Programmatically determine if a Windows Service is running and stop it

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The ServiceController class makes it easy to retrieve information about a windows service and manipulate it. Here’s some code. Before running this example, make sure you have added a reference to System.ServiceProcess

C#

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    try
    {
       ServiceController controller = new ServiceController("SERVICENAME");

        if (controller.Status.Equals(ServiceControllerStatus.Running)
            && controller.CanStop)
        {
            controller.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("Service Stopped");
        }         
        Console.ReadLine();
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
    }
}

VB.NET

Shared Sub Main(ByVal args() As String)
    Try
        Dim controller As New ServiceController("SERVICENAME")

        If controller.Status.Equals(ServiceControllerStatus.Running)_

          AndAlso controller.CanStop Then
            controller.Stop()
            Console.WriteLine("Service Stopped")
        End If
        Console.ReadLine()
    Catch ex As Exception
        Console.WriteLine(ex.Message)
    End Try
End Sub

Make sure you have permission to stop the service or else you will get an exception.

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About The Author

Suprotim Agarwal, Developer Technologies MVP (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional) is the founder and contributor for DevCurry, DotNetCurry and SQLServerCurry. He is the Chief Editor of a Developer Magazine called DNC Magazine. He has also authored two Books - 51 Recipes using jQuery with ASP.NET Controls. and The Absolutely Awesome jQuery CookBook.

Follow him on twitter @suprotimagarwal.