How to: Install and uninstall Windows services

If you’re developing a Windows service with the .NET Framework, you can quickly install your service app by using the InstallUtil.exe command-line utility or PowerShell. Developers who want to release a Windows service that users can install and uninstall can use the free WiX Toolset or commercial tools like Advanced Installer, InstallShield, or others. For more information, see Create an installer package (Windows desktop).

If you want to uninstall a service from your computer, don’t follow the steps in this article. Instead, find out which program or software package installed the service, and then choose Apps in Settings to uninstall that program. Note that many services are integral parts of Windows; if you remove them, you might cause system instability.

To use the steps in this article, you first need to add a service installer to your Windows service. For more information, see Walkthrough: Creating a Windows service app.

You can’t run Windows service projects directly from the Visual Studio development environment by pressing F5. Before you can run the project, you must install the service in the project.

You can use Server Explorer to verify that you’ve installed or uninstalled your service.

Install using InstallUtil.exe utility

From the Start menu, select the Visual Studio directory, then select Developer Command Prompt for VS .

The Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio appears.

Access the directory where your project’s compiled executable file is located.

Run InstallUtil.exe from the command prompt with your project’s executable as a parameter:

If you’re using the Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio, InstallUtil.exe should be on the system path. Otherwise, you can add it to the path, or use the fully qualified path to invoke it. This tool is installed with the .NET Framework in %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework[64]\ .

• For the 32-bit version of the .NET Framework 4 or 4.5 and later, if your Windows installation directory is C:\Windows, the default path is C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe.
• For the 64-bit version of the .NET Framework 4 or 4.5 and later, the default path is C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe.

Uninstall using InstallUtil.exe utility

From the Start menu, select the Visual Studio directory, then select Developer Command Prompt for VS .

The Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio appears.

Run InstallUtil.exe from the command prompt with your project’s output as a parameter:

After the executable for a service is deleted, the service might still be present in the registry. If that’s the case, use the command sc delete to remove the entry for the service from the registry.

Install using PowerShell

From the Start menu, select the Windows PowerShell directory, then select Windows PowerShell.

Access the directory where your project’s compiled executable file is located.

Run the New-Service cmdlet with the with your project’s output and a service name as parameters:

Uninstall using PowerShell

From the Start menu, select the Windows PowerShell directory, then select Windows PowerShell.

Run the Remove-Service cmdlet with the name of your service as parameter:

After the executable for a service is deleted, the service might still be present in the registry. If that’s the case, use the command sc delete to remove the entry for the service from the registry.

Практическое руководство. Установка и удаление служб Windows How to: Install and uninstall Windows services

Если вы разрабатываете службу Windows с помощью .NET Framework, вы можете быстро установить приложение службы с помощью служебной программы командной строки InstallUtil.exe или PowerShell. If you’re developing a Windows service with the .NET Framework, you can quickly install your service app by using the InstallUtil.exe command-line utility or PowerShell. Если вы являетесь разработчиком и хотите создать службу Windows, которую пользователи могут устанавливать и удалять, можно использовать набор инструментов WiX или коммерческие средства, такие как Advanced Installer, InstallShield или другие. Developers who want to release a Windows service that users can install and uninstall can use the free WiX Toolset or commercial tools like Advanced Installer, InstallShield, or others. См. сведения о создании пакета установщика (классическое приложение Windows). For more information, see Create an installer package (Windows desktop).

Если вы хотите удалить службу на своем компьютере, не выполняйте процедуру, описанную в этой статье. If you want to uninstall a service from your computer, don’t follow the steps in this article. Вместо этого определите, какая программа (или программный пакет) установила эту службу, а затем выберите Приложения в параметрах, чтобы удалить эту программу. Instead, find out which program or software package installed the service, and then choose Apps in Settings to uninstall that program. Следует отметить, что многие службы являются составной частью ОС Windows. Если их удалить, это может привести к нестабильной работе системы. Note that many services are integral parts of Windows; if you remove them, you might cause system instability.

