How to force the removal of a windows service?

Question

I created and installed a .NET Windows Service and now that I deleted its executable file I can't remove it from services.msc anymore with

InstallUtil.exe /u executablefilename.exe

How do I remove it?

Solution 1

At the command line:

sc delete "service_name"

Solution 2

You can try to do theses step in a command line:

>NET STOP YouServiceName
>InstallUtil.exe /u YouServiceName.exe
>sc delete YouServiceName

And, if all these doesn't work, try to kill the executable process with Alt+Ctrl+Del.

Solution 3

Try to install the executable again and then remove it.

OR: Delete it in your Registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services

and restart.

Comments

[Arsen Mkrtchyan]

command you type should remove service what error do you get?

[Arsen Mkrtchyan]

do you try to refresh list? if command is executed without errors, you should refresh services list and the service will hide

[Helen Araya]

I won't mess with the registry.