System Start, Stop, and Restart Services in Windows 11

Brink · Nov 29, 2021

This tutorial will show you how to start, stop, or restart services in Windows 11.

Services are an application type that runs in the system background without a user interface. Services provide core operating system features (such as printing, networking, remote access, File Explorer, Windows Search, updates, etc.) and apps to operate as intended.

Usually, Windows does a great job of automatically managing services, but sometimes you may need to manually start, stop, or restart a service on demand.

You must be signed in as an administrator to start, stop, or restart services.

You will not be able to start a disabled service until you enable the service.

Contents

Option One: Start, Stop, or Restart Services in Services Console
Option Two: Start, Stop, or Restart Services in Task Manager
Option Three: Start or Stop Services using net command
Option Four: Start or Stop Services in Command Prompt
Option Five: Start, Stop, or Restart Services in PowerShell

Option One

Start, Stop, or Restart Services in Services Console

1 Open Services (services.msc).

2 Right click or press and hold on the service (ex: "Windows Update"), and click/tap on Start, Stop, or Restart. (see screenshot below)

Start will only be available if the service status is currently not running.

Stop and Restart will only be available if the service status is currently running.

3 You can now close the Services console if you like.

Option Two

Start, Stop, or Restart Services in Task Manager

1 Open Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) in more details view.

2 Click/tap on the Services tab. (see screenshot below)

3 Right click or press and hold on the service (ex: "Windows Update"), and click/tap on Start, Stop, or Restart. (see screenshot below)

Start will only be available if the service status is currently stopped.

Stop and Restart will only be available if the service status is currently running.

4 You can now close Task Manager if you like.

Option Three

Start or Stop Services using net command

1 Open Windows Terminal (Admin), and select either Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.

2 Do step 3 (start) or step 4 (stop) below for what you want.

3. Start Service

A) Type the command below you want into Windows Terminal (Admin), press Enter, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshots below)

net start service name

OR

net start "display name"

Substitute service name in the command above with the service name (ex: "wuauserv") of the service you want to start.

Substitute display name in the command above with the display name (ex: "Windows Update") of the service you want to start.

4. Stop Service

A) Type the command below you want into Windows Terminal (Admin), press Enter, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshots below)

net stop service name

OR

net stop "display name"

Substitute service name in the command above with the service name (ex: "wuauserv") of the service you want to stop.

Substitute display name in the command above with the display name (ex: "Windows Update") of the service you want to stop.

5 You can now close Windows Terminal (Admin) if you like.

Option Four

Start or Stop Services in Command Prompt

1 Open Windows Terminal (Admin), and select Command Prompt.

2 Do step 3 (check state), step 4 (start), or step 5 (stop) below for what you want.

3. Check Current State of All Services

For more Sc queryex command usage details, see: Sc queryex | Microsoft Docs

A) Copy and paste the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter. (see screenshot below)

sc queryex state=all type=service

B) You will now see the current State of all services.

4. Start Service

For more Sc start command usage details, see: Sc start | Microsoft Docs

A) Type the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshots below)

sc start service name

Substitute service name in the command above with the service name (ex: "wuauserv") of the service you want to start.

5. Stop Service

For more Sc stop command usage details, see: Sc stop | Microsoft Docs

A) Type the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshots below)

sc stop service name

Substitute service name in the command above with the service name (ex: "wuauserv") of the service you want to stop.

6 You can now close the elevated command prompt if you like.

Option Five

Start, Stop, or Restart Services in PowerShell

1 Open Windows Terminal (Admin), and select Windows PowerShell.

2 Do step 3 (check status), step 4 (start), step 5 (stop), or step 6 (restart) below for what you want.

3. Check Current State of All Services

For more Get-Service command usage details, see: Get-Service | Microsoft Docs

A) Copy and paste the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter. (see screenshot below)

Get-Service | Format-Table -Auto

B) You will now see the current Status of all services.

4. Start Service

For more Start-Service command usage details, see: Start-Service | Microsoft Docs

A) Type the command below you want into Windows Terminal (Admin), press Enter, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshots below)

Start-Service -Name "service name"

OR

Start-Service -DisplayName "display name"

Substitute service name in the command above with the service name (ex: "wuauserv") of the service you want to start.

Substitute display name in the command above with the display name (ex: "Windows Update") of the service you want to start.

5. Stop Service

For more Stop-Service command usage details, see: Stop-Service | Microsoft Docs

A) Type the command below you want into Windows Terminal (Admin), press Enter, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshots below)

Stop-Service -Name "service name"

OR

Stop-Service -DisplayName "display name"

Substitute service name in the command above with the service name (ex: "wuauserv") of the service you want to stop.

Substitute display name in the command above with the display name (ex: "Windows Update") of the service you want to stop.

6. Restart Service

For more Restart-Service command usage details, see: Restart-Service | Microsoft Docs

A) Type the command below you want into Windows Terminal (Admin), press Enter, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshots below)

Restart-Service -Force -Name "service name"

OR

Restart-Service -Force -DisplayName "display name"

Substitute service name in the command above with the service name (ex: "wuauserv") of the service you want to restart.

Substitute display name in the command above with the display name (ex: "Windows Update") of the service you want to restart.