How to escape special characters in SC Config command

Question

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to log on in one service with a specific user and password so I run this command in command line:

SC config ServiceName type= "own" obj= "user" Password= "password"

Supposedly everything is ok because the message I get is:

[SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS

But When I try to run the service again once I change the configuration in command line I get this:

SC start ServiceName

[SC] StartService FAILED 1069:

The service did not start due to a logon failure.

I think the problem is the password which contains special characters like %\"@: so I don't know how can I escape in order the command works correctly.

If somebody knows How Can I fix it that would be great.

Thanks a lot

Answer 1

Has the user account (obj= "user") in the SC.exe ever been used to log on as a service before? If not, grant that user the "Log on as a service" right.

The only character in your double-quoted password that might, I think, need to be escaped is the "%". If it needs to be escaped try doubling it, or maybe using a "^". So, your password may have to become p8tAGO:bn4P]\b@%%. or p8tAGO:bn4P]\b@^%

I don't believe that's a PowerShell thing, though. SC.exe (like many DOS exe's) may be handling the parameter values all by itself, even after all the other quoting and special character escaping that the shell handles.

Answer 2

The only thing I see in the characters you listed is the doublequote. You escape that like this:

SC config ServiceName type= "own" obj= "user" Password= "passw`"ord"  

Or like this, by using singlequotes to surround the literal:

SC config ServiceName type= "own" obj= "user" Password= 'passw"ord'  

Since you didn't have a problem setting the password I don't think that's where your problem lies. Did you change the password of the user to agree with the password you configured the service to run as?

Answer 3

Hi Again,

The password was changed and now contains :]@%

Do you know How to escape any of them please?

Thanks a lor for your previous answer, really appreciated

Answer 4

And also backslash \

Thanks

Answer 5

Password could be this one:

p8tAGO:bn4P]\b@%