Simplest way to restart service on a remote computer

Question

What s the easiest programmatic way to restart a service on a remote Windows system  Language or method doesn t matter as long as it doesn t require human interaction

User · Answer

open service control manager database using openscmanager get dependent service using EnumDependService   Stop all dependent services using ChangeConfig   sending STOP signal to this function if they are started stop actual service Get all Services dependencies of a service Start all services dependencies using StartService   if they are stopped Start actual service   Thus your service is restarted taking care all dependencies

User · Answer

look at sysinternals for a variety of tools to help you achieve that goal  psService for example would restart a service on a remote machine

User · Answer

I recommend the method given by doofledorfer   If you really want to do it via a direct API call  then look at the OpenSCManager function   Below are sample functions to take a machine name and service  and stop or start them   function ServiceStart sMachine  sService   string    boolean     start service  return TRUE if successful var schm  schs   SC Handle      ss           TServiceStatus      psTemp       PChar      dwChkP       DWord  begin   ss dwCurrentState    0    schm    OpenSCManager PChar sMachine  Nil SC MANAGER CONNECT      connect to the service control manager    if schm  gt  0 then begin    if successful        schs    OpenService  schm PChar sService  SERVICE START or SERVICE QUERY STATUS         open service handle  start and query status     if schs  gt  0 then begin        if successful          psTemp    nil        if  StartService schs 0 psTemp   and  QueryServiceStatus schs ss   then         while SERVICE RUNNING  lt  gt  ss dwCurrentState do begin           dwChkP    ss dwCheckPoint     dwCheckPoint contains a value incremented periodically to report progress of a long operation   Store it            Sleep ss dwWaitHint      Sleep for recommended time before checking status again           if not QueryServiceStatus schs ss  then             break     couldn t check status           if ss dwCheckPoint  lt  dwChkP then             Break     if QueryServiceStatus didn t work for some reason  avoid infinite loop         end     while not running       CloseServiceHandle schs       end     if able to get service handle     CloseServiceHandle schm     end     if able to get svc mgr handle   Result    SERVICE RUNNING   ss dwCurrentState     if we were able to start it  return true end   function ServiceStop sMachine  sService   string    boolean     stop service  return TRUE if successful var schm  schs   SC Handle      ss           TServiceStatus      dwChkP       DWord  begin   schm    OpenSCManager PChar sMachine  nil SC MANAGER CONNECT      if schm  gt  0 then begin     schs    OpenService schm PChar sService  SERVICE STOP or SERVICE QUERY STATUS       if schs  gt  0 then begin       if  ControlService schs SERVICE CONTROL STOP ss   and  QueryServiceStatus schs ss   then         while SERVICE STOPPED  lt  gt  ss dwCurrentState  do begin           dwChkP    ss dwCheckPoint            Sleep ss dwWaitHint             if not QueryServiceStatus schs ss  then             Break             if ss dwCheckPoint  lt  dwChkP then             Break          end     while       CloseServiceHandle schs       end     if able to get svc handle     CloseServiceHandle schm     end     if able to get svc mgr handle   Result    SERVICE STOPPED   ss dwCurrentState  end

User · Answer

If it doesn t require human interaction which means there will be no UI that invokes this operation and I assume it would restart at some set interval  If you have access to machine  you could just set a scheduled task to execute a batch file using good old NET STOP and NET START  net stop  DNS Client  net start  DNS client    or if you want to get a little more sophisticated  you could try Powershell

User · Answer

As of Powershell v3  PSsessions allow for any native cmdlet to be run on a remote machine   session   New-PSsession -Computername  YourServerName  Invoke-Command -Session  Session -ScriptBlock  Restart-Service  YourServiceName   Remove-PSSession  Session   See here for more information

