How to change user credentials of windows service from command line?

Question

How to change user credentials of windows service from command line?

Answer 1

sc.exe config "Service Name" obj= "DOMAIN\User" password= "password" type= own

See Shortcut Setting Log-On Credentials for Windows Services » jonathanmalek.com.

@MattT points out that on Windows Server 2008R2 you have to add type= own, but prior to that version it isn't necessary.

In PowerShell 3+, you can avoid escaping the arguments with the stop-parsing symbol: --%

sc.exe --% config "Service Name" obj= "DOMAIN\User" password= "password" type= own

Answer 2

I simply called WMI from powershell to do this.

$Svc = Get-WmiObject win32_service -filter "name='ServiceName'"
$Svc.Change($Null, $Null, $Null, $Null, $Null, $Null, "User", "Password")

Don't forget to restart the service afterwards:

Stop-Service -Name 'ServiceName'
Start-Service -Name 'ServiceName'

For more fun with WMI and services, see Win32_Service Class

Answer 3

Using WMI results in non-encrypted communication between your machine and the machine you are changing the service credentials on. So your new password can be sniffed quite easily. You just have to parse the WMI blob send over the network. By now I found no really secure way to change a service accounts password remotely with a tool.