Querying and Controlling Windows Services¶

Windows services are long‑running background processes that start automatically, manually, or on demand. PowerShell provides a full set of cmdlets to query, start, stop, restart, and configure services. These cmdlets return service objects, allowing you to filter, sort, and pipe them just like any other PowerShell data.

The core cmdlets are:

• Get-Service
• Start-Service
• Stop-Service
• Restart-Service
• Set-Service

1. Querying Services¶

1.1 Listing all services¶

Get-Service

This returns objects with properties such as:

• Name
• DisplayName
• Status
• ServiceType
• CanStop

1.2 Filtering by name¶

Get-Service -Name "wuauserv"

This retrieves the Windows Update service.

You can use wildcards:

Get-Service -Name "win*"

1.3 Filtering by status¶

Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.Status -eq "Running" }

Or:

Get-Service | Where-Object Status -eq Running

1.4 Sorting services¶

Get-Service | Sort-Object Status, Name

2. Starting and Stopping Services¶

2.1 Starting a service¶

Start-Service -Name "wuauserv"

If the service is already running, nothing happens.

2.2 Stopping a service¶

Stop-Service -Name "wuauserv"

If the service cannot be stopped (e.g., system‑critical), PowerShell throws an error.

2.3 Restarting a service¶

Restart-Service -Name "wuauserv"

This is equivalent to stopping and then starting the service.

2.4 Forcing a stop¶

Some services require -Force:

Stop-Service -Name "Spooler" -Force

Use this carefully—forcing a stop may interrupt system functionality.

3. Inspecting Service Objects¶

Because Get-Service returns objects, you can inspect their properties:

$svc = Get-Service -Name "Spooler"

$svc.Status
$svc.CanStop
$svc.ServiceType

You can also pipe service objects into other cmdlets:

Get-Service Spooler | Stop-Service

4. Changing Service Startup Type¶

Use Set-Service to configure how a service starts.

4.1 Setting a service to automatic¶

Set-Service -Name "Spooler" -StartupType Automatic

4.2 Setting a service to manual¶

Set-Service -Name "Spooler" -StartupType Manual

4.3 Disabling a service¶

Set-Service -Name "Spooler" -StartupType Disabled

5. Real‑World Examples¶

5.1 Restarting the Print Spooler¶

Restart-Service -Name "Spooler"

Useful for fixing stuck print jobs.

5.2 Checking which services failed to start¶

Get-Service | Where-Object { $_.Status -eq "Stopped" -and $_.StartType -eq "Automatic" }

This identifies services that should be running but aren’t.

5.3 Starting all stopped services that can be started¶

Get-Service |
    Where-Object { $_.Status -eq "Stopped" -and $_.CanStart } |
    Start-Service

5.4 Monitoring service status in real time¶

Get-Service -Name "wuauserv" | Format-Table Status, Name -AutoSize -Repeat

(Requires PowerShell 7+)

6. Summary¶

PowerShell’s service‑management cmdlets give you full control over Windows services, making it easy to automate maintenance, troubleshoot issues, and build reliable administration scripts.