Чтобы использовать процедуру, описанную в этой статье, сначала необходимо добавить установщик службы в свою службу Windows. To use the steps in this article, you first need to add a service installer to your Windows service. Дополнительные сведения см. в разделе Пошаговое руководство: создание диспетчера служб Windows. For more information, see Walkthrough: Creating a Windows service app.

Проекты служб Windows нельзя запускать непосредственно из среды разработки Visual Studio путем нажатия клавиши F5. You can’t run Windows service projects directly from the Visual Studio development environment by pressing F5. Перед запуском проекта необходимо установить службу в проекте. Before you can run the project, you must install the service in the project.

Запустите обозреватель сервера и убедитесь, что служба установлена или удалена. You can use Server Explorer to verify that you’ve installed or uninstalled your service.

Установка с помощью программы InstallUtil.exe Install using InstallUtil.exe utility

В меню Пуск выберите каталог Visual Studio и затем Командная строка разработчика для VS . From the Start menu, select the Visual Studio directory, then select Developer Command Prompt for VS .

Появится командная строка разработчика для Visual Studio. The Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio appears.

Откройте каталог, где находится скомпилированный исполняемый файл вашего проекта. Access the directory where your project’s compiled executable file is located.

Запустите InstallUtil.exe из командной строки, указав исполняемый файл проекта в качестве параметра: Run InstallUtil.exe from the command prompt with your project’s executable as a parameter:

Если вы используете командную строку разработчика для Visual Studio, системный путь должен указывать на файл InstallUtil.exe. If you’re using the Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio, InstallUtil.exe should be on the system path. Если это не так, можно добавить его в путь или использовать полный путь для его вызова. Otherwise, you can add it to the path, or use the fully qualified path to invoke it. Этот инструмент устанавливается вместе с платформой .NET Framework в папку %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework[64]\ . This tool is installed with the .NET Framework in %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework[64]\ .

Пример: For example:

• Для 32-разрядной версии .NET Framework 4 или 4.5 и более поздних версий: если каталог установки Windows — C:\Windows, по умолчанию используется путь C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe. For the 32-bit version of the .NET Framework 4 or 4.5 and later, if your Windows installation directory is C:\Windows, the default path is C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe.
• Для 64-разрядной версии .NET Framework 4 или 4.5 и более поздних версий: по умолчанию используется путь C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe. For the 64-bit version of the .NET Framework 4 or 4.5 and later, the default path is C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe.

Удаление с помощью служебной программы InstallUtil.exe Uninstall using InstallUtil.exe utility

В меню Пуск выберите каталог Visual Studio и затем Командная строка разработчика для VS . From the Start menu, select the Visual Studio directory, then select Developer Command Prompt for VS .

Появится командная строка разработчика для Visual Studio. The Developer Command Prompt for Visual Studio appears.

Запустите InstallUtil.exe из командной строки, указав выходные данные проекта в качестве параметра: Run InstallUtil.exe from the command prompt with your project’s output as a parameter:

После удаления исполняемого файла для службы сама служба может по-прежнему присутствовать в реестре. After the executable for a service is deleted, the service might still be present in the registry. В этом случае удалить запись службы из реестра можно с помощью команды sc delete. If that’s the case, use the command sc delete to remove the entry for the service from the registry.

Установка с помощью PowerShell Install using PowerShell

В меню Пуск выберите Каталог Windows PowerShell и Windows PowerShell. From the Start menu, select the Windows PowerShell directory, then select Windows PowerShell.

Откройте каталог, где находится скомпилированный исполняемый файл вашего проекта. Access the directory where your project’s compiled executable file is located.

Выполните командлет New-Service, указав в качестве параметров выходные данные проекта и имя службы. Run the New-Service cmdlet with the with your project’s output and a service name as parameters:

Удаление с помощью PowerShell Uninstall using PowerShell

В меню Пуск выберите Каталог Windows PowerShell и Windows PowerShell. From the Start menu, select the Windows PowerShell directory, then select Windows PowerShell.

