Bat or Exe file to restart Computer Browser Service

craigg · 20 Mar 2017

About 1 out of every 6 times I turn my laptop on I have to restart the computer browser service to be able to connect to networks. Is there a bat or exe file I can create that I can just click on and run to restart the service instead of having to go into the services/computer browser area to restart each time this happens? Thanks.

Pyprohly · 21 Mar 2017

You should really get to the root of the problem, but since this is a good opportunity to brush up on my scripting I’m going to assume you’ve verified the service’s settings are regular and that you’ve exhausted your options, so here are your suggestions in fruition.

Batch (.bat)

Code:

@echo off

set "service=MyServiceName"

>nul sc query "%SERVICE:"=%"
if errorlevel 1 (
    if errorlevel 1060 (
        >&2 echo Cannot find any service with service name '"%SERVICE:"=%"'
    ) else (
        >&2 echo Error
    )
    exit /b 1
)

sc query "%SERVICE:"=%" | find "STATE" | findstr "2 4" >nul
if errorlevel 1 (
    >nul sc start "%SERVICE:"=%"
    if errorlevel 1 (
        >&2 echo Error starting service
        exit /b 1
    )
) else (
    >nul sc stop "%SERVICE:"=%"
    if errorlevel 1 (
        >&2 echo Error stopping service
        exit /b 1
    )
    >nul pathping -n -p 220 -q 1 127.0.0.1
    >nul sc start "%SERVICE:"=%"
)

C# (.exe)

PHP Code:


using System; 
using System.Windows.Forms; 
using System.ServiceProcess; 
 
class Program 
{ 
    static void Main(string[] args) 
    { 
        ServiceController service = new ServiceController("MyServiceName"); 
 
        if ((service.Status & (ServiceControllerStatus.Running | ServiceControllerStatus.StartPending)) == 0) 
        { 
            try 
            { 
                service.Start(); 
            } 
            catch (Exception e) 
            { 
                MessageBox.Show(e.Message); 
            } 
        } 
        else 
        { 
            try 
            { 
                service.Stop(); 
                service.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus.Stopped); 
                service.Start(); 
            } 
            catch (Exception e) 
            { 
                MessageBox.Show(e.Message); 
            } 
        } 
    } 
}

VBScript (.vbs)

Code:

strService = "MyServiceName"

Set objSWbemServices = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\cimv2")

Set colServices = objSWbemServices.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_Service WHERE Name = '" & strService & "'")

If colServices.Count = 0 Then
    WScript.Echo "Cannot find any service with service name '" & strService & "'"
End If

On Error Resume Next
For Each svc In colServices
    If svc.State = "Running" Or svc.State = "Start Pending" Then
        result = svc.StopService

        If result <> 0 Then
            If result = 2 Then
                WScript.Echo "Error stopping service: Access is denied"
                WScript.Quit 1
            End If

            WScript.Echo "Error stopping service: " & Err.Description
            WScript.Quit 1
        End If

        WScript.Sleep 200
        svc.StartService
    Else
        svc.StartService

        If result <> 0 Then
            WScript.Echo "Error starting service: " & Err.Description
            WScript.Quit 1
        End If
    End If
Next

You should replace ‘MyServiceName’ with the name of your service (not to be confused with the service display name, e.g., ‘w32time’ instead of ‘Windows Time’).

Many services can be started but cannot be stopped without administrative privileges. If you know or suspect this is the case with your service, you may need to run the program as administrator each time.