bat file for WinService auto-start & stop

Question

2.00/5 (1 vote)

See more:

I want to create a .bat file, which can be executed on a time schedule to start and stop a Winservice. I created a bat file like that below:

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\installutil.exe C:\myFolder\WindowServices\WinServiceProject\WinServiceProject\bin\Debug\WinServiceProject.exe
Start C:\myFolder\WindowServices\WinServiceProject\WinServiceProject\bin\Debug\WinServiceProject.exe
pause

Then, I create a basic task using Task Scheduler, and then run the .bat file. But I got installation failed. Of course, the exe can't be started. What's wrong in my .bat file for the installation? Appreciate if you can point it out.

Posted 22-Aug-14 7:55am

s yu

Updated 22-Aug-14 8:50am

v2

Add a Solution

Comments

[no name] 22-Aug-14 16:07pm

If you are using a batch file to stop and start a service why have a service at all? Services are supposed to run all the time not on a scheduled basis.

Yvan Rodrigues 22-Aug-14 19:22pm

Not necessarily true. The purpose of an NT Service is to execute a conforming application in the context of the SYSTEM account (back in NT, more options now) without a user logged in and without user intervention.

A service can be designed to execute once and terminate. The most common example of this is services that need to execute once when the system is booted, but never again until the next boot.

[no name] 23-Aug-14 8:03am

Just because you can abuse a form of technology to do things beyond its intended purpose does not mean you that you do crazy things to abuse the technology.

2 solutions

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

Yvan Rodrigues · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-22T08:11:00

Solution 1

C:\Users\Yvan>schtasks /?

SCHTASKS /parameter [arguments]

Description:
    Enables an administrator to create, delete, query, change, run and
    end scheduled tasks on a local or remote system.

Parameter List:
    /Create         Creates a new scheduled task.

    /Delete         Deletes the scheduled task(s).

    /Query          Displays all scheduled tasks.

    /Change         Changes the properties of scheduled task.

    /Run            Runs the scheduled task on demand.

    /End            Stops the currently running scheduled task.

    /ShowSid        Shows the security identifier corresponding to a scheduled t
ask name.

    /?              Displays this help message.

Examples:
    SCHTASKS
    SCHTASKS /?
    SCHTASKS /Run /?
    SCHTASKS /End /?
    SCHTASKS /Create /?
    SCHTASKS /Delete /?
    SCHTASKS /Query  /?
    SCHTASKS /Change /?
    SCHTASKS /ShowSid /?

Posted 22-Aug-14 8:11am

Yvan Rodrigues

Updated 22-Aug-14 8:50am

v2

Comments

s yu 22-Aug-14 14:26pm

Hard to follow your solution. I have little knowledge on this, and just read a reference at http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-schedule-batch-file-run-automatically-windows-7. Could you detail how to do if you can? Thanks.

Yvan Rodrigues 22-Aug-14 14:49pm

Write your batch file:

DOSTUFF.CMD:
@ECHO OFF
ECHO Starting service!
SC START MYSERVICE

Figure out when you want to run it:
EVERY MONDAY AT 10AM.

Read the manual:
SCHTASKS /Create /?

Schedule it:
SCHTASKS /Create /SC WEEKLY /D MON /ST 10:00 /TR DOSTUFF.BAT

s yu 22-Aug-14 15:05pm

In my Service List, the name of the WinService is 'My WinService'. I tried the bat file like that:
DOSTUFF.CMD:
@ECHO OFF
ECHO Starting service!
SC START My WinService
From task Scheduler, it only showed the Task registered and the Status is 'Running'. However, the service is not started through the view on Service List. I don't know what's wrong here. Could you help? Thanks.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 22-Aug-14 18:43pm

You perfectly right. This answer is irrelevant to your question. I'll answer...
—SA

Yvan Rodrigues 22-Aug-14 19:06pm

What is the SERVICE_NAME shown by SC QUERY

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 22-Aug-14 18:43pm

Sorry, this answer is totally unrelated to the question. This is a solution related to one particular service Windows Scheduler.
And the OP uses his own Windows Service. And not some non-service application which could be scheduled by Windows Scheduler.
—SA

Yvan Rodrigues 22-Aug-14 19:01pm

Where in his question are you getting that from?

I want to create a .bat file, which can be executed on a time schedule...

Nowhere does it say that his service has any concept of what time it is and when it should be run. He wants to control its execution from a batch file. He even says he wants to use the Task Scheduler service!

Your solution is to read the man page for sc, but sc allows no control over scheduling, it is for service control. My solution uses sc in the batch file.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 22-Aug-14 19:25pm

Yes, yes, but this is already a service. If runs pretty much permanently and should schedule itself using the timer, if only this is really required.
Task scheduler can schedule other applications, and anything, but reasonable only for regular, non-service application.

