HomeWinBuzzer TipsWindows 10: How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

Windows 10: How to Stop, Start, Enable, Disable, and Restart a Service

We show you how to Start, Stop, Disable, Enable, and Restart a service to save system resources or resolve issues.

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Windows services are incredibly important, but there's also a lot of confusion surrounding them. Users are often informed that a service has stopped without any other explanation and no advice about what to do next. We're going to show you how to stop, start, enable, disable, and restart a service in so that you can feel confident in your use of the OS.

What is a Windows service?

A service in Windows is essentially just another type of program. Rather than being presented to you on-screen in the form of a GUI, it runs in the background, sometimes continuously, to enable things like networking tasks, or intermittently to check for updates.

Though services have seen a lot of criticism over the years for the slowdowns they can cause, Windows 10's are much more finely tuned. For the most part, each one that is published by has a specific task and they've been optimized to the point they require few system resources.

Though there are various lists of Windows services to disable, you're likely better off looking at the ones created by third-party applications. Most have one associated with them, and some run all the time. Others are unstable and will require restarting or disabling to get your PC functioning as normal. We're going to cover several ways you can do so, as well as restarting Windows Explorer services and others so you can continue using your OS.

How to Stop, Disable, Start, and Restart a Service via Services.msc

Windows 10 has a dedicated program to service management, and that should always be your first point of call. With it, you can quickly perform any of the tasks listed above.

  1. Open the Services app


    Press “Windows + R” and type “services.msc”. Press “Enter” or “OK”.

    Windows 10 - run - services.msc

  2. Select a service


    Double-click a service that you'd like to modify, in our case, ‘Downloaded Maps Manager', or more accurately its service, ‘MapsBroker'.

    Windows 10 - services - open service destails

  3. Stop the service


    If the service is currently running, Press “Stop”, then “OK” to end it.

    Windows 10 - services - open service destails - stop service

  4. Start the service


    To start a service, open the properties window and click “Start”, then “OK”.

    Windows 10 - services - open service destails - start service

  5. Disable a service


    To disable a service entirely, open its properties menu and change the “Startup type:” drop-down to “Disabled”. Press “OK”.

    Windows 10 - services - open service destails - disable service

  6. Switch windows service to manual start


    Rather than disabling a service, you can also define that it will only start with manual input.

    Windows 10 - services - open service details - startup type manual

How to Stop and Start a Service with Net Command

is a less user friendly, but often faster way to stop or start a service

  1. Open Command Prompt as an admin


    Press the Windows key and type “cmd”. Right-click the first result under ‘Best match' and click ‘Run as administrator'.

    Windows 10 - Run CMD as administrator

  2. Stop a service


    To stop a service, you must first know its name. You can use either its service name or the display name, like so:

    net stop "MapsBroker"


    OR

    net stop "Downloaded Maps Manager"



    Windows 10 - elevated command prompt - net stop service

  3. Start a service


    You can probably guess the command to start a service. Simply type net start "MapsBroker", or the display name of your service.

    Windows 10 - elevated command prompt - net start service

How to Stop, Start, and Disable Services with ‘Sc' in Command Prompt

The ‘sc' command gives us a little more control over our services, but requires more specificity.

  1. Open an elevated Command Prompt


    Press the Windows key and type “Command Prompt”. Right-click the first result under ‘Best match' and choose “Run as administrator”.

    Windows 10 - Run CMD as administrator

  2. Stop a service


    To stop a service, you need its full service name. You can likely find this in Task Manager if it's running. Type:

    sc stop "MapsBroker". Replace ‘MapsBroker' with the name or the service you'd like to stop.

    Windows 10 - elevated command prompt - sc stop service
  3. Disable a service


    As mentioned, the sc command allows for more configuration. You can disable a service rather than stopping it with:

    sc config "MapsBroker" start=disabled

    Replace “MapsBroker” with the service you'd like to modify.

