Obtains and displays information about the specified service, driver, type of service, or type of driver.

For examples of how to use this command, see Examples.

Syntax

sc [<ServerName>] query [<ServiceName>] [type= {driver | service | all}] [type= {own | share | interact | kernel | filesys | rec | adapt}] [state= {active | inactive | all}] [bufsize= <BufferSize>] [ri= <ResumeIndex>] [group= <GroupName>]

Parameters

Parameter Description

<ServerName>

Specifies the name of the remote server on which the service is located. The name must use the Universal Naming Convention (UNC) format (for example, \\myserver). To run SC.exe locally, omit this parameter.

<ServiceName>

Specifies the service name returned by the getkeyname operation. This query parameter is not used in conjunction with other query parameters (other than ServerName).

type= {driver | service | all}

Specifies what to enumerate. The default value for the first type is service.

Value Description

driver

Specifies that only drivers are enumerated.

service

Specifies that only services are enumerated.

all

Specifies that both drivers and services are enumerated.

type= {own | share | interact | kernel | filesys | rec | adapt}

Specifies the type of services or type of drivers to be enumerated. The default value for the second type is own.

Value Description

own

Specifies that the service runs in its own process. It does not share an executable file with other services.

share

Specifies that the service runs as a shared process. It shares an executable file with other services.

interact

Specifies that the service can interact with the desktop, receiving input from users. Interactive services must be run under the LocalSystem account.

kernel

Specifies a driver.

filesys

Specifies a file system driver.

state= {active | inactive | all}

Specifies the started state of the service to be enumerated. The default state is active.

Value Description

active

Specifies all active services.

inactive

Specifies all paused or stopped services.

all

Specifies all services.

bufsize= <BufferSize>

Specifies the size (in bytes) of the enumeration buffer. The default buffer size is 1,024 bytes. You should increase the size of the enumeration buffer when the display resulting from a query exceeds 1,024 bytes.

ri= <ResumeIndex>

Specifies the index number at which enumeration is to begin or resume. The default value is 0 (zero). Use this parameter in conjunction with the bufsize= parameter when more information is returned by a query than the default buffer can display.

group= <GroupName>

Specifies the service group to be enumerated. By default, all groups are enumerated (group= "").

/?

Displays help at the command prompt.

Remarks

  • Without a space between a parameter and its value (that is, type= own, not type=own), the operation will fail.

  • The query operation displays the following information about a service: SERVICE_NAME (service's registry subkey name), TYPE, STATE (as well as states which are not available), WIN32_EXIT_B, SERVICE_EXIT_B, CHECKPOINT, and WAIT_HINT.

  • The type= parameter can be used twice in some cases. The first appearance of the type= parameter specifies whether to query services, drivers, or both (all). The second appearance of the type= parameter specifies a type from the create operation to further narrow a query's scope.

  • When the display resulting from a query command exceeds the size of the enumeration buffer, a message similar to the following is displayed:

    Enum: more data, need 1822 bytes start resume at index 79
    To display the remaining query information, rerun query, setting bufsize= to be the number of bytes and setting ri= to the specified index. For example, the remaining output would be displayed by typing the following at the command prompt:

    sc query bufsize= 1822 ri= 79

Examples

To display information for active services only, type either of the following commands:

sc query
sc query type= service

To display information for active services, and to specify a buffer size of 2,000 bytes, type:

sc query type= all bufsize= 2000

To display information for the WUAUSERV service, type:

sc query wuauserv

To display information for all services (active and inactive), type:

sc query state= all

To display information for all services (active and inactive), beginning at line 56, type:

sc query state= all ri= 56

To display information for interactive services, type:

sc query type= service type= interact

To display information for drivers only, type:

sc query type= driver

To display information for drivers in the Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) group, type:

sc query type= driver group= ndis

Additional references

Command-Line Syntax Key


  • Sc qfailure
  • Sc queryex