User · Answer

I recommend the method given by doofledorfer   If you really want to do it via a direct API call  then look at the OpenSCManager function   Below are sample functions to take a machine name and service  and stop or start them   function ServiceStart sMachine  sService   string    boolean     start service  return TRUE if successful var schm  schs   SC Handle      ss           TServiceStatus      psTemp       PChar      dwChkP       DWord  begin   ss dwCurrentState    0    schm    OpenSCManager PChar sMachine  Nil SC MANAGER CONNECT      connect to the service control manager    if schm  gt  0 then begin    if successful        schs    OpenService  schm PChar sService  SERVICE START or SERVICE QUERY STATUS         open service handle  start and query status     if schs  gt  0 then begin        if successful          psTemp    nil        if  StartService schs 0 psTemp   and  QueryServiceStatus schs ss   then         while SERVICE RUNNING  lt  gt  ss dwCurrentState do begin           dwChkP    ss dwCheckPoint     dwCheckPoint contains a value incremented periodically to report progress of a long operation   Store it            Sleep ss dwWaitHint      Sleep for recommended time before checking status again           if not QueryServiceStatus schs ss  then             break     couldn t check status           if ss dwCheckPoint  lt  dwChkP then             Break     if QueryServiceStatus didn t work for some reason  avoid infinite loop         end     while not running       CloseServiceHandle schs       end     if able to get service handle     CloseServiceHandle schm     end     if able to get svc mgr handle   Result    SERVICE RUNNING   ss dwCurrentState     if we were able to start it  return true end   function ServiceStop sMachine  sService   string    boolean     stop service  return TRUE if successful var schm  schs   SC Handle      ss           TServiceStatus      dwChkP       DWord  begin   schm    OpenSCManager PChar sMachine  nil SC MANAGER CONNECT      if schm  gt  0 then begin     schs    OpenService schm PChar sService  SERVICE STOP or SERVICE QUERY STATUS       if schs  gt  0 then begin       if  ControlService schs SERVICE CONTROL STOP ss   and  QueryServiceStatus schs ss   then         while SERVICE STOPPED  lt  gt  ss dwCurrentState  do begin           dwChkP    ss dwCheckPoint            Sleep ss dwWaitHint             if not QueryServiceStatus schs ss  then             Break             if ss dwCheckPoint  lt  dwChkP then             Break          end     while       CloseServiceHandle schs       end     if able to get svc handle     CloseServiceHandle schm     end     if able to get svc mgr handle   Result    SERVICE STOPPED   ss dwCurrentState  end

User · Answer

As of Windows XP  you can use sc exe to interact with local and remote services  Schedule a task to run a batch file similar to this    sc   server stop service sc   server start service   Make sure the task runs under a user account privileged on the target server   psservice exe from the Sysinternals PSTools would also be doing the job    psservice   server restart service

User · Answer

If you attempting to do this on a server on different domain you will need to a little bit more than what has been suggested by most answers so far  this is what I use to accomplish this   Configuration  servername    quot ABC quot    serviceAccountUsername    quot XYZ quot    serviceAccountPassword    quot XXX quot    Establish connection try       if  -not   System IO Directory   Exists         servername              net use    servername  user  serviceAccountUsername  serviceAccountPassword         catch        May already exists  if so just continue     Write-Output    Exception Message     Restart Service sc exe    servername stop  quot ServiceNameHere quot  sc exe    servername start  quot ServiceNameHere quot

User · Answer

DESCRIPTION          SC is a command line program used for communicating with the         NT Service Controller and services  USAGE          sc   command   service name            The option  lt server gt  has the form    ServerName      Further help on commands can be obtained by typing   sc  command       Commands        query-----------Queries the status for a service  or                       enumerates the status for types of services        queryex---------Queries the extended status for a service  or                       enumerates the status for types of services        start-----------Starts a service        pause-----------Sends a PAUSE control request to a service        interrogate-----Sends an INTERROGATE control request to a service        continue--------Sends a CONTINUE control request to a service        stop------------Sends a STOP request to a service        config----------Changes the configuration of a service  persistant         description-----Changes the description of a service        failure---------Changes the actions taken by a service upon failure        qc--------------Queries the configuration information for a service        qdescription----Queries the description for a service        qfailure--------Queries the actions taken by a service upon failure        delete----------Deletes a service  from the registry         create----------Creates a service   adds it to the registry         control---------Sends a control to a service        sdshow----------Displays a service s security descriptor        sdset-----------Sets a service s security descriptor        GetDisplayName--Gets the DisplayName for a service        GetKeyName------Gets the ServiceKeyName for a service        EnumDepend------Enumerates Service Dependencies       The following commands don t require a service name      sc  lt server gt   lt command gt   lt option gt        boot------------ ok   bad  Indicates whether the last boot should                       be saved as the last-known-good boot configuration       Lock------------Locks the Service Database       QueryLock-------Queries the LockStatus for the SCManager Database   EXAMPLE          sc start MyService

