Delete a Windows Service without the EXE

Question

I have a windows service running on a server (that I would rather not reboot if I can).

The EXE for this service is gone (beyond recovery) and I don't have a copy (it was a debugging version that has since been updated).

Is there anyway to remove this service from the services list without the exe that ran it?

possible duplicate of [How do I uninstall a Windows service if the files does not exist anymore?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/197876/how-do-i-uninstall-a-windows-service-if-the-files-does-not-exist-anymore) — Matt Davis, Dec 16 '10 at 22:40

score 32 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

32

Have you tried sc <server> delete [service name] from the command line?

A more comprehensive answer can be found here.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:32

Community

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answered Dec 16 '10 at 18:50

Matt Davis

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score 16 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 16 '10 at 18:50

16

Try:

sc delete servicename

answered Dec 16 '10 at 18:50

barti_ddu

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score 14 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 15 '14 at 19:26

Note that sc delete servicename works, but the servicename is the 'KeyName'.

E.g. For Confluence, you will see "Atlassian Confluence" in the list of services. This is the 'Descriptive' name. To remove it type:

sc GetKeyName "Atlassian Confluence"

In my case this returned Confluence150114140910. So I then typed:

sc delete Confluence150114140910

score 3 · Answer 4 · edited Mar 25 '15 at 13:45

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Use autoruns tool (formerly by sysinternals, now on Microsoft site), it lets you manage services and drivers (their records in registry).

edited Mar 25 '15 at 13:45

Tan

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answered Dec 16 '10 at 18:51

Eugene Mayevski 'Callback

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score 2 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 10 '14 at 16:50

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You can also use the register

Start > Run > regedit
Goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services
Delete the folder of your service.
Restart your system.

edited Jun 10 '14 at 16:50

Zong

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answered Mar 02 '11 at 14:36

msjonathan

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score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Sep 19 '15 at 09:33

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this works great (need admin cmd )

C:\Windows\system32>sc GetKeyName "SERVER"
[SC] GetServiceKeyName Êxito
Nome = SERVER

C:\Windows\system32>sc delete "SERVER"
[SC] DeleteService Êxito

C:\Windows\system32>sc delete "SERVER 2"
[SC] DeleteService Êxito

edited Sep 19 '15 at 09:33

Reins

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answered Sep 19 '15 at 08:59

custume

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Delete a Windows Service without the EXE

6 Answers6