Modifying the “Path to executable” of a windows service

Question

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 ?

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

It involves editing the registry, but service information can be found in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services. Find the service you want to redirect, locate the ImagePath subkey and change that value.

Answer 3

You could also do it with PowerShell:

Get-WmiObject win32_service -filter "Name='My Service'" `
    | Invoke-WmiMethod -Name Change `
    -ArgumentList @($null,$null,$null,$null,$null, `
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\My Service\NewName.EXE")

Or:

Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\My Service" `
    -Name ImagePath -Value "C:\Program Files (x86)\My Service\NewName.EXE"

Answer 4

Open Run(win+R) , type "Regedit.exe" , to open "Registry Editor", go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services

find "Apache2.4" open the folder find the "ImagePath" in the right side, open "ImagePath" under "value Data" put the following path:

"C:\xampp\apache\bin\httpd.exe" -k runservice foe XAMPP for others point to the location where Apache is installed and inside locate the bin folder "C:(Apache installed location)\bin\httpd.exe" -k runservice

Answer 5

You can't directly edit your path to execute of a service. For that you can use sc command,

SC CONFIG ServiceName binPath= "Path of your file"

Eg:

sc config MongoDB binPath="I:\Programming\MongoDB\MongoDB\bin\mongod.exe --config I:\Programming\MongoDB\MongoDB\bin\mongod.cfg --service"

Answer 6

You can delete the service:

sc delete ServiceName

Then recreate the service.

Answer 7

A little bit deeper with 'SC' command, we are able to extract all 'Services Name' and got all 'QueryServiceConfig' :)

>SC QUERY > "%computername%-services.txt" [enter]

>FIND "SERVICE_NAME: " "%computername%-services.txt" /i > "%computername%-services-name.txt" [enter]

>NOTEPAD2 "%computername%-services-name.txt" [enter]

Do 'small' NOTEPAD2 editing..

Then, continue with 'CMD'..

>FOR /F "DELIMS= SKIP=2" %S IN ('TYPE "%computername%-services-name.txt"') DO @SC QC "%S" >> "%computername%-services-list-config.txt" [enter]

>NOTEPAD2 "%computername%-services-list-config.txt" [enter]

Raw data is ready for feeding 'future batch file' so the result is look like this below!!!

+ -------------+-------------------------+---------------------------+---------------+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+-----+----------------+--------------+--------------------+
| SERVICE_NAME | TYPE                    | START_TYPE                | ERROR_CONTROL | BINARY_PATH_NAME                                 | LOAD_ORDER_GROUP | TAG | DISPLAY_NAME   | DEPENDENCIES | SERVICE_START_NAME |
+ -------------+-------------------------+---------------------------+---------------+--------------------------------------------------+------------------+-----+----------------+--------------+--------------------+
+ WSearch      | 10  WIN32_OWN_PROCESS   | 2   AUTO_START  (DELAYED) | 1   NORMAL    | C:\Windows\system32\SearchIndexer.exe /Embedding | none             | 0   | Windows Search | RPCSS        | LocalSystem        |
+ wuauserv     | 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS | 2   AUTO_START  (DELAYED) | 1   NORMAL    | C:\Windows\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs       | none             | 0   | Windows Update | rpcss        | LocalSystem        |

But, HTML will be pretty easier :D

Any bright ideas for improvement are welcome V^_^