C# and Services

Jason

I'm trying to use remote task scheduler and make sure the service is running on the remote machine. I use the following. Notice the servicename is Alerter. That works, but when I try Task Scheduler I get an error. I noticed that Task Scheduler is listed as a Local System instead of a Local Service in Services. Any ideas?

                ServiceController sc = new ServiceController();
                sc.MachineName = "computer name";
                sc.ServiceName = "Alerter";
                MessageBox.Show(sc.Status.ToString());
                if (!sc.CanStop)
                    sc.Start();

8 Replies

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Guest User15y ago
Accepted answer
There's a difference between the "display name" of the service (i.e. what you see in the Services app) and the "key name". If you open a command prompt and enter the following command:

sc GetKeyName "Task Scheduler"

The following output is generated:

[SC] GetServiceKeyName SUCCESS
Name = Schedule

So if you set sc.ServiceName = "Schedule" in your code, it should work.

For Alerter, the display and key names are both "Alerter" which is why your code worked for that service.
Jason15y ago
Done sir. Have a good one.
Guest User15y ago
Great! Glad I could help.

If you have a minute, could you mark my reply as the accepted answer? I'd appreciate it!
Jason15y ago
Yeah, it must have been that part that was messing with the MachineName too. It's working fine now.
Guest User15y ago
I ran your code locally and I was able to access a remote server and start a service with it. I didn't use the \\ notation in the machine name.

Can you ping that server using the same name as your MachineName setting?
Jason15y ago
That worked thanks! Now I have an issue with sc MachineName it doesn't seem to like the actual computer name with or without the \\'s
Jason15y ago
Sorry for the confusion, Alerter is fine, it works, I was just using it as an example. I assumed that any service would work but Task Scheduler doesn't. The service is running already, set to manual etc. The issue is I get the error saying that the system can't find Task Scheduler or it's not an installed service. Which obviously it is. I double checked the name to make sure I didn't have any typos. I was just wondering if there was some difference in the type of services.
Guest User15y ago
If the Alerter service is set to startup type "Disabled", then you won't be able to start it remotely.

Try changing the startup type to Manual and then re-run your code.