Summary

This article will discuss one possible method of manually closing a Windows Service using a custom action.

Synopsis

This article will discuss one possible method of manually closing a Windows Service using a custom action.

Discussion

To manually stop a windows service create the following Custom Action:

Type: New EXE , Path referencing a directory

Working Directory: SystemFolder

File Name and Command Line: cmd.exe /c "[WindowsFolder]system32\sc.exe stop NAME_OF_SERVICE"

Return Processing: Synchronous (Check Exit code)

In-Script Execution: Immediate Execution

NOTE: Closing Windows Services will require elevated privileges, the MSI will not elevate itself until after the InstallValidate action. Therefore care should be taken to place this custom action after InstallValidate if using a single MSI release.

If this custom action must be placed before InstallValidate we can force the MSI to run with elevated priviledges from the outset by using a Setup Launcher.

Within the setup.exe tab of your release make sure that the "Required Execution Level" is "Administrator".

This will force the setup.exe to request Admin priviledges which are then carried over to the MSI allowing the custom action to run earlier than InstallValidate.

Additional Information

Further information regarding the SC tool including its parameters can be found in the following Microsoft article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/251192