How to Start,Stop Services with Powershell

As IT Professional it's very important to have the right tools for managing system services and automating tasks that it's possible. PowerShell can efficiently perform theses tasks.  With PowerShell, you can simplify complex operations and automate tasks your day routine

Today I will explain how can manage Windows Services with PowerShell.

Because you will need to know where to find the Display Name of the Service let's see how can find it.

• Open the Services
• Double click on the Specific service that you want and you will see the Display Name

How to restart a Service with PowerShell

A very common scenario is to restart a Service because something it's not going very well. So you want to be sure that the service is working as expected.

Restart-Service -Name <Service Name>

For example let's resstart the AnyDesk Service

Restart-Service -Name AnyDesk

However you can restart the Service with the Display Name instead of Service Name.

Be carefully to include the Display Name in quotes if it's more than one word

For example 

Restart-Service -Display Name "AnyDesk Service"

With the Restart-Service you can use the -PassThru option that returns an object that represent the status of the Service.

Let's see the difference

Restart-Service -Display Name "AnyDesk Service" -PassThru

How to stop a Service PowerShell

You can start a Windows Service with the following simple command

Stop-Service -Name <Service Name>

For example let's stop the AnyDesk Service

Stop-Service -Name AnyDesk

However you can stop the Service with the Display Name instead of Service Name.

Be carefully to include the Display Name in quotes if it's more than one word.

For example 

Stop-Service -Display Name "AnyDesk Service"

With the Stop-Service you can use the -PassThru option that returns an object that represent the status of the Service.

Let's see the difference

Stop-Service -Display Name "AnyDesk Service" -PassThru

How to start a Service with PowerShell

The command to start a Service with PowerShell is similar with the Stop-Service.

Start-Service -Name <Service Name>

For example let's start the AnyDesk Service

Start-Service -Name AnyDesk

However you can start the Service with the Display Name instead of Service Name.

Be carefully to include the Display Name in quotes if it's more than one word.

For example 

Start-Service -Display Name "AnyDesk Service"

With the Start-Service you can use the -PassThru option that returns an object that represent the status of the Service.

Let's see the difference

Start-Service -Display Name "AnyDesk Service" -PassThru

How to list services with PowerShell

Another one usefully command that can use with PowerShell is the Get-Service that list all the Services of the Windows.

Let's see how can use it

Get-Service

However if you want to find a specific service it's very difficult to search in this list.

In this case you can use the command

Get-Service -Name any*

Basic commands that can help you when you need to work with PowerShell.

Let's see you in the next article.