How do I uninstall a .NET Windows Service if the service files do not exist anymore?
I installed a .NET Windows Service using InstallUtil. I have since deleted the files but forgot to run
InstallUtil /u
first, so the service is still listed in the Services MMC.
Do I have to go into the registry? Or is there a better way?
You have at least three options. I have presented them in order of usage preference.
Method 1 - You can use the SC tool (Sc.exe) included in the Resource Kit. (included with Windows 7/8)
Open a Command Prompt and enter
sc delete <service-name>
Tool help snippet follows:
DESCRIPTION:
SC is a command line program used for communicating with the
NT Service Controller and services.
delete----------Deletes a service (from the registry).
Method 2 - use delserv
Download and use delserv command line utility. This is a legacy tool developed for Windows 2000. In current Window XP boxes this was superseded by sc described in method 1.
Method 3 - manually delete registry entries (Note that this backfires in Windows 7/8)
Windows services are registered under the following registry key.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services
Search for the sub-key with the service name under referred key and delete it. (and you might need to restart to remove completely the service from the Services list)
<Failed to Read Description. Error Code: 2>
Mar 18, 2014 at 16:55
From the command prompt running in Administrator mode, use the Windows "sc.exe" utility. You will run something like this:
sc delete <service-name>
If the service name has one or more spaces, surround the name in double quotes (h/t @geoffc):
sc delete "<service-name>"
Notes on using "sc delete" in Windows 8:
1) Open a CMD window with elevated privileges. [Windows Key-X to bring up a menu with the option; select "Command Prompt (Admin)".]
2) Use the parenthetical name from the list in Services [for example, I used "sc delete gupdate" when, in Services, it read "Google Update (gupdate)"]
Some people mentioning sc delete as an answer. This is how I did it, but it took me a while to find the <service-name> parameter.
The command sc query type= service (note, it's very particular with formatting, the space before "service" is necessary) will output a list of Windows services installed, complete with their qualified name to be used with sc delete <service-name> command.
The list is quite long so you may consider piping the output to a text file (i.e. >> C:\test.txt) and then searching through that.
The SERVICE_NAME is the one to use with sc delete <service-name> command.
Remove Windows Service via Registry
Its very easy to remove a service from registry if you know the right path. Here is how I did that:
Run Regedit or Regedt32
Go to the registry entry "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services"
Look for the service that you want delete and delete it. You can look at the keys to know what files the service was using and delete them as well (if necessary).
Delete Windows Service via Command Window
Alternatively, you can also use command prompt and delete a service using following command:
sc delete
You can also create service by using following command
sc create "MorganTechService" binpath= "C:\Program Files\MorganTechSPace\myservice.exe"
Note: You may have to reboot the system to get the list updated in service manager.
If you wish to use a tool for it you could use Process Hacker
Form to create the service:
Context menu on a service to delete it:
I find Process Hacker a more convient tool to manage Windows processes and services than Windows's own Taskmgr.exe. Especially on Windows XP, where you can't access services at all from task manager.
I needed to reinstall my tomcat service, which meant first removing it. This worked for me:
Start a command prompt window using run as administrator
sc query type= service >t.txt
(edit the file t.txt, search through the list and find the tomcat service. It's called Tomcat7)
sc delete Tomcat7
HOWEVER, the query command did not work the first time, because the tomcat service was not running. It seems to only list services that are running. I had to start the service and run the query command again.
state parameter.
Oct 10, 2015 at 23:44
If the original Service .InstallLog and .InstallState files are still in the folder, you can try reinstalling the executable to replace the files, then use InstallUtil /u, then uninstall the program. It's a bit convoluted, but worked in a particular instance for me.
You can try running Autoruns, which would save you from having to edit the registry by hand. This is especially useful when you don't have the needed permissions.
Lots of great answers and this really helped me, but there was one thing that was missing. There's a mention of finding the service through cmd with sc query type= service but the problem is that the service I was looking for wasn't running and this command only shows running services (which may be a new feature that didn't exist at the time of the OP answer).
You have to pass the state of the service to the command like this sc query state= all or sc query state= inactive There's no need to pass the type= service because that is the default.
And, as stated above, push it to a text file so it's easier to search sc query state= inactive > C:\servicesStopped.txt
Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/sc-query
1st Step : Move to the Directory where your service is present
Command : cd c:\xxx\yyy\service
2nd Step : Enter the below command
Command : C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe service.exe \u
Here service.exe is your service exe and \u will uninstall the service. you'll see "The uninstall has completed" message.
If you wanna install a service, Remove \u in the above command which will install your service
We discovered that even if you run sc_delete, there can be an entry remaining in the registry for your service, so that reinstalling the service results in a corrupted set of registry entries (they don't match). What we did was to regedit and remove this leftover entry by hand.
Note: ShipmunkService is still showing up after sc_delete!
Then you can reinstall, and your service will run correctly. Best of luck to you all, and may the force be with you.
You can uninstall your windows service by command prompt also just write this piece of command
cd\
cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319(or version in which you developed your service)
installutil c:\\xxx.exe(physical path of your service) -d
-Windows+r open cmd.
-sc YourSeviceName this code remove your service.
-Uninstal "YourService Path" this code uninstall your service.
The easiest way is to use Sys Internals Autoruns
Start it in admin mode and then you can remove obsolete services by delete key
