PowerShell Commands

Start-Service

Start-Service [-Confirm] -DisplayName* <String[]> [-Exclude <String[]>] [-Include <String[]>] [-PassThru] [-WhatIf][<CommonParameters>]
Start-Service [-InputObject*] <ServiceController[]> [-Confirm] [-Exclude <String[]>] [-Include <String[]>][-PassThru] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]
Start-Service [-Name*] <String[]> [-Confirm] [-Exclude <String[]>] [-Include <String[]>] [-PassThru] [-WhatIf][<CommonParameters>]

The Start-Service cmdlet sends a start message to the Windows Service Controller for each of the specified services. If a service is already running, the message is ignored without error. You can specify the services by their service names or display names, or you can use the InputObject parameter to supply a service object that represents the services that you want to start.

Parameters

-Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is False
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.

-DisplayName <String[]>

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

Specifies the display names of the services to start. Wildcard characters are permitted.

-Exclude <String[]>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies services that this cmdlet omits. The value of this parameter qualifies the Name parameter. Enter a name element or pattern, such as "s*". Wildcard characters are permitted.

-Include <String[]>

  • Default value is None
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Specifies services that this cmdlet starts. The value of this parameter qualifies the Name parameter. Enter a name element or pattern, such as "s*". Wildcard characters are permitted.

-InputObject <ServiceController[]>

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

Specifies ServiceController objects representing the services to be started. Enter a variable that contains the objects, or type a command or expression that gets the objects.

-Name <String[]>

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

Specifies the service names for the service to be started.

The parameter name is optional. You can use Name or its alias, ServiceName , or you can omit the parameter name.

-PassThru [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is False
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Returns an object that represents the service. By default, this cmdlet does not generate any output.

-WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is False
  • Accepts pipeline input False

Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.

<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 objects that represent the services or strings that contain the service names to this cmdlet.
Outputs
None, System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController
This cmdlet generates a System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController object that represents the service, if you specify PassThru . Otherwise, this cmdlet does not generate any output.
Examples
  1. Start a service by using its name:
    PS C:\> Start-Service -Name "eventlog"
    

    This command starts the EventLog service on the local computer. It uses the Name parameter to identify the service by its service name.

  2. Display information without starting a service:
    PS C:\> Start-Service -DisplayName *remote* -WhatIf
    

    This command tells what would occur if you started the services that have a display name that includes remote. It uses the DisplayName parameter to specify the services by their display name instead of by their service name. And, the command uses the WhatIf parameter. That parameter means that this command displays what would occur if you run the command without making changes.

  3. Start a service and record the action in a text file:
    PS C:\> $s = Get-Service wmi
    PS C:\>  Start-Service -InputObject $s -PassThru | Format-List >> services.txt
    

    These commands start the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service on the computer and add a record of the action to the services.txt file. The first command uses Get-Service to get an object that represent the WMI service and store it in the $s variable.

    The second command starts the WMI service. It identifies the service by using the InputObject parameter to pass the $s variable that contains the WMI service object to Start-Service . Then, it uses PassThru to create an object that represents the starting of the service. Without PassThru , Start-Service does not create any output.

    The pipeline operator (|) passes the object that Start-Service creates to the Format-List cmdlet, which formats the object as a list of its properties. The append redirection operator (>>) redirects the output to the services.txt file, where it is added to the end of the existing file.

  4. Start a disabled service:
    PS C:\> Start-Service tlntsvr
    Start-Service : Service 'Telnet (TlntSvr)' cannot be started due to the    following error: Cannot start service TlntSvr on computer '.'.
    At line:1 char:14
    + start-service  <<<< tlntsvr PS C:\> Get-WMIObject win32_service | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "tlntsvr"}
    ExitCode  : 0
    Name      : TlntSvr
    ProcessId : 0
    StartMode : Disabled
    State     : Stopped
    Status    : OK PS C:\> Set-Service tlntsvr -StartupType manual PS C:\> start-service tlntsvr
    

    This series of commands shows how to start a service when the start type of the service is Disabled. The first command, which attempts to start the Telnet service (tlntsvr), fails.

    The second command uses Get-WmiObject to get the Tlntsvr service. This command retrieves an object that has the start type property in the StartMode field. The resulting display reveals that the start type of the Tlntsvr service is Disabled.

    The next command uses Set-Service to change the start type of the Tlntsvr service to "Manual".

    Now, we can resubmit the Start-Service command. This time, the command succeeds.

    To verify that the command succeeded, run Get-Service .

Additional Notes
 You can also refer to Start-Service by its built-in alias, sasv *. For more information, see about_Aliases.  
 Start-Service * can control services only if the current user has permission to do this. If a command does not 
 work correctly, you might not have the required permissions. To find the service names and display names of 
 the services on your system, type `Get-Service`. The service names appear in the Name column, and the display 
 names appear in the DisplayName * column. You can start only the services that have a start type of Manual or 
 Automatic. You cannot start the services that have a start type of Disabled. If a Start-Service * command 
 fails with the message `Cannot start service  on computer`, use Get-WmiObject to find the start 
 type of the service and, if you have to, use the Set-Service cmdlet to change the start type of the service.

 * Some services, such as Performance Logs and Alerts (SysmonLog) stop automatically if they have no work to 
 do. When Windows PowerShell starts a service that stops itself almost immediately, it displays the following 
 message: `Service  start failed.`

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

PowerShell Commands