Using SC to manage Service Triggers on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Service Triggers (aka Trigger-Start Services), introduced in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, allow services to be started and stopped when certain conditions are met. Triggers can be managed with the venerable SC command-line utility, already used to control windows services. This page presents the trigger-related syntax of the SC command on Windows 7.

Check out our free GUI application Service Trigger Editor, which provides an easy-to-use interface for managing Service Triggers. [screenshot]

Configuring Triggers

Triggers can be added, edited or removed using the sc triggerinfo command:

C:\>sc triggerinfo
DESCRIPTION:
 Changes the trigger parameters of a service.
USAGE:
 sc  triggerinfo [service name]  ...
OPTIONS:
 start/device/UUID/HwId1/...    Start the service on arrival of the specified
                                device interface class UUID string with one or
                                more hardware ID strings and/or compatible ID
                                strings.
									   
 start/custom/UUID/data0/..     Start the service on arrival of an event from
                                the specified custom ETW provider UUID string
                                with one or more binary data items in
                                hexadecimal string format such as ABCDABCD to
                                set 4 byte data.
						   
 stop/custom/UUID/data0/...     Stop the service on arrival of an event from
                                the specified custom ETW provider UUID string
                                with one or more binary data items in
                                hexadecimal string format such as ABCDABCD to
                                set 4 byte data.
					   
 start/strcustom/UUID/data0/..  Start the service on arrival of an event from
                                the specified custom ETW provider UUID string
                                with one or more optional string data items.
								   
 stop/strcustom/UUID/data0/..   Stop the service on arrival of an event from
                                the specified custom ETW provider UUID string
                                with one or more optional string data items.
								   
 start/networkon                Start the service on first IP address.
	
 stop/networkoff                Stop the service on zero IP addresses.
	
 start/domainjoin               Start the service on domain join.
	
 stop/domainleave               Stop the service on domain leave.
	
 start/portopen/parameter       Start the service on the opening of a network
                                port. The parameter is of the semi-colon
                                delimited form
                                portnumber;protocolname;imagepath;servicename.
								   
 stop/portclose/parameter       Stop the service on the closing of a network
                                port. The parameter is of the semi-colon
                                delimited form
                                portnumber;protocolname;imagepath;servicename.
								   
 start/machinepolicy            Start the service when machine group policy
                                changes or is present at boot.

 start/userpolicy               Start the service when user group policy
                                changes or is present at boot.
	
 delete                         Delete the existing trigger parameters.

Example: Stopping a service when a machine policy changes

C:\Windows\system32>sc triggerinfo "Fax" start/machinepolicy
[SC] ChangeServiceConfig2 SUCCESS

Querying Trigger Parameters

Use sc triggerinfo to see how a service is configured:

C:\>sc qtriggerinfo
DESCRIPTION:
        Retrieves the trigger information of a service.
USAGE:
        sc  qtriggerinfo [service name] 

Example

Here is the trigger information for the Computer Browser service, which maintains an updated list of computers on the network and supplies this list to computers:

C:\>sc qtriggerinfo browser
[SC] QueryServiceConfig2 SUCCESS

SERVICE_NAME: browser

  START SERVICE
    FIREWALL PORT EVENT    : b7569e07-8421-4ee0-ad10-86915afdad09 [PORT OPEN]
      DATA                 : 139;TCP;System;
      DATA                 : 137;UDP;System;
      DATA                 : 138;UDP;System;
  STOP SERVICE
    FIREWALL PORT EVENT    : a144ed38-8e12-4de4-9d96-e64740b1a524 [PORT CLOSE]
      DATA                 : 139;TCP;System;
      DATA                 : 137;UDP;System;
      DATA                 : 138;UDP;System;