User · Answer

open service control manager database using openscmanager get dependent service using EnumDependService   Stop all dependent services using ChangeConfig   sending STOP signal to this function if they are started stop actual service Get all Services dependencies of a service Start all services dependencies using StartService   if they are stopped Start actual service   Thus your service is restarted taking care all dependencies

User · Answer

look at sysinternals for a variety of tools to help you achieve that goal  psService for example would restart a service on a remote machine

User · Answer

As of Windows XP  you can use sc exe to interact with local and remote services  Schedule a task to run a batch file similar to this    sc   server stop service sc   server start service   Make sure the task runs under a user account privileged on the target server   psservice exe from the Sysinternals PSTools would also be doing the job    psservice   server restart service

User · Answer

I believe PowerShell now trumps the  sc  command in terms of simplicity   Restart-Service  servicename

User · Answer

look at sysinternals for a variety of tools to help you achieve that goal  psService for example would restart a service on a remote machine

User · Answer

I recommend the method given by doofledorfer   If you really want to do it via a direct API call  then look at the OpenSCManager function   Below are sample functions to take a machine name and service  and stop or start them   function ServiceStart sMachine  sService   string    boolean     start service  return TRUE if successful var schm  schs   SC Handle      ss           TServiceStatus      psTemp       PChar      dwChkP       DWord  begin   ss dwCurrentState    0    schm    OpenSCManager PChar sMachine  Nil SC MANAGER CONNECT      connect to the service control manager    if schm  gt  0 then begin    if successful        schs    OpenService  schm PChar sService  SERVICE START or SERVICE QUERY STATUS         open service handle  start and query status     if schs  gt  0 then begin        if successful          psTemp    nil        if  StartService schs 0 psTemp   and  QueryServiceStatus schs ss   then         while SERVICE RUNNING  lt  gt  ss dwCurrentState do begin           dwChkP    ss dwCheckPoint     dwCheckPoint contains a value incremented periodically to report progress of a long operation   Store it            Sleep ss dwWaitHint      Sleep for recommended time before checking status again           if not QueryServiceStatus schs ss  then             break     couldn t check status           if ss dwCheckPoint  lt  dwChkP then             Break     if QueryServiceStatus didn t work for some reason  avoid infinite loop         end     while not running       CloseServiceHandle schs       end     if able to get service handle     CloseServiceHandle schm     end     if able to get svc mgr handle   Result    SERVICE RUNNING   ss dwCurrentState     if we were able to start it  return true end   function ServiceStop sMachine  sService   string    boolean     stop service  return TRUE if successful var schm  schs   SC Handle      ss           TServiceStatus      dwChkP       DWord  begin   schm    OpenSCManager PChar sMachine  nil SC MANAGER CONNECT      if schm  gt  0 then begin     schs    OpenService schm PChar sService  SERVICE STOP or SERVICE QUERY STATUS       if schs  gt  0 then begin       if  ControlService schs SERVICE CONTROL STOP ss   and  QueryServiceStatus schs ss   then         while SERVICE STOPPED  lt  gt  ss dwCurrentState  do begin           dwChkP    ss dwCheckPoint            Sleep ss dwWaitHint             if not QueryServiceStatus schs ss  then             Break             if ss dwCheckPoint  lt  dwChkP then             Break          end     while       CloseServiceHandle schs       end     if able to get svc handle     CloseServiceHandle schm     end     if able to get svc mgr handle   Result    SERVICE STOPPED   ss dwCurrentState  end

