How to Manage Windows Services via PowerShell: Start, Stop, Configure

Windows Services run in the background and control everything from networking to print spooling. PowerShell gives you complete control over all of them.

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View Services

# All services with status
Get-Service | Sort-Object Status -Descending | Format-Table Name, Status, StartType

# Running services only
Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq "Running"} | Select-Object Name, DisplayName

# Stopped services that should be running
Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq "Stopped" -and $_.StartType -eq "Automatic"} |
  Select-Object Name, DisplayName

# Detailed info about specific service
Get-Service Spooler | Select-Object *

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Start, Stop, Restart

# Start
Start-Service -Name "Spooler"
Start-Service -DisplayName "Print Spooler"

# Stop
Stop-Service -Name "Spooler" -Force

# Restart
Restart-Service -Name "Spooler" -Force

# Suspend (if supported)
Suspend-Service -Name "ServiceName"

# Resume
Resume-Service -Name "ServiceName"

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Change Startup Type

# Startup types: Automatic, Manual, Disabled, AutomaticDelayedStart

# Set to Auto (start with Windows)
Set-Service -Name "WSearch" -StartupType Automatic

# Set to Manual (start on demand)
Set-Service -Name "WSearch" -StartupType Manual

# Disable (won't start at all)
Set-Service -Name "WSearch" -StartupType Disabled

# AutomaticDelayedStart (start 2-3 min after boot)
Set-Service -Name "ServiceName" -StartupType AutomaticDelayedStart

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Configure Service Recovery (Auto-Restart on Failure)

# Set service to restart on failure via sc.exe
sc.exe failure "Spooler" reset= 86400 actions= restart/5000/restart/10000/restart/30000

# Parameters:
# reset= 86400  = reset failure count after 86400 seconds (1 day)
# actions=       = restart/delay_ms for each failure (1st, 2nd, 3rd)

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Run Service as Specific Account

# Change service account via WMI
$svc = Get-WmiObject Win32_Service -Filter "Name='MyService'"
$svc.Change($null, $null, $null, $null, $null, $null, "Domain\ServiceUser", "Password")

# Or via sc.exe
sc.exe config "MyService" obj= "Domain\ServiceUser" password= "Password"

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Create a Custom Service

# Create a new service from an executable
New-Service -Name "MyMonitor" `
  -BinaryPathName "C:\Tools\monitor.exe" `
  -DisplayName "My Monitoring Service" `
  -Description "Monitors system health" `
  -StartupType Automatic

# Start it
Start-Service -Name "MyMonitor"

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Find Services by Executable

# Which service uses a specific executable
Get-WmiObject Win32_Service | Where-Object {$_.PathName -like "*spoolsv*"} |
  Select-Object Name, PathName, State

# Services running as a specific account
Get-WmiObject Win32_Service | Where-Object {$_.StartName -like "*LocalSystem*"} |
  Select-Object Name, StartName, State

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Bulk Operations

# Stop all non-essential services (for troubleshooting)
$nonEssential = @("Fax", "WSearch", "DiagTrack", "MapsBroker", "lfsvc")
$nonEssential | ForEach-Object { Stop-Service $_ -Force -EA 0 }

# Restart all stopped Automatic services
Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.StartType -eq "Automatic" -and $_.Status -eq "Stopped"} |
  ForEach-Object {
    Start-Service $_ -EA 0
    Write-Host "Started: $($_.Name)"
  }

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Delete a Service

Stop-Service "MyMonitor" -Force
Remove-Service -Name "MyMonitor"
# Or for older Windows:
sc.exe delete "MyMonitor"

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Summary

Get-Service to view, Start/Stop/Restart-Service to control, Set-Service for startup type. sc.exe failure for recovery settings. New-Service to create custom services. Remove-Service to delete.

Frequently Asked Questions

A critical service keeps stopping — how do I prevent it?

Configure recovery with sc.exe failure to auto-restart. Check Event Log for the error before the crash — usually points to a dependency or configuration issue.

Can I start a service without Administrator rights?

Only if you've been granted explicit permission via security descriptor. By default, starting/stopping services requires Administrator. Use Task Scheduler with SYSTEM account as a workaround for specific use cases.

What's the difference between Automatic and AutomaticDelayedStart?

Automatic starts during boot sequence, adding to boot time. AutomaticDelayedStart starts 2-3 minutes after desktop appears — reduces boot time for non-critical services.