Start And Stop Windows Service remotely using PSEXEC - windows-services

Question

How to start and and stop a Windows service remotely using PSEXEC? Preferably the syntax to write I tried the cmdlet given below
psexec \\Server -u Administrator -p Somepassword ServiceName

Answer 1

PSService on SysInternals is specifically for remotely controlling services::`
psservice [\\computer [-u username] [-p password]] <command> <options>
where:
query Displays the status of a service.
config Displays the configuration of a service.
setconfig Sets the start type (disabled, auto, demand) of a service.
start Starts a service.
stop Stops a service.
restart Stops and then restarts a service.
pause Pauses a service
cont Resumes a paused service.
depend Lists the services dependent on the one specified.
security Dumps the service's security descriptor.
find Searches the network for the specified service.
\\computer Targets the NT/Win2K system specified.
Include the -u switch with a username and password to login to the remote system if your security credentials do not permit you to obtain performance counter information from the remote system. If you specify the -u option, but not a password with the -p option, PsService will prompt you to enter the password and will not echo it to the screen.

Answer 2

Another alternative to psexec is sc. You can use sc to start or stop services remotely:
sc \\server start ServiceName
sc \\server stop ServiceName
There is no "login" information, so maybe you need to execute
net use \\server password /USER:user
before executing sc command.
One advantage over psexec is that no console window shows in the remote machine.

Answer 3

I can't test this right now, but it ought to be:
psexec \\server -u username -p password net start ArgusCommunityWorkerService
and
psexec \\server -u username -p password net stop ArgusCommunityWorkerService

Answer 4

Using PSEXEC
The below batch file will let you stop and start services on multiple remote machines. Create Computers.txt file in the same directory where the batch file runs from and list PC hostnames one per line.
#echo off
TITLE Manage Services v1.0
SET suffix=%date:~-4,4%%date:~-10,2%%date:~-7,2%_%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%%time:~6,2%
SET /P username=Enter your admin username:
set "psCommand=powershell -Command "$pword = read-host 'Enter Password' -AsSecureString ; ^
$BSTR=[System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($pword); ^
[System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal]::PtrToStringAuto($BSTR)""
for /f "usebackq delims=" %%p in (`%psCommand%`) do set password=%%p
:service
SET /P servicename=Enter service name:
:begin
echo ========================================
echo 1) Start
echo 2) Stop
echo 3) Choose another service
echo ========================================
ECHO.
set /p op=Select an option:
if "%op%"=="1" SET action=start
if "%op%"=="2" SET action=stop
if "%op%"=="3" goto service
psexec "\\#%~dp0Computers.txt" -u %username% -p %password% -h net %action% %servicename% >>%suffix%.log 2>&1
pause
cls
goto begin
Using PowerShell
# Point the script to the text file with remote computers
$RemoteComputers = Get-Content "$PSScriptRoot\Computers.txt"
# sets service name
$Service = "uvnc_service"
# Counter for progress bar
$counter = 0
ForEach ($Computer in $RemoteComputers) {
$counter++
Try
{
Write-Progress -Activity 'Processing computers' -CurrentOperation $Computer -PercentComplete (($counter / $RemoteComputers.count) * 100)
Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 200
Get-Service -Name $Service -ComputerName $Computer | Restart-Service -Force -ErrorAction Stop
Write-Output "$(Get-Date -format "yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss"),$computer" | out-file -append -filepath "$PSScriptRoot\success.log"
}
Catch
{
Write-Output "$(Get-Date -format "yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss"),$computer" | out-file -append -filepath "$PSScriptRoot\failed.log"
}
}

Answer 5

Refering to Microsoft, an alternative is using psservice, which is part of pstools downloadable under following link:
Download PsTools (2.7 MB)
If someone needs to
Start, stop, restart, etc... a Windows Service remotely
as mentioned in the official reference from Microsoft, the appropriate command using the provided executable
PsService.exe
could be something similar to following (Case 1 and case 2), if you are using Windows PowerShell
Case 1: User, who will perform the wished command (e.g. restart) after signed in, is remote computer user with appropriate rights
.\PsService.exe \\Remote-ComputerName-OR-ServerName -u
'RemoteComputerName-OR-ServerName\Remote-ComputerUser' -p
'Remote-ComputerUser-Password' restart ServiceName
Case 2: User, who will perform the wished command (e.g. restart) after signed in, is domain superuser (e.g. DomainAdministrator)
.\PsService.exe \\Remote-ComputerName-OR-ServerName -u
'DomainShortName\DomainAdministrator' -p
'DomainAdministrator-Password' restart ServiceName
PS: Notice in this case the single quoted parameter values for
username
-u
and password
-p
for complex password and/or username
That's it, your command should get executed smoothly, just be patient!