User · Answer

If it doesn t require human interaction which means there will be no UI that invokes this operation and I assume it would restart at some set interval  If you have access to machine  you could just set a scheduled task to execute a batch file using good old NET STOP and NET START  net stop  DNS Client  net start  DNS client    or if you want to get a little more sophisticated  you could try Powershell

User · Answer

As of Powershell v3  PSsessions allow for any native cmdlet to be run on a remote machine   session   New-PSsession -Computername  YourServerName  Invoke-Command -Session  Session -ScriptBlock  Restart-Service  YourServiceName   Remove-PSSession  Session   See here for more information

User · Answer

There will be so many instances where the service will go in to  stop pending  The Operating system will complain that it was  Not able to stop the service xyz   In case you want to make absolutely sure the service is restarted you should kill the process instead  You can do that by doing the following in a bat file  taskkill  F  IM processname exe timeout 20 sc start servicename   To find out which process is associated with your service  go to task manager--  Services tab-- Right Click on your Service--  Go to process   Note that this should be a work around until you figure out why your service had to be restarted in the first place  You should look for memory leaks  infinite loops and other such conditions for your service to have become unresponsive

User · Answer

look at sysinternals for a variety of tools to help you achieve that goal  psService for example would restart a service on a remote machine

User · Answer

DESCRIPTION          SC is a command line program used for communicating with the         NT Service Controller and services  USAGE          sc   command   service name            The option  lt server gt  has the form    ServerName      Further help on commands can be obtained by typing   sc  command       Commands        query-----------Queries the status for a service  or                       enumerates the status for types of services        queryex---------Queries the extended status for a service  or                       enumerates the status for types of services        start-----------Starts a service        pause-----------Sends a PAUSE control request to a service        interrogate-----Sends an INTERROGATE control request to a service        continue--------Sends a CONTINUE control request to a service        stop------------Sends a STOP request to a service        config----------Changes the configuration of a service  persistant         description-----Changes the description of a service        failure---------Changes the actions taken by a service upon failure        qc--------------Queries the configuration information for a service        qdescription----Queries the description for a service        qfailure--------Queries the actions taken by a service upon failure        delete----------Deletes a service  from the registry         create----------Creates a service   adds it to the registry         control---------Sends a control to a service        sdshow----------Displays a service s security descriptor        sdset-----------Sets a service s security descriptor        GetDisplayName--Gets the DisplayName for a service        GetKeyName------Gets the ServiceKeyName for a service        EnumDepend------Enumerates Service Dependencies       The following commands don t require a service name      sc  lt server gt   lt command gt   lt option gt        boot------------ ok   bad  Indicates whether the last boot should                       be saved as the last-known-good boot configuration       Lock------------Locks the Service Database       QueryLock-------Queries the LockStatus for the SCManager Database   EXAMPLE          sc start MyService

User · Answer

DESCRIPTION          SC is a command line program used for communicating with the         NT Service Controller and services  USAGE          sc   command   service name            The option  lt server gt  has the form    ServerName      Further help on commands can be obtained by typing   sc  command       Commands        query-----------Queries the status for a service  or                       enumerates the status for types of services        queryex---------Queries the extended status for a service  or                       enumerates the status for types of services        start-----------Starts a service        pause-----------Sends a PAUSE control request to a service        interrogate-----Sends an INTERROGATE control request to a service        continue--------Sends a CONTINUE control request to a service        stop------------Sends a STOP request to a service        config----------Changes the configuration of a service  persistant         description-----Changes the description of a service        failure---------Changes the actions taken by a service upon failure        qc--------------Queries the configuration information for a service        qdescription----Queries the description for a service        qfailure--------Queries the actions taken by a service upon failure        delete----------Deletes a service  from the registry         create----------Creates a service   adds it to the registry         control---------Sends a control to a service        sdshow----------Displays a service s security descriptor        sdset-----------Sets a service s security descriptor        GetDisplayName--Gets the DisplayName for a service        GetKeyName------Gets the ServiceKeyName for a service        EnumDepend------Enumerates Service Dependencies       The following commands don t require a service name      sc  lt server gt   lt command gt   lt option gt        boot------------ ok   bad  Indicates whether the last boot should                       be saved as the last-known-good boot configuration       Lock------------Locks the Service Database       QueryLock-------Queries the LockStatus for the SCManager Database   EXAMPLE          sc start MyService

