Is there a shortcut to search in the Windows services list?

Is a shortcut to search a service in the Windows services list?

There doesn't appear to be one. Here are two workarounds.


Workaround #1 Export the list of Services to a Text File

Export the service list to a text file, and then use CtrlF in your favourite editor.

To export, use one of the following:

  • "Action" > "Export List ..."

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  • Press the "Export List" toolbar button.

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Example output (services.txt):

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Workaround #2 Use wmic and findstr in a cmd shell.

Open a cmd shell, run wmic service and pipe to findstr.

Example:

> wmic service | findstr -i bonjour
FALSE        TRUE        Bonjour Service                                                         0           Win32_Service      Enables hardware devices and software services to automatically configur
e themselves on the network and advertise their presence.



                                                                                                                 FALSE            Bonjour Service
  Normal        0                      Bonjour Service                 "C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe"


                                                                                                           1940       0                        Own Process    TRUE     Auto       LocalSystem
       Running  OK      Win32_ComputerSystem     HAL         0      0

Note that the above is actually a single line of output that is wrapped by the cmd shell.


Further Reading

  • An A-Z Index of the Windows CMD command line - An excellent reference for all things Windows cmd line related.
  • findstr - Search for strings in files.
  • wmic - Windows Management Instrumentation Command.

I would just use PowerShell. For example matching on the DisplayName (partial matches work here)

Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.DisplayName -like "sql*"}

returns a match

Running SQLWriter SQL Server VSS Writer

You can also use -eq (equals) or look at the service name ($_.Name).