Start-Service

Syntax

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

Start-Service
     [-Name] <String[]>
     [-PassThru]
     [-Include <String[]>]
     [-Exclude <String[]>]
     [-WhatIf]
     [-Confirm]
     [<CommonParameters>]

Start-Service
     [-PassThru]
     -DisplayName <String[]>
     [-Include <String[]>]
     [-Exclude <String[]>]
     [-WhatIf]
     [-Confirm]
     [<CommonParameters>]

Description

This cmdlet is only available on the Windows platform.

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.

Examples

Example 1: Start a service by using its name

This example starts the EventLog service on the local computer. The Name parameter identifies the service by its service name.

Start-Service -Name "eventlog"

Example 2: Display information without starting a service

This example shows what would occur if you started the services that have a display name that includes "remote".

Start-Service -DisplayName *remote* -WhatIf

The DisplayName parameter identifies the services by their display name instead of their service name. The WhatIf parameter causes the cmdlet to display what would happen when you run the command but does not make changes.

Example 3: Start a service and record the action in a text file

This example starts the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service on the computer and adds a record of the action to the services.txt file.

$s = Get-Service wmi
Start-Service -InputObject $s -PassThru | Format-List >> services.txt

First we use Get-Service to get an object that represent the WMI service and store it in the $s variable. Next, we start the service. Without the PassThru parameter, Start-Service does not create any output. The pipeline operator (|) passes the object output by Start-Service to the Format-List cmdlet to format the object as a list of its properties. The append redirection operator (>>) redirects the output to the services.txt file. The output is added to the end of the existing file.

Example 4: Start a disabled service

This example shows how to start a service when the start type of the service is Disabled.

PS> 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> Get-CimInstance win32_service | Where-Object Name -eq "tlntsvr"
ExitCode  : 0
Name      : TlntSvr
ProcessId : 0
StartMode : Disabled
State     : Stopped
Status    : OK

PS> Set-Service tlntsvr -StartupType manual
PS> Start-Service tlntsvr

The first attempt to start the Telnet service (tlntsvr) fails. The Get-CimInstance command shows that the StartMode property of the Tlntsvr service is Disabled. The Set-Service cmdlet changes the start type to Manual. Now, we can resubmit the Start-Service command. This time, the command succeeds. To verify that the command succeeded, run Get-Service.

Parameters

-Confirm

-DisplayName

-Exclude

-Include

-InputObject

-Name

-PassThru

-WhatIf

Inputs

ServiceController

You can pipe a service object to this cmdlet.

String

You can pipe a string that contains the service name to this cmdlet.

Outputs

None

By default, this cmdlet returns no output.

ServiceController

When you use the PassThru parameter, this cmdlet returns a ServiceController object representing the service.

Notes

PowerShell includes the following aliases for Start-Service:

• Windows:
  • sasv

This cmdlet is only available on Windows platforms.

• 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, Automatic, or Automatic (Delayed Start). You cannot start the services that have a start type of Disabled. If a Start-Service command fails with the message Cannot start service \<service-name\> on computer, use Get-CimInstance 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 PowerShell starts a service that stops itself almost immediately, it displays the following message: Service \<display-name\> start failed.

Related Links

• Get-Service
• New-Service
• Restart-Service
• Resume-Service
• Set-Service
• Stop-Service
• Suspend-Service
• Remove-Service