Set existing service to "Auto (Delayed start)"

Question

I'm trying to set an already installed windows service to automatic delayed start in C#. How do I set a windows service to

Automatic (Delayed Start) 

Can't find that value in the ServiceStartMode enum.

Edit:1

public class ServiceAutoStartInfo
{
    [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    private struct SERVICE_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO
    {

        public bool fDelayedAutostart;
    }

    [DllImport("advapi32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
    [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
    private static extern bool ChangeServiceConfig2(IntPtr hService, int dwInfoLevel, IntPtr lpInfo);

    // Service configuration parameter 
    const int SERVICE_CONFIG_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO = 3;

    public bool ChangeDelayedAutoStart(IntPtr hService, bool delayed)
    {


        // Validate service handle
        if (hService != IntPtr.Zero)
        {


            // Create 
            SERVICE_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO info = new SERVICE_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO();

            // Set the DelayedAutostart property
            info.fDelayedAutostart = delayed;

            // Allocate necessary memory
            IntPtr hInfo = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(Marshal.SizeOf(

            typeof(SERVICE_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO)));

            // Convert structure to pointer
            Marshal.StructureToPtr(info, hInfo, true);

            // Change the configuration
            bool result = ChangeServiceConfig2(hService, SERVICE_CONFIG_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO, hInfo);

            // Release memory
            Marshal.FreeHGlobal(hInfo);

            return result;
        }

        return false;
    }
}

This is how I call it:

var controller = new ServiceController(s.ServiceName);
var autoDelay = new ServiceAutoStartInfo();
autoDelay.ChangeDelayedAutoStart(controller.ServiceHandle.DangerousGetHandle(), true);

But with no result.

Answer 1

Look into calling the Windows ChangeServiceConfig2 function, with dwInfoLevel of SERVICE_CONFIG_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO and a SERVICE_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO struct with fDelayedAutostart set to TRUE.

Or, you can do this with the command line:

sc.exe config <servicename> start= delayed-auto

Answer 2

I'm using the following, which works for me on Windows 7 (when run as admin):

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.ServiceProcess;

namespace ServiceManager
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Extensions to the ServiceController class.
    /// </summary>
    public static class ServiceControlerExtensions
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Set the start mode for the service.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="serviceController">The service controller.</param>
        /// <param name="mode">The desired start mode.</param>
        public static void SetStartMode(this ServiceController serviceController, ServiceStartModeEx mode)
        {
            IntPtr serviceManagerHandle = OpenServiceManagerHandle();
            IntPtr serviceHandle = OpenServiceHandle(serviceController, serviceManagerHandle);

            try
            {
                if (mode == ServiceStartModeEx.DelayedAutomatic)
                {
                    ChangeServiceStartType(serviceHandle, ServiceStartModeEx.Automatic);
                    ChangeDelayedAutoStart(serviceHandle, true);
                }
                else
                {
                    // Delayed auto-start overrides other settings, so it must be set first.
                    ChangeDelayedAutoStart(serviceHandle, false);
                    ChangeServiceStartType(serviceHandle, mode);
                }
            }
            finally
            {
                if (serviceHandle != IntPtr.Zero)
                {
                    CloseServiceHandle(serviceHandle);
                }
                if (serviceHandle != IntPtr.Zero)
                {
                    CloseServiceHandle(serviceManagerHandle);
                }
            }
        }

        private static IntPtr OpenServiceHandle(ServiceController serviceController, IntPtr serviceManagerHandle)
        {
            var serviceHandle = OpenService(
                                            serviceManagerHandle,
                                            serviceController.ServiceName,
                                            SERVICE_QUERY_CONFIG | SERVICE_CHANGE_CONFIG);

            if (serviceHandle == IntPtr.Zero)
            {
                throw new ExternalException("Open Service Error");
            }
            return serviceHandle;
        }

        private static IntPtr OpenServiceManagerHandle()
        {
            IntPtr serviceManagerHandle = OpenSCManager(null, null, SC_MANAGER_ALL_ACCESS);
            if (serviceManagerHandle == IntPtr.Zero)
            {
                throw new ExternalException("Open Service Manager Error");
            }
            return serviceManagerHandle;
        }

        private static void ChangeServiceStartType(IntPtr serviceHandle, ServiceStartModeEx mode)
        {
            bool result = ChangeServiceConfig(
                                             serviceHandle,
                                             SERVICE_NO_CHANGE,
                                             (uint)mode,
                                             SERVICE_NO_CHANGE,
                                             null,
                                             null,
                                             IntPtr.Zero,
                                             null,
                                             null,
                                             null,
                                             null);

            if (result == false)
            {
                ThrowLastWin32Error("Could not change service start type");
            }
        }

        private static void ChangeDelayedAutoStart(IntPtr hService, bool delayed)
        {
            // Create structure that contains DelayedAutoStart property.
            SERVICE_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO info = new SERVICE_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO();

