DSC Service Resource

Applies To: Windows PowerShell 4.0, Windows PowerShell 5.x

The Service resource in Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) provides a mechanism to manage services on the target node.

Note

This documentation of this DSC resource covers the version that's included with PowerShell prior to version 7.2. The PSDscResources module contains new and updated DSC Resources that are officially supported by Microsoft. The PSDscResources module is available from the PowerShell Gallery.

For more information and updated documentation, see the PSDscResources reference documentation.

Syntax

Service [string] #ResourceName
{
    Name = [string]
    [ BuiltInAccount = [string] { LocalService | LocalSystem | NetworkService }  ]
    [ Credential = [PSCredential] ]
    [ StartupType = [string] { Automatic | Disabled | Manual }  ]
    [ State = [string] { Running | Stopped }  ]
    [ Dependencies = [string[]] ]
    [ Description = [string] ]
    [ DisplayName = [string] ]
    [ Path = [string] ]
    [ DependsOn = [string[]] ]
    [ Ensure = [string] { Absent | Present } ]
    [ PsDscRunAsCredential = [PSCredential] ]
}

Properties

Property	Description
Name	Indicates the service name. Note that sometimes this is different from the display name. You can get a list of the services and their current state with the Get-Service cmdlet.
BuiltInAccount	Indicates the sign-in account to use for the service. The values that are allowed for this property are: LocalService, LocalSystem, and NetworkService.
Credential	Indicates credentials for the account that the service will run under. This property and the BuiltinAccount property cannot be used together.
StartupType	Indicates the startup type for the service. The values that are allowed for this property are: Automatic, Disabled, and Manual.
State	Indicates the state you want to ensure for the service. The values are: Running or Stopped.
Dependencies	An array of the names of the dependencies the service should have.
Description	Indicates the description of the target service.
DisplayName	Indicates the display name of the target service.
Path	Indicates the path to the binary file for a new service.

Common properties

Property	Description
DependsOn	Indicates that the configuration of another resource must run before this resource is configured. For example, if the ID of the resource configuration script block that you want to run first is ResourceName and its type is ResourceType, the syntax for using this property is DependsOn = "[ResourceType]ResourceName".
Ensure	Indicates whether the target service exists on the system. Set this property to Absent to ensure that the target service does not exist. Setting it to Present ensures that target service exists. The default value is Present.
PsDscRunAsCredential	Sets the credential for running the entire resource as.

Note

The PsDscRunAsCredential common property was added in WMF 5.0 to allow running any DSC resource in the context of other credentials. For more information, see Use Credentials with DSC Resources.

Example

configuration ServiceTest
{
    Import-DscResource -ModuleName PSDesiredStateConfiguration

    Node localhost
    {

        Service ServiceExample
        {
            Name        = "TermService"
            StartupType = "Manual"
            State       = "Running"
        }
    }
}