Выполните командлет Remove-Service, указав в качестве параметра имя службы. Run the Remove-Service cmdlet with the name of your service as parameter:

После удаления исполняемого файла для службы сама служба может по-прежнему присутствовать в реестре. After the executable for a service is deleted, the service might still be present in the registry. В этом случае удалить запись службы из реестра можно с помощью команды sc delete. If that’s the case, use the command sc delete to remove the entry for the service from the registry.

How to find windows service exe path

I have a windows service and I need to create directory to store some info. The directory path must be relative to the windows service exe file. How can get this exe file path ?

10 Answers 10

Tip: If you want to find startup path of installed windows service, look here from registry .

There are keys about windows service

Instead of using a directory relative to the executable, and therefore needing admin privileges, why not use the common application data directory, which is accessible through

This way your app doesn’t need write access to its own install directory, which makes you more secure.

svchost.exe is the executable which runs your service which is in system32. Hence we need to get to the module which is being run by the process.

The default directory for a windows service is the System32 folder. In your service, though, you can change the current directory to the directory that you specified in the service installation by doing the following in your OnStart:

Edit: an even simpler method (but I haven’t tested yet):

This did the trick for me

This will return you the correct path even if running under LocalSystem account which defaults to system32:

If you want to get access of Program Files folder or any other using programming you should use the below code which is provide rights to specific folder.

Install a Windows service using a Windows command prompt?

I want to install a Windows service using a Windows command prompt (not the Visual Studio command prompt).

How do I do this?

19 Answers 19

Navigate to the installutil.exe in your .net folder (for .net 4 it’s C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319 for example) and use it to install your service, like this:

Nothing wrong with SC Create command. Just you need to know the correct args :

If the directory’s name has a space like c:\program files\abc 123 , then you must use double quotes around the path.

It makes things much easier if you set up a bat file like following,

e.g. To install a service, create a «myserviceinstaller.bat» and «Run as Administrator«

to uninstall service,

Just add a -u to the installutil command.

Perform the following:

1. Start up the command prompt (CMD) with administrator rights.
2. Type c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v4.0.30319\installutil.exe [your windows service path to exe]
3. Press return and that’s that!

It’s important to open with administrator rights otherwise you may find errors that come up that don’t make sense. If you get any, check you’ve opened it with admin rights first!

To open with admin rights, right click ‘Command Prompt’ and select ‘Run as administrator’.

Install Service:-

UnInstall Sevice:-

Create a *.bat file beside of your windows service exe file for installing with the following context:

Create a *.bat file beside of your windows service exe file for uninstalling with the following context:

Run each of bat file as Admin to install or uninstall your windows service.

I must add one more point in this thread. To install/uninstall 64-bit version of assemblies one should use 64-bit version of tool. To install a service, the command should be:

and to uninstall the command should be:

1. Run Windows Command Prompt as Administrator
2. paste this code: cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\ to go to folder
3. edit and run this too: installutil C:\ProjectFolder\bin\Debug\MyProject.exe

Note: To uninstall: installutil /u C:\ProjectFolder\bin\Debug\MyProject.exe

Open Visual studio and select new project by selecting Windows Service template in Windows Desktop tab. Than copy following code into your service_name.cs file.

Right-Click on service_name.cs file and open designer of service. than right-click and select Add Installer . than right-click on serviceProcessInstaller1 and change its property value of Account from User to Local System .

Remove static void main method from Program.cs file. Than save and Build your project.

NOTE: goto bin\Ddebug folder of your project folder. Than open Properties of your service_name.exe file. Than goto Compatibility tab. Than click on Change Settings For All Users .

Select option Run this program as an administrator .

Now, You have to open CommandPromt as Administrator. After open, set directory to where your InstallUtil.exe file is placed. for ex: C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319 . now write the following command:

Note: -i is for install he service and -u for Unsinstall.

after -i set the write the path where you want to install your service.

now write the command in CommandPromt as follows:

Note: use stop for stop the Service.