The Windows Service is a computer process that runs in the background without having a user interaction. It usually gets active when you start your computer and it executes tasks silently until you shut down the device. It may start automatically. manually on demand or get triggered by another action.
Sometimes there may come a time when you would need to delete a Windows Service. It could happen if a program you uninstalled, has left a Service behind. In this guide, we show you two methods that will help you to delete a Service in Windows 11 or Windows 10.
Delete a Service from your Windows 11/10 computer
You can delete a Windows Service using any one of these methods:
- Through Registry Editor
- Using Command Prompt
Let us see them in detail:
1] Delete a Service through Registry Editor
First of all, you need to find the name of the Service you want to delete.
To do this, click on the Start button and type Services. From the best match result, click on the Services application to open it.
In the Services Manager window, scroll down and look for the service you have to delete. Once you find, right-click on it and select the Properties option.
On the General tab of the Properties window, you will get the name of that Service.
Note down the Service name or you can remember it as well so that you will have it on hand when it would be needed.
Once you got the Service name, simply close the properties window and the Services window as well.
Now, it is time to open the Registry Editor and then go ahead to delete the Service.
But before you begin, make sure to export a backup of your Windows Services list.
In the Registry window, locate the Service Name you identified earlier.
Once you find, right-click on it and then select the Delete option.
Click on the Yes button when asked for confirmation.
After that, close the Registry window and reboot your PC to apply the changes.
Read: How to restore missing or deleted Windows Service.
2] Delete a Service using Command Prompt
If you don’t feel comfortable in editing Registry then you can use the Command Prompt to delete the service.
In order to do this, open an elevated Command Prompt with admin rights.
When UAC prompts on the screen, click on the Yes button to grant the administrative privileges.
In the Command Prompt window, type the below commands and hit Enter:
sc delete <service_name>
Note: In the above command name, replace service_name with the service you identified earlier.
Once it completes the process, close the elevated command prompt, and restart your device.
That’s it.
You might want to check out the following free tools that help you achieve similar functions with a click:
- Enhanced Services Explorer from Technet
- Total Service and Driver Control.
Read next: How to open Windows Services Manager.
