Service Control Utility

Windows NT Only

The Service Control utility (SC.EXE) is useful for testing and debugging your service program. SC implements calls to all of the Windows NT service control functions. You can specify any function parameters through the command line. You can create batch files that call SC with various command lines to see how your service behaves with repeated starting and stopping.

SC also displays complete status information, including state, checkpoint number, and wait hint.

The following is the command-line syntax for SC:

sc [ServerName] Command ServiceName [OptionName= OptionValue…]
 

ServerName

Specifies the name of the server if you are running the commands on a remote computer. The name must start with two backslash characters. If you are running the commands on the local computer, do not supply this parameter.

Command

Specifies one of the following SC commands:

Command	Description
config	Changes the configuration of a service (persistent).
Continue	Sends a CONTINUE control request to a service.
Control	Sends a control to a service.
Create	Creates a service (adds it to the registry).
Delete	Deletes a service (from the registry).
EnumDepend	Enumerates service dependencies.
GetDisplayName	Gets the display name for a service.
GetKeyName	Gets the name of the registry key for a service.
Interrogate	Sends an INTERROGATE control request to a service.
Pause	Sends a PAUSE control request to a service.
Qc	Queries configuration for the service. For detailed information, see the reference section, "SC QC."
Query	Queries the status for a service, or enumerates the status for types of services. For detailed information, see the reference section, "SC QUERY."
Start	Starts a service.
Stop	Sends a STOP request to a service.

ServiceName

Specifies the name given to the service key in the registry. This is different from the display name that you see in the Service control panel application.

OptionName

The name of an optional command parameter. You can supply zero or more optional pairs of parameter names and values. For a list of available names, use the command sc command, where command is a valid command name, as listed for Command.

OptionValue

Specifies the value for the parameter named by OptionName. For a list of available values, use the command sc command, where command is a valid command name, as listed for Command.

To display help information for a command, use the following command-line syntax:

sc [Command]

where Command has the values listed previously. The exception is the Query command, which causes SC to list the status of all running services. For help on the Query command, use the command sc and type y at the prompt, "Would you like to see help for the QUERY command?'