{"id":163,"date":"2013-10-30T16:09:52","date_gmt":"2013-10-30T23:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/?p=163"},"modified":"2025-12-27T00:16:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T08:16:52","slug":"essential-tools-windows-services-msc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/windows-services\/essential-tools-windows-services-msc\/","title":{"rendered":"Essential Tools for Windows Services: Services.msc"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hands down, the most important GUI utility for managing your Windows Services is <b>Microsoft&#8217;s Services Control Panel Application<\/b> &#8212; nicknamed &#8220;Services.msc&#8221; because it can be invoked with that command. This useful application (pictured below) lists every service installed on your PC and allows you to easily to start, stop or configure each one. It has been a fixture of Windows since the first release of NT, way back in 1993.<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\">\n<a href=\"\/blog\/images\/services-main-window-1052x573.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" rel=\"zoomgroup noopener noreferrer\" title=\"The Windows Services Application\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"no-lazy-load\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/services-main-window-1052x573.png\" title=\"The Windows Services Application (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"The Windows Services Application\" width=\"520\" border=\"0\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a name=\"starting-services\"><\/a><\/p>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"width:100%;margin-bottom:30px;\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"blog-caption\">Starting the Services Application<\/h2>\n<p>You can launch the Services application in several ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>With the Windows Key<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>\nHold down the <b>Windows Key<\/b> and press <b>R<\/b> to open the <b>Run<\/b> window:<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/images\/pressing-windows-key-r-529x361.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" rel=\"zoomgroup noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Windows Key + R\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/pressing-windows-key-r-529x361.png\" title=\"Windows Key + R (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"Windows Key + R\" width=\"50%\" border=\"0\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\nType <b>services.msc<\/b> in the <b>Open<\/b> field and hit return. Services should start in a second or two.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/images\/run-services-413x213.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" rel=\"zoomgroup noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Starting services.msc from the Run Dialog\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/run-services-413x213.png\" title=\"Starting services.msc from the Run Dialog (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"Starting services.msc from the Run Dialog\" width=\"50%\" border=\"0\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>From the Start button (Windows 7 and earlier)<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Click the Start button<\/li>\n<li>\nType <b>services.msc<\/b> in the search field and hit return.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/images\/start-services-from-start-button-415x531.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" rel=\"zoomgroup noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Starting Services from the Start Button\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/start-services-from-start-button-415x531.png\" title=\"Starting Services from the Start Button (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"Starting Services from the Start Button\" width=\"50%\" border=\"0\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>From the Control Panel<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Click on the Start button and choose <b>Control Panel<\/b>. Or, on Windows 8\/8.1, press <b>Windows Key<\/b> + <b>I<\/b> and select <b>Control Panel<\/b> from the charms menu on the right.<\/li>\n<li>\nIn the window that comes up, enter the word <b>services<\/b> in the search box in the upper right to filter the contents, and click on the <b>View local services<\/b> link to summon the Services window.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/images\/start-services-from-control-panel-817x577.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" rel=\"zoomgroup noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Starting Services from the Control Panel\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/start-services-from-control-panel-817x577.png\" title=\"Starting Services from the Control Panel (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"Starting Services from the Control Panel\" width=\"75%\" border=\"0\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"width:100%;margin-bottom:30px;\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"blog-caption\">Using the Services Application<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>Start\/stop\/restart\/pause\/resume a service<\/h3>\n<p>Simply highlight the service on the list and click on the appropriate toolbar button. Note that most services don&#8217;t support pause &amp; resume, so those buttons will probably be disabled.<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/images\/services-toolbar-869x168.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" rel=\"zoomgroup noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Start\/Stop\/Restart from the Services Toolbar\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/services-toolbar-869x168.png\" title=\"Start\/Stop\/Restart from the Services Toolbar (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"Start\/Stop\/Restart from the Services Toolbar\" width=\"75%\" border=\"0\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can also right-click on the service entry and start it from the context menu:<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/images\/services-right-click-menu-532x275.