How to change the startup type of Windows service to Disabled programmatically in C#

Question

Hi I'm trying to change the startup type of a existing Windows service. Say "Spooler" ( Print Spooler). I'm using ServiceController

   var service = new ServiceController("Spooler");
                    service.Start();
                    service.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus.Running, 600);

Though I'm able to start/stop services I'm not able to figure out how can I change the startup type itself? ( eg: Disabled/Automatic/Manual )

When I peek definition of ServiceController I can see ServiceStartMode being defined. Could someone help me how can I set this option?. My need is to disable a Windows service programmatically using ServiceControl class or any other feasible way..

Answer 1

The simplest way is to use a sc command tool:

Example for changing the startup type to disabled:

sc config "MySql" start=disabled

Note you need to have the administrator privileges to run this command successfully.

Wrapping with C# code:

var startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
{               
    WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden,
    FileName = "CMD.EXE",
    Arguments = string.Format("/C sc {0} {1} {2}", "config", "MySql", "start=disabled"),
};

using (var process = new Process { StartInfo = startInfo})
{
    if (!process.Start())
    {
        return;
    }

    process.WaitForExit();

    Console.WriteLine($"Exit code is {process.ExitCode}");
}

Update: Use process.Exit code to check if process the operation succeeded or not. 0 ExitCode is success.

Note: In case you are running the process/Visual Studio without the Admin privileges, the ExitCode will be 5 (access deined).