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How to Start or Stop a Service in Windows 10/8/7

Lucas Watson
Lucas Watson

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A service is an application type that runs in the system background without any user interface, and without needing a user to log in to the PC. You can manage them start, stop, and disable actions for services on local and remote computers.


How to start, stop, or disable a service in Services.MSC

This is the easiest way to start or disable a Windows Service.

Step 1: Open the Services snap-in window.

Press the Win + R keys to bring up Run dialog box, then type in services.msc, press Enter key.

Open Services snap-in window

Step 2: Then you Start, Stop, or Disable any service you want to change its action. To start a service, right-click on it, and then click Start.

To start a service in Service Windows

Be careful when choosing to stop or restart services, because if you set these services to Disabled, Windows will prevent them from launching.

Stop or restar a service in Service Windows

Step 3: You can manage a program Startup type by double-clicking on it.

In General tab, you can set a service to run as either automatically, manually at startup when a user signs in to Windows, or disabled a program to speed up boots process.

Manage Startup type

Here are the different startup types you'll see for various services:

Four types of Startup

How to Start, Stop or Restart Services in Task Manager

You can easily start, stop, and restart a service in Task Manager.

Step 1: Open Task Manager.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete combination keys, then select Task Manager in security option screen.

Open Task Manager

Step 2: If it opens in mini mode, click on More details button.

Click more detial

Step 3: Click the Service tab. This tab displays all programs that start with Windows.

Then you can start a Service by right-clicking on it, then select Start.

Start a service

Step 4: To disable or delay loading of Windows Services.

You can choose to stop or restart the Service which is in stopped Status.

Restart a service

How to Start or Disable a Service in Registry Editor

You can start, stop or disable a service by modifying registry key.

Step 1: Open the Registry Editor.

Press the Windows + R keys to open the Run dialog, type in regedit, and press Enter.

Open Registry Editor

Tips: If it prompts a UAC dialog, click Yes. Learn more ways to disable UAC pop-up in Window10.

Step 2: In Registry Editor, go to the location of that service (example: VMTools):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\VMTools

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

Start a Service in Registry Editor

You can set that service to start automatically (Value data = 2), manually, or disable it. If I want to start that service manually, so I type digital 3 in that box under Value data.

Manage a Service by changing its value

Tips: There are a few Automatic services you could consider setting to Manual:

  • If you don't use a printer, disable the Print Spooler service.
  • If you're not running a Tablet PC, disable the Tablet PC Input service.
  • If you don't connect cameras, webcams, or scanners to your PC, then disable the Windows Image Acquisition service.

When you are finished, close Registry Editor, and then restart computer.