Start or stop Windows service from command line

REF: http://www.windows-commandline.com/2010/08/start-stop-service-command-line.html

We normally use Services.msc to start or stop or disable or enable any service. We can do the same from command line also using net and sc utilities. Below are commands for controlling the operation of a service.

To stop a service from command prompt:

net stop servicename

To start a service from command prompt:

net start servicename

To disable a service from command prompt:

sc config servicename start= disabled

To reenable a service from command prompt:

sc config servicename start= demand

To make a service automatic from command prompt:

sc config servicename start= auto


Note: Space is mandatory after '=' in the above sc commands

Add user to group from command line

We can add users to a group from command line too. We can use net localgroup command for this.

For example to add user John to administrators group we can run the below command.

net localgroup administrators John /add


REF:http://www.windows-commandline.com

PSEXEC - Remote control another server with your admin account

psexec \\computer -u domain\admin -p mypass -e cmd.exe

Managing Terminal Services Sessions Remotely

REF: http://weblogs.asp.net/owscott/archive/2003/12/30/Managing-Terminal-Services-Sessions-Remotely.aspx

Look:
qwinsta /server:12.12.12.12

Remove:
rwinsta/server:12.12.12.12 3

For example, let's say that I can't gain access to a server using Terminal Services because both sessions are used up. I can use another server to check the status of the first one. As long as the logged in user has administrative rights on the non-accessible machine I would run this:

qwinsta /server:12.12.12.12

Where 12.12.12.12 is the IP address or name of the non-accessible machine.

This will display something like this:

> qwinsta /server:12.12.12.12
SESSIONNAME USERNAME ID STATE TYPE DEVICE
console 0 Conn wdcon
rdp-tcp 65536 Listen rdpwd
rdp-tcp#470 Bob 1 Active rdpwd
rdp-tcp#471 Jane 3 Active rdpwd

Now I know that Bob and Jane are the two that are logged in. Since Jane left the office 20 minutes ago I know that she forgot to log off. I don't know where Bob is but I only need one session so I'll ignore him for now.

To disconnect Jane's session I would type this:

rwinsta /server:12.12.12.12 3

Notice the 3 which is the session ID I found from using qwinsta above.

Yet another option with W2K3 is a new feature that lets you connect to the desktop directly and gain a 3rd session.

If you're like me, you probably noticed that rwinsta and qwinsta seems like strange names. This came from the Citrix Metaframe days which Terminal Services has descended from. It stands for:

qwinsta = Query WINdows STAtion
rwinsta = Reset WINdows STAtion

One final comment. Microsoft has replaced these two tools with Query but since qwinsta and rwinsta is fully compatible with W2K WinXP and W2K3 I choose to use it instead.