Are there any log file about Windows Services Status?

Question

I want to figure out when the services was start up and terminated. Are there any kind log file about it?

Answer 1

Take a look at the System log in Windows EventViewer (eventvwr from the command line).
You should see entries with source as 'Service Control Manager'. e.g. on my WinXP machine,

Event Type: Information
Event Source:   Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID:   7036
Date:       7/1/2009
Time:       12:09:43 PM
User:       N/A
Computer:   MyMachine
Description:
The Background Intelligent Transfer Service service entered the running state.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Answer 2

Under Windows 7, open the Event Viewer. You can do this the way Gishu suggested for XP, typing eventvwr from the command line, or by opening the Control Panel, selecting System and Security, then Administrative Tools and finally Event Viewer. It may require UAC approval or an admin password.

In the left pane, expand Windows Logs and then System. You can filter the logs with Filter Current Log... from the Actions pane on the right and selecting "Service Control Manager." Or, depending on why you want this information, you might just need to look through the Error entries.

The actual log entry pane (not shown) is pretty user-friendly and self-explanatory. You'll be looking for messages like the following:

"The Praxco Assistant service entered the stopped state."
"The Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) service entered the running state."
"The MySQL service terminated unexpectedly. It has done this 3 time(s)."

Answer 3

Through the Computer management console, navigate through Event Viewer > Windows Logs > System. Every services that change state will be logged here.

You'll see info like: The XXXX service entered the running state or The XXXX service entered the stopped state, etc.

Answer 4

The most likely place to find this sort of information is in the event viewer (under Administrative tools in XP or run eventvwr) This is where most services log warnings errors etc.