OpenService

OpenService

The OpenService function opens an existing service.

SC_HANDLE OpenService(
  SC_HANDLE hSCManager,
  LPCTSTR lpServiceName,
  DWORD dwDesiredAccess
);

Parameters

hSCManager

[in] Handle to the service control manager database. The OpenSCManager function returns this handle.

lpServiceName

[in] Pointer to a null-terminated string that specifies the name of the service to open. The maximum string length is 256 characters. The service control manager database preserves the case of the characters, but service name comparisons are always case insensitive. Forward-slash (/) and backslash (/) are invalid service name characters.

dwDesiredAccess

[in] Access to the service. For a list of access rights, see Service Security and Access Rights.

Before granting the requested access, the system checks the access token of the calling process against the discretionary access-control list of the security descriptor associated with the service object.

Return Values

If the function succeeds, the return value is a handle to the service.

If the function fails, the return value is NULL. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

The following error codes can be set by the service control manager. Others can be set by the registry functions that are called by the service control manager.

Return code	Description
ERROR_ACCESS_DENIED	The handle does not have access to the service.
ERROR_INVALID_HANDLE	The specified handle is invalid.
ERROR_INVALID_NAME	The specified service name is invalid.
ERROR_SERVICE_DOES_NOT_EXIST	The specified service does not exist.

Remarks

The returned handle is only valid for the process that called OpenService. It can be closed by calling the CloseServiceHandle function.

Example Code

For an example, see Starting a Service.

Requirements

Client	Requires Windows XP, Windows 2000 Professional, or Windows NT Workstation.
Server	Requires Windows Server 2003, Windows 2000 Server, or Windows NT Server.
Header	Declared in Winsvc.h; include Windows.h.
Library	Link to Advapi32.lib.
DLL	Requires Advapi32.dll.
Unicode	Implemented as OpenServiceW (Unicode) and OpenServiceA (ANSI).