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In Windows NT operating systems, a Windows service is a computer program that operates in the background.^[1] It is similar in concept to a Unix daemon.^[1] A Windows service must conform to the interface rules and protocols of the Service Control Manager, the component responsible for managing Windows services. It is the Services and Controller app, services.exe, that launches all the services and manages their actions, such as start, end, etc.^[2]

Windows services can be configured to start when the operating system is started and run in the background as long as Windows is running. Alternatively, they can be started manually or by an event. Windows NT operating systems include numerous services which run in context of three user accounts: System, Network Service and Local Service. These Windows components are often associated with Host Process for Windows Services. Because Windows services operate in the context of their own dedicated user accounts, they can operate when a user is not logged on.

Prior to Windows Vista, services installed as an "interactive service" could interact with Windows desktop and show a graphical user interface. In Windows Vista, however, interactive services are deprecated and may not operate properly, as a result of Windows Service hardening.^[3][4]

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:^[1]

• view a list of installed services along with service name, descriptions and configuration
• start, stop, pause or restart services^[5]
• 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.^[6]
  • 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

The command-line tool to manage Windows services is sc.exe. It is available for all versions of Windows NT.^[7] This utility is included with Windows XP^[8] and later^[9] 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.^[9]

The sc command duplicates some features of the net command.^[10]

The ReactOS version was developed by Ged Murphy and is licensed under the GPL.^[11]

The following example enumerates the status for active services & drivers.^[12]

C:\>sc query

The following example displays the status for the Windows Event log service.^[12]

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^[13]
• New-Service^[14]
• Restart-Service^[15]
• Resume-Service^[16]
• Set-Service^[17]
• Start-Service^[18]
• Stop-Service^[19]
• Suspend-Service^[20]

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.^[21] 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.^[22][23][24]

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 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.^[25]

Windows services

• 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

• Savill, John (5 March 1999). "What are the ErrorControl, Start and Type values under the Services subkeys?". Windows IT Pro. Penton Media. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
• David B. Probert, Windows Service Processes

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Guide to Windows Commands

• Windows Sysinternals: Autoruns for Windows v13.4 – An extremely detailed query of services
• Service Management With Windows Sc From Command Line – Windows Service Management Tutorial
• Windows Service Manager Tray