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Using the ServiceController in C# to stop and start a service

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15 Dec 2008 1  
Using the ServiceController in C# to stop and start a service.

Introduction

Have you ever searched for something small on the Internet, only to find it blown up and confusing? If so, you are like me. Below, I have listed how to use the ServiceController to control installed services. After understanding the code below, you will be able to start, stop, and get the status of a service.

Using the code

The first thing you need to do is, make a reference to System.ServiceProcess in the Solution Explorer of Visual Studio. Some of the veterans out there are probably asking why I am putting these pictures in here. The reason: it is for newbies like me who are not that familiar with adding namespaces and components.

AddReference.jpg

Add_ServiceProcess.jpg

You will see that I added what I call [QUICK CODE]. This is for those who know what they are doing, or if you are like me and you are impatient. I stripped out most comments, and it doesn't display any thing.

The larger section of code is what I use in the downloadable content. It is a console application that checks the status of the ImapiService and performs the opposite operation that it is already doing. Meaning, if the service is stopped, then I start it. If it is running, I stop it.

Once again, this is a very basic description of the ServiceController class. I hope this helps.

//[QUICK CODE] FOR THE IMPATIENT
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
// ADD "using System.ServiceProcess;" after you add the 
// Reference to the System.ServiceProcess in the solution Explorer
using System.ServiceProcess;
namespace Using_ServiceController{
    class Program{
        static void Main(string[] args){
            ServiceController myService = new ServiceController();
            myService.ServiceName = "ImapiService";
            string svcStatus = myService.Status.ToString();
                if (svcStatus == "Running"){
                    myService.Stop();
                }else if(svcStatus == "Stopped"){
                    myService.Start();
                }else{
                    myService.Stop();
                }
        }
    }
}

The complete code is here:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
// ADD "using System.ServiceProcess;" after you add the 
// Reference to the System.ServiceProcess in the solution Explorer
using System.ServiceProcess;
namespace Using_ServiceController
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            // Create an Instance of ServiceController
            ServiceController myService = new ServiceController();
            // Define the name of your service here. 
            // I am using the 'ImapiService' for this example
            // because everyone should have this service
            // After this point, myService is now refering to "ImapiService"
            myService.ServiceName = "ImapiService";
            // Get the status of myService
            // Possible Status Returns: { StartPending, Running, PausePending, Paused, 
            //          StopPending, Stopped, ContinuePending }
            // For more info on Service Status,
            // go to: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
            //             system.serviceprocess.servicecontrollerstatus.aspx
            string svcStatus = myService.Status.ToString();
            if (svcStatus == "Running")
            {
                Console.WriteLine(myService.ServiceName + " is in a " + 
                                  svcStatus + "State");
                Console.WriteLine("Attempting to Stop!");
                myService.Stop();   // STOP the service if it is already Running
                // This next block is for example only to show you the states 
                // that the service is going through when it is stopping
                string svcStatusWas = "";   // This is used for this example only
                while (svcStatus != "Stopped")
                {
                    svcStatusWas = svcStatus;
                    myService.Refresh();
                    // REMEMBER: svcStatus was SET TO myService.Status.ToString above. 
                    // Use the Refresh() Method to refresh the value of myService.Status and 
                    // reassign it to svcStatus

                    svcStatus = myService.Status.ToString();
                }
                Console.WriteLine("Service Stopped!!");
            }
            else if (svcStatus == "Stopped")
            {
                Console.WriteLine(myService.ServiceName + 
                        " is in a " + svcStatus + "State");
                Console.WriteLine("Attempting to Start!");
                // START the service if it is already Stopped
                myService.Start();
                // This is used for this example only
                string svcStatusWas = "";
                while (svcStatus != "Running")
                {
                    if (svcStatus != svcStatusWas)
                    // Check to see if the Staus is the same as it was before
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine("Status: " + svcStatus);
                    }
                    svcStatusWas = svcStatus;
                    myService.Refresh();
                    svcStatus = myService.Status.ToString();
                }
                Console.WriteLine("Service Started!!");
            }
            else
            {
                // STOP the service if it is in any other state
                myService.Stop();
                Console.WriteLine("Status: " + svcStatus);
                while (svcStatus != "Stopped")
                {
                    myService.Refresh();
                    svcStatus = myService.Status.ToString();
                }
                Console.WriteLine("Service Stopped!!");
            }
            // Notification that the program is going into a sleep state
            Console.WriteLine("----Sleeping----");
            // This is a way to pause your program. This is set to 30 seconds.
            System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(30000);
        }
    }
}

Points of interest

For more information on the ServiceController class, check out MSDN.

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here