How do I uninstall a Windows service if the files do not exist anymore?

Question

How do I uninstall a .NET Windows Service, if the service files does not exists anymore?

I installed a .NET Windows Service using InstallUtil. I have since deleted the files but forgot to run

 InstallUtil /u

first. So the service is still listed in the Services MMC.

Do I have to go into the registry? Or is there a better way?

Answer 1

You have at least three options. I have presented them in order of usage preference.

Method 1 - You can use the SC tool (Sc.exe) included in the Resource Kit. (included with Windows 7/8)

Open a Command Prompt and enter

sc delete <service-name>

Tool help snippet follows:

DESCRIPTION:
        SC is a command line program used for communicating with the
        NT Service Controller and services.

delete----------Deletes a service (from the registry).

Method 2 - use delserv

Download and use delserv command line utility. This is a legacy tool developed for Windows 2000. In current Window XP boxes this was superseded by sc described in method 1.

Method 3 - manually delete registry entries (Note that this backfires in Windows 7/8)

Windows services are registered under the following registry key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services

Search for the sub-key with the service name under referred key and delete it. (and you might need to restart to remove completely the service from the Services list)

Answer 2

From the command prompt, use the Windows "sc.exe" utility. You will run something like this:

sc delete <service-name>

Answer 3

Notes on using "sc delete" in Windows 8:

1) Open a CMD window with elevated privileges. [Windows Key-X to bring up a menu with the option; select "Command Prompt (Admin)".]
2) Use the parenthetical name from the list in Services [for example, I used "sc delete gupdate" when, in Services, it read "Google Update (gupdate)"]

Answer 4

Some people mentioning sc delete as an answer. This is how I did it, but it took me a while to find the <service-name> parameter.

The command sc query type= service (note, it's very particular with formatting, the space before "service" is necessary) will output a list of Windows services installed, complete with their qualified name to be used with sc delete <service-name> command.

The list is quite long so you may consider piping the output to a text file (ie >> C:\\test.txt ) and then searching through that.

The SERVICE_NAME is the one to use with sc delete <service-name> command.

Answer 5

Remove Windows Service via Registry

Its very easy to remove a service from registry if you know the right path. Here is how I did that:

1. Run Regedit or Regedt32

2. Go to the registry entry "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services"

3. Look for the service that you want delete and delete it. You can look at the keys to know what files the service was using and delete them as well (if necessary).

Delete Windows Service via Command Window

Alternatively, you can also use command prompt and delete a service using following command:

sc delete

You can also create service by using following command

sc create "MorganTechService" binpath= "C:\\Program Files\\MorganTechSPace\\myservice.exe"

Note: You may have to reboot the system to get the list updated in service manager.

Answer 6

If you wish to use a tool for it you could use Process Hacker

Form to create the service:

Context menu on a service to delete it:

I find Process Hacker a more convient tool to manage Windows processes and services than Windows's own Taskmgr.exe. Especially on Windows XP, where you can't access services at all from task manager.

Answer 7

I needed to reinstall my tomcat service, which meant first removing it. This worked for me:

Start a command prompt window using run as administrator

sc query type= service >t.txt

(edit the file t.txt, search through the list and find the tomcat service. It's called Tomcat7)

sc delete Tomcat7

HOWEVER, the query command did not work the first time, because the tomcat service was not running. It seems to only list services that are running. I had to start the service and run the query command again.

Answer 8

If the original Service .InstallLog and .InstallState files are still in the folder, you can try reinstalling the executable to replace the files, then use InstallUtil /u, then uninstall the program. It's a bit convoluted, but worked in a particular instance for me.

Answer 9

You can try running Autoruns , which would save you from having to edit the registry by hand. This is especially useful when you don't have the needed permissions.

Answer 10

You can uninstall your windows service by command prompt also just write this piece of command

cd\                                                                   

cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319(or version in which you developed your service)                                           

installutil c:\\xxx.exe(physical path of your service) -d

Answer 11

1st Step : Move to the Directory where your service is present

Command : cd c:\\xxx\\yyy\\service

2nd Step : Enter the below command

Command : C:\\Windows\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v4.0.30319\\InstallUtil.exe service.exe \\u\u003c/i>

you'll see "The uninstall has completed" message.

Answer 12

We discovered that even if you run sc_delete , there can be an entry remaining in the registry for your service, so that reinstalling the service results in a corrupted set of registry entries (they don't match). What we did was to regedit and remove this leftover entry by hand.

Note: ShipmunkService is still showing up after sc_delete!

Then you can reinstall, and your service will run correctly. Best of luck to you all, and may the force be with you.

Answer 13

-Windows+r open cmd.

-sc YourSeviceName this code remove your service.

-Uninstal "YourService Path" this code uninstall your service.

Answer 14

The easiest way is to use Sys Internals Autoruns

Start it in admin mode and then you can remove obsolete services by delete key

Answer 15

Lots of great answers and this really helped me, but there was one thing that was missing. There's a mention of finding the service through cmd with sc query type= service but the problem is that the service I was looking for wasn't running and this command only shows running services (which may be a new feature that didn't exist at the time of the OP answer).

You have to pass the state of the service to the command like this sc query state= all or sc query state= inactive There's no need to pass the type= service because that is the default .

And, as stated above, push it to a text file so it's easier to search sc query state= inactive > C:\\servicesStopped.txt

Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/sc-query