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I've got a phantom/ghost service. The executable is not running. Service Control Manager thinks it's running. Something needs that service to be stopped, it asks Windows ,which will happily continue claiming it's running. (It's not.).

How can I force windows, at a very low level, to think it's no longer running? Override what scm thinks?

Trying to stop it (via powershell, UI, using the old net, or sc tool) gets error 1061 or equivalent. Obviously, you can't communicate with a process that doesn't exist.

Trying to disable/enable it has no effect, it stays as status 'running'.

Trying to stop via stop-service gets a funny message about a service that can't be stopped on computer '', obviously there's no computer the program is running on, so it's probably printing the program name of NULLPTR.

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  • What happens if you try "Restart"? This may seem nonsensical, but it's a distinct operation from "Stop" and then "Start".
    – Daniel B
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 18:05
  • Error 1061. It appears the windows internals cannot handle a vanishing program.
    – aphid
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 18:07
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    Also, yet again: Dear close-voter: Please do enlighten us about what you think is missing from the question.
    – Daniel B
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 18:16
  • (It wasn't me.) Can you include in your post screenshots that show the problem?
    – harrymc
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 21:00
  • Can you add to the question the output of: sc.exe queryex servicename and the SCM registry export for the service, i.e. under: HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\servicename Thanks.
    – HelpingHand
    Commented Feb 17, 2023 at 21:50

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