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PowerShell Commands

Get-Service

Get-Service [-ComputerName <String[]>] [-DependentServices] -DisplayName* <String[]> [-Exclude <String[]>][-Include <String[]>] [-RequiredServices] [<CommonParameters>]
Get-Service [-ComputerName <String[]>] [-DependentServices] [-Exclude <String[]>] [-Include <String[]>][-InputObject <ServiceController[]>] [-RequiredServices] [<CommonParameters>]
Get-Service [[-Name] <String[]>] [-ComputerName <String[]>] [-DependentServices] [-Exclude <String[]>] [-Include<String[]>] [-RequiredServices] [<CommonParameters>]

The Get-Service cmdlet gets objects that represent the services on a local computer or on a remote computer, including running and stopped services.

You can direct this cmdlet to get only particular services by specifying the service name or display name of the services, or you can pipe service objects to this cmdlet.

Parameters

-ComputerName <String[]>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Gets the services running on the specified computers. The default is the local computer.

Type the NetBIOS name, an IP address, or a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of a remote computer. To specify the local computer, type the computer name, a dot (.), or localhost.

This parameter does not rely on Windows PowerShell remoting. You can use the ComputerName parameter of Get-Service even if your computer is not configured to run remote commands.

-DependentServices [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is False
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Indicates that this cmdlet gets only the services that depend upon the specified service.

By default, this cmdlet gets all services.

-DisplayName <String[]>

  • This value is required
  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies, as a string array, the display names of services to be retrieved. Wildcards are permitted. By default, this cmdlet gets all services on the computer.

-Exclude <String[]>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies, as a string array, a service or services that this cmdlet excludes from the operation. The value of this parameter qualifies the Name parameter. Enter a name element or pattern, such as "s*". Wildcards are permitted.

-Include <String[]>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies, as a string array, a service or services that this cmdlet includes in the operation. The value of this parameter qualifies the Name parameter. Enter a name element or pattern, such as "s*". Wildcards are permitted.

-InputObject <ServiceController[]>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByValue

Specifies ServiceController objects representing the services to be retrieved. Enter a variable that contains the objects, or type a command or expression that gets the objects. You can also pipe a service object to this cmdlet.

-Name <String[]>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input ByPropertyName

Specifies the service names of services to be retrieved. Wildcards are permitted. By default, this cmdlet gets all of the services on the computer.

-RequiredServices [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is False
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Indicates that this cmdlet gets only the services that this service requires.

This parameter gets the value of the ServicesDependedOn property of the service. By default, this cmdlet gets all services.

<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,OutBuffer, PipelineVariable, and OutVariable.

Inputs
System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController, System.String
You can pipe a service object or a service name to this cmdlet.
Outputs
System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController
This cmdlet returns objects that represent the services on the computer.
Examples
  1. Get all services on the computer:
    PS C:\> Get-Service
    

    This command gets all of the services on the computer. It behaves as though you typed `Get-Service *`. The default display shows the status, service name, and display name of each service.

  2. Get services that begin with a search string:
    PS C:\> Get-Service "wmi*"
    

    This command retrieves services with service names that begin with WMI (the acronym for Windows Management Instrumentation).

  3. Display services that include a search string:
    PS C:\> Get-Service -Displayname "*network*"
    

    This command displays services with a display name that includes the word network. Searching the display name finds network-related services even when the service name does not include "Net", such as xmlprov, the Network Provisioning Service.

  4. Get services that begin with a search string and an exclusion:
    PS C:\> Get-Service -Name "win*" -Exclude "WinRM"
    

    These commands get only the services with service names that begin with win, except for the WinRM service.

  5. Display services that are currently active:
    PS C:\> Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq "Running"}
    

    This command displays only the services that are currently active. It uses the Get-Service cmdlet to get all of the services on the computer. The pipeline operator (|) passes the results to the Where-Object cmdlet, which selects only the services with a Status property that equals Running.

    Status is only one property of service objects. To see all of the properties, type `Get-Service | Get-Member`.

  6. Get the services on a remote computer:
    PS C:\> Get-Service -ComputerName "Server02"
    

    This command gets the services on the Server02 remote computer.

    Because the ComputerName parameter of Get-Service does not use Windows PowerShell remoting, you can use this parameter even if the computer is not configured for remoting in Windows PowerShell.

  7. List the services on the local computer that have dependent services:
    PS C:\> Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.DependentServices} | Format-List -Property Name, DependentServices, @{Label="NoOfDependentServices"; Expression={$_.dependentservices.count}}
    
       Name                  : AudioEndpointBuilder
       DependentServices     : {AudioSrv}
       NoOfDependentServices : 1
       Name                  : Dhcp
       DependentServices     : {WinHttpAutoProxySvc}
       NoOfDependentServices : 1
       ...

