to start, stop, disable and enable a windows service. Command Prompt offers net command which is older to only start and stop the service. The newer sc command can start, stop, disable and enable the service. I will show you both commands wherever they work.

After hitting you will get the list of all the services along with their service name, display name, state(whether it is running or stopped), etc.

In the command prompt, only the service name can be used in the commands to stop, start, disable or enable a service.

Now let’s learn how to start, stop, disable or enable a service using the command prompt.

How to Stop a Service using CMD

As soon as you hit enter the service will be started.

How to Disable a Service using CMD

Your service will start in that mode from now on.

Manage Services using Task Manager

1. Press the Windows key on your keyboard or click the Start menu button in the screen’s bottom left corner.

2. Type “services.msc” in the search box and press Enter.


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

3. The services window will open, displaying all the services on your computer.

4. To start, stop, or disable a specific service, right-click on it and select the appropriate option from the context menu.

If you want to run snap-ins and tools on a remote computer to manage features, roles, and role services, we recommend adding these steps prior:

Proceed to the Typical Control Panel Steps


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

1. Right-click the Windows button in the screen’s bottom left corner and select “Computer Management.”


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

2. Click “Services and Applications” in the left-hand pane in the Computer Management window.

3. Click on “Services” to access the services window.


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

If you’re familiar with using the command line, you can use Command Prompt to manage services on Windows 10. You can use the “net” command (older) to stop or start services or the “sc” command (newer) to stop, start, disable, or enable them.

3. ( Optional) Type the command “sc queryex state=all type=service” to view a list of all services.


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

4. Type “net stop ‘SERVICE-NAME’” command to stop service. Replace ‘SERVICE-NAME’ with the service name you want to stop. If there is a space in the name, use quotation marks. For example, type “net stop ‘spooler’” to stop the printer spooler.


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

Alternatively, you can use the more advanced “sc” command: “sc stop ‘SERVICE-NAME’”. For example, type “sc stop ‘spooler’” to stop the printer spooler.

Alternatively, you can use the “sc” command: “sc start ‘SERVICE-NAME’”. For example, type “sc start ‘spooler’” to start the printer spooler.

3. Type “sc config ‘SERVICE-NAME’ start=disabled” to disable a service. Replace ‘SERVICE-NAME’ with the service name you want to disable. For example, type “sc config ‘spooler’ start=disabled” to disable the printer spooler.


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

(Optional) Type the command “sc stop ‘SERVICE-NAME’” to stop the service.

Note that disabling a service does not stop its current state. You must restart your computer or stop the service using the above command.


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

You can also use alternative commands to enable a service. For example, “sc config ‘SERVICE-NAME’ start=demand” enables manual start, and “sc config ‘SERVICE-NAME’ start=delayed-auto” enables automatic delayed start.

(Optional) Type the command “sc start ‘SERVICE-NAME’” to start the service.

Note: The Task Manager provides a quick and convenient way to manage services but has limited functionality compared to the Services Manager. If you need to perform more advanced tasks, such as changing the startup type of service, you should use the Services Manager instead.

Should you Disable Windows Services?

We do not recommend disabling services. However what you should do is look for any services that are not part of Windows, and try to deal with them.

For example, many crapware applications install Windows Services during their installation process and use them to keep their redundant work running in the background and re-launching repeatedly. Other applications implement a Windows Service to provide functionality that you might not need. These are the services that you should disable.

Difference between Windows Services and Regular Applications

Other than starting, stopping, restarting, enabling & disabling there are other options that are worth considering that are offered by Windows Services Panel.

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As you have already seen above Windows services manager is fairly simple there is a list of services, a status column to show whether it is running or not, and more information like name, description, and the startup type of the service. Here you can see that not every service is running all the time.


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

Let’s dive deeper and see what other options are available in the properties section which is accessible by double-clicking on any service.

General Tab

In the General Tab, you can change the startup type of the service from the drop-down menu of the startup type. Here you can change it to manual or automatic with a delayed start or you can just disable it. After disabling you will see the Enable option from the drop-down menu in place of disabled


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

In this tab, you can also see the full path to the executable as well, which can help in many cases when you want to see what service is running.

Log On Tab

The Log on Tab allows you to choose whether the service is logged on as the local system account or under another account. This is mostly useful in a server environment where you might want to run a service account from the domain that has access to resources on other servers.


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

Notice here the option “Allow service to interact with desktop”, is unchecked. By default, services are not allowed to access your desktop unless this box is checked, and this checkbox is really only there for legacy support. Checking the box does not immediately give any service access to the desktop.

For, this you need to make sure that the NoInteractiveServices(In the Windows option registry) value in the Windows registry is set to 0 because when this value is set to 1, checking the checkbox would not do anything.

Recovery Tab


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

This tab is also useful because here you can set Windows to automatically send out an email if the service fails more than once which is really helpful for server windows.

Dependencies Tab

Dependencies Tab shows which services depend on a particular service, and which services depend on the one you are looking at.


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

In case you want to disable a service then you must look at his tab once to see if any crucial services are dependent on it or not.

Управление системными службами через командную строку

Службы обеспечивают ключевые функции рабочих станций и серверов. Для управления системными службами на локальных и удаленных системах используется команда контроллера служб (service controller command) SC, имеющая набор подкоманд, здесь описывается лишь их некоторая часть.

Для удобства пользования в командной строке используются сокращенные названия служб Windows (например, Spooler – диспетчер очереди печати, Dhcp – DHCP-клиент, W32Time – Служба времени Windows и т.п., см таблицу по ссылке).

Команды SC – настройка, запуск и останов системный служб Windows

Пример команды sc на компьютере с Windows 10:

How to stop Windows update service

Windows Services is a core component of the Microsoft Windows operating system and enable the creation and management of long-running processes.


How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

DNS Client services

Back in the Windows XP days, services could be configured to run interactively and run alongside the rest of your applications, but since Windows Vista, all services are forced to run in a special windows session that can not interact with your local desktop. So when a service tries to open a dialog box or show you a message would not be allowed to do so.

Example of Some Windows Service

These were examples of a few Windows Services. There are many Windows Services that you can access using Windows services manager.

Facing issues on your Windows PC every now and then? We would recommend you use the Restoro PC Repair tool.