User · Answer

I believe PowerShell now trumps the  sc  command in terms of simplicity   Restart-Service  servicename

User · Answer

open service control manager database using openscmanager get dependent service using EnumDependService   Stop all dependent services using ChangeConfig   sending STOP signal to this function if they are started stop actual service Get all Services dependencies of a service Start all services dependencies using StartService   if they are stopped Start actual service   Thus your service is restarted taking care all dependencies

User · Answer

I recommend the method given by doofledorfer   If you really want to do it via a direct API call  then look at the OpenSCManager function   Below are sample functions to take a machine name and service  and stop or start them   function ServiceStart sMachine  sService   string    boolean     start service  return TRUE if successful var schm  schs   SC Handle      ss           TServiceStatus      psTemp       PChar      dwChkP       DWord  begin   ss dwCurrentState    0    schm    OpenSCManager PChar sMachine  Nil SC MANAGER CONNECT      connect to the service control manager    if schm  gt  0 then begin    if successful        schs    OpenService  schm PChar sService  SERVICE START or SERVICE QUERY STATUS         open service handle  start and query status     if schs  gt  0 then begin        if successful          psTemp    nil        if  StartService schs 0 psTemp   and  QueryServiceStatus schs ss   then         while SERVICE RUNNING  lt  gt  ss dwCurrentState do begin           dwChkP    ss dwCheckPoint     dwCheckPoint contains a value incremented periodically to report progress of a long operation   Store it            Sleep ss dwWaitHint      Sleep for recommended time before checking status again           if not QueryServiceStatus schs ss  then             break     couldn t check status           if ss dwCheckPoint  lt  dwChkP then             Break     if QueryServiceStatus didn t work for some reason  avoid infinite loop         end     while not running       CloseServiceHandle schs       end     if able to get service handle     CloseServiceHandle schm     end     if able to get svc mgr handle   Result    SERVICE RUNNING   ss dwCurrentState     if we were able to start it  return true end   function ServiceStop sMachine  sService   string    boolean     stop service  return TRUE if successful var schm  schs   SC Handle      ss           TServiceStatus      dwChkP       DWord  begin   schm    OpenSCManager PChar sMachine  nil SC MANAGER CONNECT      if schm  gt  0 then begin     schs    OpenService schm PChar sService  SERVICE STOP or SERVICE QUERY STATUS       if schs  gt  0 then begin       if  ControlService schs SERVICE CONTROL STOP ss   and  QueryServiceStatus schs ss   then         while SERVICE STOPPED  lt  gt  ss dwCurrentState  do begin           dwChkP    ss dwCheckPoint            Sleep ss dwWaitHint             if not QueryServiceStatus schs ss  then             Break             if ss dwCheckPoint  lt  dwChkP then             Break          end     while       CloseServiceHandle schs       end     if able to get svc handle     CloseServiceHandle schm     end     if able to get svc mgr handle   Result    SERVICE STOPPED   ss dwCurrentState  end

User · Answer

This is what I do when I have restart a service remotely with different account  Open a CMD with different login  runas  noprofile  user DOMAIN USERNAME cmd   Use SC to stop and start  sc   SERVERNAME query Tomcat8 sc   SERVERNAME stop Tomcat8 sc   SERVERNAME start Tomcat8

User · Answer

If it doesn t require human interaction which means there will be no UI that invokes this operation and I assume it would restart at some set interval  If you have access to machine  you could just set a scheduled task to execute a batch file using good old NET STOP and NET START  net stop  DNS Client  net start  DNS client    or if you want to get a little more sophisticated  you could try Powershell

