This post shows students and new users the steps to enable or disable services in Windows 11. In Windows, applications and some functions have services that run in the background, usually without a user interface or GUI.
Some of the main services of the Windows operating system run. File Explorer, Printing, Windows Updates, Widow Search, and others are all powered and controlled by the services.
By design, some services start automatically when Windows starts. Others are also designed to start on demand only. Few services will start when activated or will be delayed until all other services start.
Some services also have services for children or dependents. When you stop services for parents, service for children or dependents will also stop. Enabling a primary service may not necessarily enable the secondary or dependent service.
This is some of the basic information you need to know about Windows services.
Startup types of Windows services in Windows 11
As mentioned above, services are important for Windows to run smoothly. However, there may be times when you need to manually enable or disable an on-demand service.
These are the different ways that services are started in Windows:
- Automatic – A service in this state will always start at boot time when Windows starts.
- Automatic (delayed start) – A service in this state will start just after the start time when other important services start first.
- Automatic (delayed start, trigger start) – A service in this state will start right after startup when specifically activated by other services or applications.
- Manual (trigger start) – Services in mode will start when specifically activated by other services or applications or when there are “too many services running all the time”.
- Handbook – Manual mode allows Windows to start a service only on demand when manually started by a user or a service that is especially responsive to user interactions.
- Disabled – This setting will stop a service from starting, even if necessary.
To see how a startup starts, stops, or changes, continue below.
How to enable services in Windows 11
Now that you know the different startup types for a service in Windows, let’s see how it’s done.
First, start the services application. You can do this in many ways – one way is to click the Start button and then search Services, for Best Match, select Service application as highlighted below.
Alternatives, press the Windows key + R on your keyboard to open the Run command box. Then type the commands below and press Enter.
services.msc
Once the Services application opens, you should see a screen similar to the one shown below.
You must log in as administrator to enable and disable services.
To change the startup type of a service, double-click the service you want to enable or disable to open its property page.
In the service properties windows, you can change the startup type of the service to Automatic or Automatic (delayed start).
Click on the Request button, then okay to apply your changes and exit the properties window.
How to disable a service in Windows 11
If you want to disable a service, just open the service’s properties windows, then click on the Stop button.
Then change the startup type of the service to Disabled or Handbook and click the Request button, then okay to apply your changes and exit the service properties window.
How to enable or disable a service from the command prompt in Windows 11
The same steps above can be performed from the command prompt with just a few commands. First, you’ll want to open the command prompt as an administrator.
Then run the following commands to enable a service:
Automatic:
sc config "service name" start=auto
Automatic (delayed start)
sc config "service name" start=delayed-auto
Stop and disable a service:
sc stop "service name" && sc config "service name" start=disabled
Handbook:
sc config "service name" start=demand && sc start "service name"
Replace the service name with the name of the service you want to enable or disable
You should do that!
conclusion:
In this tutorial we have seen how to enable or disable a service in Windows 11. If you find any errors above or have something to add, use the comment form below.