            // Set the DelayedAutostart property in that structure.
            info.fDelayedAutostart = delayed;

            // Allocate necessary memory.
            IntPtr hInfo = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(SERVICE_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO)));

            // Convert structure to pointer.
            Marshal.StructureToPtr(info, hInfo, true);

            // Change the configuration.
            bool result = ChangeServiceConfig2(hService, SERVICE_CONFIG_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO, hInfo);

            // Release memory.
            Marshal.FreeHGlobal(hInfo);

            if (result == false)
            {
                ThrowLastWin32Error("Could not set service to delayed automatic");
            }
        }

        private static void ThrowLastWin32Error(string messagePrefix)
        {
            int nError = Marshal.GetLastWin32Error();
            var win32Exception = new Win32Exception(nError);
            string message = string.Format("{0}: {1}", messagePrefix, win32Exception.Message);
            throw new ExternalException(message);
        }

        [DllImport("advapi32.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
        private static extern IntPtr OpenService(
            IntPtr hSCManager,
            string lpServiceName,
            uint dwDesiredAccess);

        [DllImport("advapi32.dll", EntryPoint = "OpenSCManagerW", ExactSpelling = true, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode,
            SetLastError = true)]
        private static extern IntPtr OpenSCManager(
            string machineName,
            string databaseName,
            uint dwAccess);

        [DllImport("advapi32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError = true)]
        private static extern Boolean ChangeServiceConfig(
            IntPtr hService,
            UInt32 nServiceType,
            UInt32 nStartType,
            UInt32 nErrorControl,
            String lpBinaryPathName,
            String lpLoadOrderGroup,
            IntPtr lpdwTagId,
            [In] char[] lpDependencies,
            String lpServiceStartName,
            String lpPassword,
            String lpDisplayName);

        [DllImport("advapi32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError = true)]
        [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
        private static extern bool ChangeServiceConfig2(
            IntPtr hService,
            int dwInfoLevel,
            IntPtr lpInfo);

        [DllImport("advapi32.dll", EntryPoint = "CloseServiceHandle")]
        private static extern int CloseServiceHandle(IntPtr hSCObject);

        private const uint SERVICE_NO_CHANGE = 0xFFFFFFFF;
        private const uint SERVICE_QUERY_CONFIG = 0x00000001;
        private const uint SERVICE_CHANGE_CONFIG = 0x00000002;
        private const uint SC_MANAGER_ALL_ACCESS = 0x000F003F;

        private const int SERVICE_CONFIG_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO = 3;

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
        private struct SERVICE_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO
        {
            public bool fDelayedAutostart;
        }
    }
}

namespace ServiceManager
{
    public enum ServiceStartModeEx
    {
        Automatic = 2,
        Manual = 3,
        Disabled = 4,
        DelayedAutomatic = 99
    }
}

You call it like this:

var serviceController = new ServiceController("Windows Update");
try
{
    serviceController.SetStartMode(ServiceStartModeEx.DelayedAutomatic);
}
finally
{
    serviceController.Close();
}

Answer 3

Update: This only works for setting up new services and is not what the OP asked for:

You can use the DelayedAutoStart property of the ServiceInstaller.

installer.DelayedAutoStart = true;

Answer 4

I believe you need to combine both methods ChangeServiceConfig and ChangeServiceConfig2.

pseudo-code follows:

public static void ChangeServiceStartupType(ServiceStartupType type, ...)
{
    if (type == AutomaticDelayed)
    {
        if (ChangeServiceConfig2(.., DelayedAutoStart, ..))
        {
            ChangeServiceConfig(.., Automatic, ..);
        }
    }
    else
    {
        ChangeServiceConfig2(.., !DelayedAutoStart, ..)
        ChangeServiceConfig(.., type, ..)
    }
}

edit: you also need to remove "delayed-automatic" when requesting non-delayed startup-type. Otherwise it won't be possible to set "automatic" type. ("automatic-delayed" overrides "automatic")

Answer 5

SERVICE_DELAYED_AUTO_START_INFO structure documentation states:

fDelayedAutostart

If this member is TRUE, the service is started after other auto-start services are started plus a short delay. Otherwise, the service is started during system boot.

This setting is ignored unless the service is an auto-start service.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/winsvc/ns-winsvc-service_delayed_auto_start_info?redirectedfrom=MSDN#members

So I think if the service is not auto-start it won't change it to auto delayed, you would have to use sc.exe