But this is not a main problem. OP asks about starting/stopping the service by a command, operations of the service controller. This is the main piece of knowledge related to Windows Services. You completely ignored this code question. Can you see it now?

I really don't want to criticize anyone without good reasons and proper explanations. The problem is that your answer is confusing to OP. Sorry...

—SA

Yvan Rodrigues 22-Aug-14 20:22pm

No, I don't see it now. I've read the OP's question many times, and I think you are offering an answer to a different question. You are answering the question:
How do I start and stop a service from the command-line?

I am answering the question:
How can a batch file be used to schedule the start and stop of a service?

If [sic] runs pretty much permanentlyThis is your assumption.
[it] should schedule itself using the timerMaybe, if it was written to do so. This is your assumption.
Task scheduler can schedule other applications, and anything, but reasonable only for regular, non-service application
Says who?

You are assuming that because in his code snippet he is starting the service with the syntax:
[ServiceName] start
that he doesn't know how to operate sc. I have written many services that can be started by passing start or stop to the executable. In fact, sc did not exist before Windows XP, and that was the preferred way to control a service in NT and Win2K.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 23-Aug-14 1:01am

No. Okay, can you try it yourself? Have you created any Windows Service of your own? If so, try to start and stop you with your scheduler. You see, there is a difference between real problem and how OP sees it. OP tried to use the Windows Scheduler but failed. The solution is to understand that the whole idea is wrong. Even if you implement everything correctly with the scheduler, you will still need to start and stop the service. And neither you nor OP addressed this problem. OP was not asking about it just because he did not realize the problem.

"Runs pretty much permanent" is not my assumption about OP's work. Just the opposite: I assume that OP is not going to run it permanently. This is my advice.

Say who? I say. If you disagree and want to argue, argue on rational basis. Why do you think it's wrong? Main principle is: in science and technologies, there are no authorities.

—SA

Yvan Rodrigues 23-Aug-14 9:50am

LOL, yes between 1995 and now I have created at least 30 Windows Services. Those that need to operate periodically include their own scheduler, and the service process runs continually once started until stopped. Others that are intended to run continually, like a print spooler do not include a scheduler component.

SC is a very handy tool to control services and is one great way to start and stop a service.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 23-Aug-14 21:45pm

Very good.
—SA

Yvan Rodrigues 22-Aug-14 19:12pm

What would you do if you wanted the Print Spooler or FTP service to only run between the hours of 8am to 8pm?

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 22-Aug-14 19:25pm

Sorry, another unrelated question...
—SA

Yvan Rodrigues 22-Aug-14 19:15pm

This may help: Batch files to Restart Services.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 22-Aug-14 19:27pm

This is another different issue: controlling services on the net. Again, not the topic OP is concerned with. I already answered: this is CS.EXE. If you used it yourself for controlling the services, I guess you would answered this way, too.
—SA

s yu 25-Aug-14 7:59am

Dear Yvan: Greatly appreciate your multiple posts. Your extensive experience in WinService applications is certainly highly valuable. Since I have not done this kind of application before, my Q may be too basic. I retried this morning but still failed. My procedure is below:
1) Open Task Scheduler and create a basic task.
2) I set Daily and the Start Time in Trigger, and check on 'Start a program' in Action.
3) In Program/script textbox, I browse to my bat file, which is in the same directory of the WinService .exe file. My .bat file is below:
@ECHO OFF
ECHO Starting service!
SC START My WinService
PAUSE
where My WinService is the name of the WinService in the List of Services.
4) The .bat was called by taskeng.eng, and the failure message shows
Starting Service!
[SC] StartService: OpenService FAILED 1060: The specified service does not exist as an installed service.
That means the WinService info provided in my .bat is incorrect. How can this 'SIMPLE' problem be fixed. Thanks again.

Yvan Rodrigues 25-Aug-14 9:10am

Have you tried:
SC query

It shows two names for each service.
Is your service on the list?
Are you using the "SERVICE_NAME" value, not the DISPLAY_NAME?
Did you start cmd with Run as Administrator?

s yu 25-Aug-14 9:16am

Dear Yvan: I have figured out and solved the problem, which was due to the Service Name in my revised project that was changed. Now I can start / stop my service. Your help is to be credited. Thanks again.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-22T12:51:00

The Windows Services are hosted by the Service Controller. The Service Controller can be used programmatically, or through its command-line control utility called the "Service Control" utility. And, as with any command-line application, you can use it in your batch file. (One alternative way would be using PowerShell.) Please see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_service#Sc.exe[^].

For basic help run "SC.exe" interactively and follow the instruction for getting help. To do so, first run "CMD.exe", it will show you the command interpreter (without it, SC.exe will be closed on every your command), from the interpreter, run SC.exe and type 'Y' for help topic.

You can also find the help on MSDN. Start, for example, here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb490995.aspx[^].

—SA