{"id":11811,"date":"2011-12-12T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-12T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.technet.microsoft.com\/heyscriptingguy\/2011\/12\/12\/use-a-powershell-script-to-start-non-running-automatic-services\/"},"modified":"2011-12-12T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T00:01:00","slug":"use-a-powershell-script-to-start-non-running-automatic-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/scripting\/use-a-powershell-script-to-start-non-running-automatic-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Use a PowerShell Script to Start Non-Running Automatic Services"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary<\/b>: Guest blogger, Karl Mitschke, discusses a Windows PowerShell script to start non-running services that are set to start automatically.<\/p>\n

Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here. Our guest blogger today is Karl Mitschke, one of the authors of the Windows PowerShell 2.0 Bible<\/a>. Here is a little bit about Karl.<\/p>\n

Karl Mitschke is an IT veteran with over 20 years of experience. He has specialized in messaging since the early 1990s. Karl has been automating tasks with script since moving to Microsoft Exchange 5.0, starting with WinBatch. He started using Windows PowerShell in 2007 when he moved to Exchange Server 2007. When he’s not writing Windows PowerShell scripts, or writing about  Windows PowerShell scripts, Karl enjoys spending time with his bride, Sherry, and their two dogs.
Blog: Unlock-PowerShell<\/a>
Windows PowerShell 2.0 Bible<\/a><\/p>\n

Starting services on remote servers<\/h2>\n

In the “Performing Advanced Server Management” chapter in the Windows PowerShell 2.0 Bible<\/a>, I presented a script that would start services on remote servers that are set to start automatically and were not started. Due to the constraints of the book, the script was severely limited. That script is shown here.<\/p>\n

$Computers = “FileServer01”,”FileServer02”
$WmiObject = @{
Class = “Win32_Service”
Filter = “StartMode=’Auto’ and State!=’Running’”
}
foreach ($Computer in $Computers)
{
foreach ($Svc in Get-WmiObject @WmiObject -ComputerName $Computer)
{
Write-Host “Starting the” $Svc.DisplayName “service on $Computer”
$Svc.StartService() | Out-Null
}
}<\/p>\n

This was fine, but the script could really use some improvement. For one thing, you needed to hard code the server names. In addition, it did not accept credentials, you could not simulate the action, and there was no Help.<\/p>\n

The concept was sound, however, so I decided to extend the script to put it into production at work, where I use it to verify that services are running after performing updates on our Exchange Server infrastructure. Unfortunately, extending the script makes it too long for the book and too long for this blog. The complete script is available in the Scripting Guys Script Repository<\/a>, but I will discuss highlights of the script in this blog post.<\/p>\n

Extending the script with Help<\/h2>\n

The first several objections are easy to overcome with advanced parameters. The final objection is overcome with comment-based Help. Windows PowerShell even includes a method to add Help. I am referring to the built in Get-Help<\/b> cmdlet. In fact, you can potentially get more Help than you will ever need by typing the following script into your Windows PowerShell console:<\/p>\n

Get-Help -Name functions_advanced_parameters<\/p>\n

Get-Help -Name about_comment_based_help<\/p>\n

The Help about advanced parameters is too verbose to summarize, so I would suggest that you read it and familiarize yourself with the content.<\/p>\n

The Help for comment-based Help shows that for script-based Help, comment-based Help can appear in two locations:<\/p>\n