How to Start or Stop Services in Windows 10/8/7: A Step-by-Step Guide

Services are background applications that run without user interaction or a visible interface. Managing these services, including starting, stopping, and disabling them, is crucial for maintaining system performance on both local and remote computers.

• Method 1: Managing Services via Services.MSC
• Method 2: Managing Services through Task Manager
• Method 3: Managing Services using Registry Editor

How to Start, Stop, or Disable a Service using Services.MSC

This method is the most straightforward way to manage Windows services.

Step 1: Open the Services snap-in window.

Press Win + R to open the Run dialog box, type services.msc, and press Enter.

Step 2: Start, stop, or disable any service as needed. To start a service, right-click it and select Start.

Be cautious when stopping or restarting services, as setting them to Disabled prevents them from launching.

Step 3: Manage a service's Startup type by double-clicking on it.

In the General tab, you can configure a service to start automatically, manually, or be disabled upon Windows startup.

The different startup types available for various services are as follows:

How to Start, Stop, or Restart Services via Task Manager

Task Manager provides an efficient way to manage services.

Step 1: Open Task Manager.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and select Task Manager from the security options screen.

Step 2: If Task Manager opens in mini mode, click More details.

Step 3: Navigate to the Services tab, which lists all services set to start with Windows.

You can start a service by right-clicking it and selecting Start.

Step 4: To disable or delay the loading of Windows services.

You can choose to stop or restart a service currently in a stopped state.

How to Start or Disable a Service using Registry Editor

Modifying registry keys allows you to start, stop, or disable services.

Step 1: Open Registry Editor.

Press Windows + R, type regedit, and press Enter.

Tip: If prompted by UAC, click Yes. Learn more about disabling UAC prompts in Windows 10.

Step 2: In Registry Editor, navigate to the service's location (e.g., VMTools):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VMTools

In the right pane of VMTools, double-click the Start DWORD to modify its value.

You can set the service to start automatically (Value data = 2), manually, or disable it. For manual start, type 3 under Value data.

Tip: Consider setting certain automatic services to manual:

• Disable Print Spooler if you don't use a printer.
• Disable Tablet PC Input if you're not running a Tablet PC.
• Disable Windows Image Acquisition if you don't connect cameras, webcams, or scanners.

After making changes, close Registry Editor and restart your computer.