If you manage Windows Services and are comfortable working from the command line, then the Windows NET.EXE command should be in your toolkit. Use it to easily start, stop, pause or restart any service from an elevated command prompt, or in a convenient script/batch file.
Using NET to stop a Windows Service
To stop a service, run:
net stop
where is the name of the service. Be sure to enclose it in quotes if it contains a space!
For example, to stop the Print Spooler service [named Spooler], run:
net stop Spooler
Here is what it looks like on our Windows Server 2016 computer:
Notice that the NET command will wait for the service to stop before continuing. The only exception is when the service is unresponsive or takes more than 30 seconds to comply.
Starting a Windows Service with NET
To start an idle Windows Service, run:
net start
If all goes well, your service [and any other service it depends on to operate] will be started after a few seconds:
How to Restart a Windows Service with NET.EXE
To restart a service, say from a batch file, chain the net stop and net start commands together like this:
net stop
net start
NET will also Pause and Resume Windows Services
Not all services support pause and resume, but if you have one that does, NET can come in handy there as well.
To pause a service, type:
net pause
To resume a paused service, run:
net continue
You may also like...
Essential Windows Services: DcomLaunch / DCOM Server Process Launcher
The Top 5 Reasons to Run Your Application as a Windows Service with AlwaysUp
How to Use VNC to Remotely Access Session 0 [with Keyboard and Mouse!]