    This example lists the services on the computer that have dependent services.

    The first command uses the Get-Service cmdlet to get the services on the computer. A pipeline operator (|) sends the services to the Where-Object cmdlet, which selects the services whose DependentServices property is not null.

    Another pipeline operator sends the results to the Format-List cmdlet. The command uses its Property parameter to display the name of the service, the name of the dependent services, and a calculated property that displays the number of dependent services that each service has.

  8. Sort services by property value:
    PS C:\> Get-Service "s*" | Sort-Object status
    
       Status   Name               DisplayName
       ------   ----               -----------
       Stopped  stisvc             Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
       Stopped  SwPrv              MS Software Shadow Copy Provider
       Stopped  SysmonLog          Performance Logs and Alerts
       Running  Spooler            Print Spooler
       Running  srservice          System Restore Service
       Running  SSDPSRV            SSDP Discovery Service
       Running  ShellHWDetection   Shell Hardware Detection
       Running  Schedule           Task Scheduler
       Running  SCardSvr           Smart Card
       Running  SamSs              Security Accounts Manager
       Running  SharedAccess       Windows Firewall/Internet Connectio...
       Running  SENS               System Event Notification
       Running  seclogon           Secondary Logon
    
    PS C:\> Get-Service "s*" | Sort-Object status -Descending
    
       Status   Name               DisplayName
       ------   ----               -----------
       Running  ShellHWDetection   Shell Hardware Detection
       Running  SharedAccess       Windows Firewall/Internet Connectio...
       Running  Spooler            Print Spooler
       Running  SSDPSRV            SSDP Discovery Service
       Running  srservice          System Restore Service
       Running  SCardSvr           Smart Card
       Running  SamSs              Security Accounts Manager
       Running  Schedule           Task Scheduler
       Running  SENS               System Event Notification
       Running  seclogon           Secondary Logon
       Stopped  SysmonLog          Performance Logs and Alerts
       Stopped  SwPrv              MS Software Shadow Copy Provider
       Stopped  stisvc             Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)

    This command shows that when you sort services in ascending order by the value of their Status property, stopped services appear before running services. This happens because the value of Status is an enumeration, in which Stopped has a value of 1, and Running has a value of 4.

    To list running services first, use the Descending parameter of the Sort-Object cmdlet.

  9. Get services on multiple computers:
    PS C:\> Get-Service -Name "WinRM" -ComputerName "localhost", "Server01", "Server02" | Format-Table -Property MachineName, Status, Name, DisplayName -auto
    
       MachineName    Status  Name  DisplayName
       ------------   ------  ----  -----------
       localhost      Running WinRM Windows Remote Management (WS-Management) 
       Server01       Running WinRM Windows Remote Management (WS-Management) 
       Server02       Running WinRM Windows Remote Management (WS-Management)

    This command uses the Get-Service cmdlet to run a Get-Service Winrm command on two remote computers and the local computer ("localhost").

    The command runs on the remote computers, and the results are returned to the local computer. A pipeline operator (|) sends the results to the Format-Table cmdlet, which formats the services as a table. The Format-Table command uses the Property parameter to specify the properties displayed in the table, including the MachineName property.

  10. Get the dependent services of a service:
    PS C:\> Get-Service "WinRM" -RequiredServices
    

    This command gets the services that the WinRM service requires.

    The command returns the value of the ServicesDependedOn property of the service.

  11. Get a service through the pipeline operator:
    PS C:\> "WinRM" | Get-Service
    

    This command gets the WinRM service on the local computer. This example shows that you can pipe a service name string (enclosed in quotation marks) to Get-Service .

Additional Notes
 You can also refer to Get-Service * by its built-in alias, "gsv". For more information, see about_Aliases.

 This cmdlet can display services only when the current user has permission to see them. If this cmdlet does 
 not display services, you might not have permission to see them.

 To find the service name and display name of each service on your system, type `Get-Service`. The service 
 names appear in the Name column, and the display names appear in the DisplayName column.

 When you sort in ascending order by status value, "Stopped" services appear before "Running" services. The 
 Status property of a service is an enumerated value in which the names of the statuses represent integer 
 values. The sort is based on the integer value, not the name. "Running" appears before "Stopped" because 
 "Stopped" has a value of "1", and "Running" has a value of "4".

 *

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. It is attributed to Microsoft Corporation and can be found here.

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