How to Get Service in PowerShell: Syntax and Examples

Use the Get-Service cmdlet in PowerShell to retrieve information about services on your computer. You can specify a service name or get all services by running Get-Service without parameters.

Syntax

The basic syntax of Get-Service is simple and flexible:

• Get-Service: Lists all services on the local computer.
• Get-Service -Name <ServiceName>: Retrieves a specific service by its name.
• Get-Service -DisplayName <DisplayName>: Retrieves a service by its display name.

You can also filter services using wildcards like *.

powershell

Get-Service [-Name] <string[]> [-DisplayName] <string[]>

Example

This example shows how to get the status of the Windows Update service by its name and how to list all services:

powershell

Get-Service -Name wuauserv

Get-Service | Select-Object -First 5

Output

Status   Name               DisplayName
------   ----               -----------
Running  wuauserv           Windows Update

Status   Name               DisplayName
------   ----               -----------
Running  AdobeARMservice    Adobe Acrobat Update Service
Stopped  AJRouter           AllJoyn Router Service
Running  ALG                Application Layer Gateway Service
Stopped  AppIDSvc           Application Identity
Running  Appinfo            Application Information

Common Pitfalls

Common mistakes when using Get-Service include:

• Using incorrect service names or display names, which causes no results.
• Not using quotes when the service name contains spaces.
• Expecting Get-Service to show detailed service properties like startup type (it does not).

Always verify the exact service name with Get-Service or use wildcards.

powershell

## Wrong: Missing quotes for display name with spaces
Get-Service -DisplayName "Windows Update"

## Right: Use quotes
Get-Service -DisplayName "Windows Update"

Quick Reference

Parameter	Description	Example
-Name	Specify service name(s) to get	Get-Service -Name wuauserv
-DisplayName	Specify display name(s) to get	Get-Service -DisplayName "Windows Update"
No parameters	Get all services	Get-Service
Wildcards	Use * to match multiple services	Get-Service -Name "win*"

Key Takeaways

Use Get-Service to retrieve service information by name or display name.

Enclose service names with spaces in quotes to avoid errors.

Get-Service lists basic service info; use other cmdlets for detailed properties.

Wildcards help find multiple services matching a pattern.

Verify service names to avoid empty results.