How to delete a service on Windows 10
Apps can, and do, run services. The service may continue to run even if the app itself isn’t running and in some cases, uninstalling the app might still leave the service running. In this case, you will have to manually delete a service in order to get it to stop running. Here’s how.
A word of caution
Deleting a service is not something you should take lightly. Make sure you know the correct name of the service that you want to delete. Deleting an essential service can break something and fixing it won’t be easy.
Need to restart a service on Windows 10? It’s easy.
Delete a service
Since it’s essential that you know the name of the service you want to delete, you should look it up and get the precise name. Search for, and open Computer Management in Windows Search.
In the column on the left, expand Services and Application. Under it, select Services. Select the service that you want to delete, double-click it, and you will see a Description. Read it to make absolutely sure that you have the correct service. Once you’re absolutely certain that you’ve identified the correct service, copy its name from the same window.
Open Command Prompt with admin rights and run the following command;
Syntax
sc delete service-name
Example
sc delete gupdate
Tap Enter and the service will be deleted. You will see a message in Command Prompt telling you the service was deleted successfully.
If you have accidentally deleted a service that you later realize was essential, and it came from an app, you can try uninstalling the app and installing it again. Some apps, desktop ones, also have a repair option.
To check if an app has a repair option, you can search for it in Control Panel, select it, and click Uninstall. The uninstaller may present you with a repair option. If it doesn’t, exit the uninstaller. Download the app’s installer again and run it. Check if it shows you a repair option. If it does, use it and see if that fixes the problem.
If you’ve deleted a system service, there’s little you can do to get it back. Try running the Windows troubleshooter to see if it fixes the problem. If the service is associated with a feature, check if there’s a way to reset or uninstall and reinstall it. UWP apps can be reset and some of Windows 10 features can be reset. In the event your system is broken beyond repair after deleting a service, you will have to either create a new user for yourself or reset Windows 10.