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" rel=\"zoomgroup noopener noreferrer\" title=\"The Services Right-Click Menu\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/services-right-click-menu-532x275.png\" title=\"The Services Right-Click Menu (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"The Services Right-Click Menu\" width=\"75%\" border=\"0\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Modify a service<\/h3>\n<p>Double click a service (or right-click it and select <b>Properties<\/b>) to bring up the service&#8217;s <b>Properties<\/b> window:<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/images\/services-properties-general-tab-420x475.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" rel=\"zoomgroup noopener noreferrer\" title=\"The Services Toolbar\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/services-properties-general-tab-420x475.png\" title=\"The Services Toolbar\" alt=\"The Services Toolbar\" width=\"420\" height=\"475\" border=\"0\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>From there you can start or stop the service, change the account that the service runs in, configure what to do if the service crashes and see what services must be started before this one.<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Manage services on another computer<\/h3>\n<p>Assuming that your account has the necessary permissions to access the remote PC, simply select <b>Connect to another computer&#8230;<\/b> from the <b>Action<\/b> menu and enter the name (or IP address) of the other computer to see its list of services:<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/images\/services-connect-to-another-computer-952x584.png\" class=\"zoomPopup\" rel=\"zoomgroup noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Services: Connect to Another Computer\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/blog\/images\/services-connect-to-another-computer-952x584.png\" title=\"Services: Connect to Another Computer (click to enlarge)\" alt=\"Services: Connect to Another Computer\" width=\"75%\" border=\"0\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"width:100%;margin-bottom:30px;\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"blog-caption\">Shortcomings of the Services Application<\/h2>\n<p>Unfortunately, Services.msc can not:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Run a non-service application as a Windows Service <a href=\"\/products\/AlwaysUp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(but AlwaysUp does that)<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Change the permissions associated with a service <a href=\"\/products\/ServiceSecurityEditor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(look to Service Security Editor for help there)<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Manage trigger-start services on Windows 7 and later <a href=\"\/products\/ServiceTriggerEditor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(but Service Trigger Editor can)<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Keep tabs on an important service&#8217;s state from the task tray <a href=\"\/products\/ServiceTray\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(so we wrote ServiceTray to do that)<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Change a service&#8217;s description (which can be achieved by editing the registry)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"blog-section\">\n<div style=\"width:100%;margin-bottom:30px;\">\n<div style=\"margin:0px;float:right;\"><a href=\"#top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.coretechnologies.com\/images\/top.jpg\" border=\"0\" width=\"50\" height=\"18\" title=\"Go to the top\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"blog-caption\">Nevertheless, Services is the best GUI tool for managing your Windows Services<\/h2>\n<p>Despite its few shortcomings, Services.msc remains an extremely valuable tool. It is easy to use, is available on every version of Windows, and effortlessly handles a wide range of basic tasks on local and remote computers. Look to it first when working with Windows Services!<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top:30px\" align=\"center\">\n<div class=\"cta-button-1\">\n<table role=\"presentation\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" border=\"0\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\"><a href=\"\/blog\/tag\/windows-services-2\/\" title=\"More articles about Windows Services\"><span><nobr>More articles about Windows Services&#8230;<\/nobr><\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<!-- relpost-thumb-wrapper --><div class=\"relpost-thumb-wrapper\"><!-- filter-class --><div class=\"relpost-thumb-container\"><style>.relpost-block-single-image, .relpost-post-image { margin-bottom: 10px; }<\/style><h3>You may also like...<\/h3><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><div style=\"clear: both\"><\/div><!-- relpost-block-container --><div class=\"relpost-block-container relpost-block-column-layout\" style=\"--relposth-columns: 3;--relposth-columns_t: 2; --relposth-columns_m: 2\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/windows-services\/sc-service-fails-to-start\/\"class=\"relpost-block-single\" ><div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"relpost-block-single-image\" alt=\"Q&amp;A: I created a Windows Service with SC. 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This useful application (pictured below) lists every service installed on your &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/windows-services\/essential-tools-windows-services-msc\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[77,151,196],"class_list":["post-163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-windows-services","tag-essential-tools","tag-services-msc","tag-windows-services-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13286,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163\/revisions\/13286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coretechnologies.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}