Programmatically determine if a Windows Service is running and stop it

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, ASP.NET Architecture MVP works as an Architect Consultant and provides consultancy on how to design and develop Web applications.

Suprotim is also the founder and primary contributor to DevCurry, DotNetCurry and SQLServerCurry. He has also written an EBook 51 Recipes using jQuery with ASP.NET Controls.

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