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windowswindows-services

Modifying the "Path to executable" of a windows service

I'd like to modify the path to my application, but doing so breaks it because the service still points to the old location.

By going to Administrative Tools > Services you can open a properties dialog and view the Path to executable, but there is no way to change it.

Is there any way a user can modify the service path without having to reinstall the application ?

Solution

  • There is also this approach seen on SuperUser which uses the sc command line instead of modifying the registry:

    sc config <service name> binPath= <binary path>

    Note: the space after binPath= is important. You can also query the current configuration using:

    sc qc <service name>

    This displays output similar to:

    [SC] QueryServiceConfig SUCCESS

    SERVICE_NAME: ServiceName

        TYPE               : 10  WIN32_OWN_PROCESS
    START_TYPE         : 2   AUTO_START
    ERROR_CONTROL      : 1   NORMAL
    BINARY_PATH_NAME   : C:\Services\ServiceName
    LOAD_ORDER_GROUP   :
    TAG                : 0
    DISPLAY_NAME       : <Display name>
    DEPENDENCIES       :
    SERVICE_START_NAME : user-name@domain-name