A Free Standalone GUI utility to Set Permissions for any Windows Service

Service Security Editor will help you to configure who can access your important Windows Services. It's an easy-to-use GUI alternative to Microsoft's powerful SC and SubInACL.exe command line programs. However, as with any other administrative tool, please use it with caution!

When you start Service Security Editor, it shows the list of the services running on your machine. From the dropdown, choose the service that you'd like to work with.

For example, we've selected the Print Spooler service in this screenshot:

After choosing your service from the list, click the Open... button to pop up the service's standard Windows Service Security Settings window:

From there, select a user in the top portion and check the boxes lower down to grant or deny him whatever capabilities you see fit. Click the Add... button to bring in an account not yet on the list. And of course, click the OK or Apply buttons to record your changes.

Granting a Non-Admin User Start & Stop Rights to a Service

For example, suppose you have a non-administrative user called Albert Newton who needs to restart the Print Spooler service when it acts up. Unfortunately he doesn't have the necessary rights and the Stop button is disabled when he opens the service from the Services Control Panel application:

To grant Albert the ability to start and stop the Print Spooler service:

1. Start Service Security Editor.

2. Select the Print Spooler service from the list:

   

3. Click the Open... button to launch the Service Security Settings window:

   

4. Albert isn't on the list, so click on the Add... button to open the Select Users or Groups window. Type in Albert's name and hit the OK button to return to the Security Settings window:

   

5. Albert's now on the list but with all permissions selected (the default). Since we only want to give him permission to start and stop the service, uncheck all but those two boxes and click the OK button:

   

6. Close Service Security Editor. Returning to the Print Spooler service's properties, we see that Albert can now stop the service!

   

Wasn't that easy?