Uninstall a Windows Service in Windows 7

Question

I created a Windows Service using C# code, it was installed and shown in services management panel. I wanted to remove it then.

Here is my command in Developer Command Prompt for VS 2012.

c:\source\MessagingPlatform\2013Q4\MessagingCFE\ServiceHost\bin\Debug>installuti
l /u ServiceHost.exe
Microsoft (R) .NET Framework Installation utility Version 4.0.30319.17929
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.



  The uninstall is beginning.
  See the contents of the log file for the c:\source\MessagingPlatform\2013Q4\Mess
  agingCFE\ServiceHost\bin\Debug\ServiceHost.exe assembly's progress.
  The file is located at c:\source\MessagingPlatform\2013Q4\MessagingCFE\ServiceHo
  st\bin\Debug\ServiceHost.InstallLog.
  Uninstalling assembly 'c:\source\MessagingPlatform\2013Q4\MessagingCFE\ServiceHo
  st\bin\Debug\ServiceHost.exe'.
  Affected parameters are:
  logtoconsole =
  logfile = c:\source\MessagingPlatform\2013Q4\MessagingCFE\ServiceHost\bin\Deb
  ug\ServiceHost.InstallLog
  assemblypath = c:\source\MessagingPlatform\2013Q4\MessagingCFE\ServiceHost\bi
  n\Debug\ServiceHost.exe
  No public installers with the RunInstallerAttribute.Yes attribute could be found
  in the c:\source\MessagingPlatform\2013Q4\MessagingCFE\ServiceHost\bin\Debug\Se
  rviceHost.exe assembly.

  The uninstall has completed.

  c:\source\MessagingPlatform\2013Q4\MessagingCFE\ServiceHost\bin\Debug>

However when I refreshed services management panel, the service is still there.

It means that is was not deleted at all. Thanks for advice.

Answer 1

Use the sc command line utility:

sc delete <servicename>

Make sure to use the actual service name here, not the display name.

However, sometimes services cannot be deleted without reboot. It is marked as "disabled" then.