    Windows 10 - elevated command prompt - sc config service disabled

  4. Change a service's start type


    You can also use sc to change the start type of a service, much like you would with the Services app. There are three possible configurations: manual (demand), automatic (auto), and delayed automatic start (delayed-auto). For example:

    sc config "MapsBroker" start=demand


    Windows 10 - elevated command prompt - sc config service demand

  5. Start a service


    Of course, the sc command can also start a service. For example:

    sc start "MapsBroker"


    Windows 10 - elevated command prompt - sc start service

How to Stop, Start, and Restart a Service via Task Manager

Task Manager is where you're most likely to notice misbehaving services, so it makes sense to address the problem within its interface.

  1. Open Task Manager


    Press the Windows key and type “Task Manager”. Click the first result under ‘Best match'.

    Windows 10 - Search - Task Manager

  2. Switch to the Services tab


    In Task Manager's top bar, switch from ‘Processes' to the “Services” tab. You can also expand the problematic application in the processes view, right-click its sub-entry, and click “Go To”.

    Windows 10 - Task Manager - open services

  3. Stop the service


    Find the service you'd like to stop, in our case ‘MapsBroker', or ‘Downloaded Maps Manager', right-click it, and press “Stop”.

    Windows 10 - Task Manager - stop service

  4. Start a Service


    Find the service that has stopped by clicking the ‘Status' column heading twice or scrolling down the list. Right-click it and select “Start” to enable it.

    Windows 10 - Task Manager - start service

  5. How to Restart a service


    Sometimes a service just isn't behaving properly. In these cases, you can restart the service by selecting it from the list, right-clicking, and choosing “Restart”.

    Windows 10 - Task Manager - restart service

How to Stop, Start, Disable, and Restart Services with PowerShell

  1. Open as an Administrator


    Press “Windows + X” and click “Windows PowerShell (Admin)”.

    Windows 10 - Open PowerShell as Admin

  2. Start a service


    Again, you can use either the service name or display to modify a service here. In PowerShell, enter:

    Set-Service -Name "MapBroker" -Status Running

    OR

    Set-Service -DisplayName "DownloadedMapsManager" -Status Running

    Windows 10 - elevated Powershell - start service

  3. Stop a Service


    To stop a service, set the status to stopped instead. Again, you can use the service name or display name:

    Set-Service -Name "MapBroker" -Status Stopped

    OR

    Set-Service -DisplayName "DownloadedMapsManager" -Status Stopped

    Windows 10 - elevated Powershell - stop service

  4. Disable a Service


    The command to restart a service is slightly different, but can also use the display or service name:

    Restart-Service -Force "MapsBroker"

    OR

    Restart-Service -Force "DowloadedMapsManager".

    Windows 10 - elevated Powershell - restart service

  5. How to disable a service


    You can disable a service via its display name or service name via the following command:

    Set-Service -Name "MapsBroker" -StartupType Disabled -Status Stopped

    OR

    Set-Service -DisplayName "DowloadedMapsManager" -StartupType Disabled -Status Stopped

    Naturally, you should switch the maps service with whichever one you wish to disable.

    Windows 10 - elevated Powershell - stop and disable service

  6. How to enable a service


    If you made a mistake, you can enable a service again with:

    Set-Service -Name "MapBroker" -StartupType Automatic

    OR if you'd like to use the display name:

    Set-Service -Name "DowloadedMapsManager" -StartupType Automatic

    You can replace the maps service with one of your choice. Also bear in mind that you can enable a service as a manual startup by replacing -StartupType Automatic with -StartupType Manual.

    Windows 10 - elevated Powershell - enable service

Ryan Maskell
Ryan Maskellhttps://ryanmaskell.co.uk
Ryan has had a passion for gaming and technology since early childhood. Fusing the skills from his Creative Writing and Publishing degree with profound technical knowledge, he enjoys covering news about Microsoft. As an avid writer, he is also working on his debut novel.