User · Answer

DESCRIPTION          SC is a command line program used for communicating with the         NT Service Controller and services  USAGE          sc   command   service name            The option  lt server gt  has the form    ServerName      Further help on commands can be obtained by typing   sc  command       Commands        query-----------Queries the status for a service  or                       enumerates the status for types of services        queryex---------Queries the extended status for a service  or                       enumerates the status for types of services        start-----------Starts a service        pause-----------Sends a PAUSE control request to a service        interrogate-----Sends an INTERROGATE control request to a service        continue--------Sends a CONTINUE control request to a service        stop------------Sends a STOP request to a service        config----------Changes the configuration of a service  persistant         description-----Changes the description of a service        failure---------Changes the actions taken by a service upon failure        qc--------------Queries the configuration information for a service        qdescription----Queries the description for a service        qfailure--------Queries the actions taken by a service upon failure        delete----------Deletes a service  from the registry         create----------Creates a service   adds it to the registry         control---------Sends a control to a service        sdshow----------Displays a service s security descriptor        sdset-----------Sets a service s security descriptor        GetDisplayName--Gets the DisplayName for a service        GetKeyName------Gets the ServiceKeyName for a service        EnumDepend------Enumerates Service Dependencies       The following commands don t require a service name      sc  lt server gt   lt command gt   lt option gt        boot------------ ok   bad  Indicates whether the last boot should                       be saved as the last-known-good boot configuration       Lock------------Locks the Service Database       QueryLock-------Queries the LockStatus for the SCManager Database   EXAMPLE          sc start MyService

User · Answer

If you attempting to do this on a server on different domain you will need to a little bit more than what has been suggested by most answers so far  this is what I use to accomplish this   Configuration  servername    quot ABC quot    serviceAccountUsername    quot XYZ quot    serviceAccountPassword    quot XXX quot    Establish connection try       if  -not   System IO Directory   Exists         servername              net use    servername  user  serviceAccountUsername  serviceAccountPassword         catch        May already exists  if so just continue     Write-Output    Exception Message     Restart Service sc exe    servername stop  quot ServiceNameHere quot  sc exe    servername start  quot ServiceNameHere quot

User · Answer

If it doesn t require human interaction which means there will be no UI that invokes this operation and I assume it would restart at some set interval  If you have access to machine  you could just set a scheduled task to execute a batch file using good old NET STOP and NET START  net stop  DNS Client  net start  DNS client    or if you want to get a little more sophisticated  you could try Powershell

User · Answer

As of Windows XP  you can use sc exe to interact with local and remote services  Schedule a task to run a batch file similar to this    sc   server stop service sc   server start service   Make sure the task runs under a user account privileged on the target server   psservice exe from the Sysinternals PSTools would also be doing the job    psservice   server restart service

User · Answer

This is what I do when I have restart a service remotely with different account  Open a CMD with different login  runas  noprofile  user DOMAIN USERNAME cmd   Use SC to stop and start  sc   SERVERNAME query Tomcat8 sc   SERVERNAME stop Tomcat8 sc   SERVERNAME start Tomcat8

User · Answer

open service control manager database using openscmanager get dependent service using EnumDependService   Stop all dependent services using ChangeConfig   sending STOP signal to this function if they are started stop actual service Get all Services dependencies of a service Start all services dependencies using StartService   if they are stopped Start actual service   Thus your service is restarted taking care all dependencies

User · Answer

There will be so many instances where the service will go in to  stop pending  The Operating system will complain that it was  Not able to stop the service xyz   In case you want to make absolutely sure the service is restarted you should kill the process instead  You can do that by doing the following in a bat file  taskkill  F  IM processname exe timeout 20 sc start servicename   To find out which process is associated with your service  go to task manager--  Services tab-- Right Click on your Service--  Go to process   Note that this should be a work around until you figure out why your service had to be restarted in the first place  You should look for memory leaks  infinite loops and other such conditions for your service to have become unresponsive

User · Answer

As of Windows XP  you can use sc exe to interact with local and remote services  Schedule a task to run a batch file similar to this    sc   server stop service sc   server start service   Make sure the task runs under a user account privileged on the target server   psservice exe from the Sysinternals PSTools would also be doing the job    psservice   server restart service

[windows] Simplest way to restart service on a remote computer

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