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How to uninstall a windows service and delete its files without rebooting

Asked 2008-11-18T18:06:43.997
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My current project involves deploying an upgraded .exe file that runs as a Windows Service. In order to overwrite the existing .exe with the new version, I currently need to:

  1. Stop the service
  2. Uninstall the service
  3. Reboot the system (so Windows releases it's hold on the file)
  4. Deploy the new .exe
  5. Reinstall the service
  6. Start the upgraded service.

I'd like to avoid the reboot, so that this can be a fully scripted/automated upgrade.

Is there any way to avoid rebooting? Maybe a command-line tool that will force Windows to give up it's death grip on the old .exe?

windows scripting windows-services operating-system filesystems
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If in .net ( I'm not sure if it works for all windows services)

  • Stop the service (THis may be why you're having a problem.)
  • InstallUtil -u [name of executable]
  • Installutil -i [name of executable]
  • Start the service again...

Unless I'm changing the service's public interface, I often deploy upgraded versions of my services without even unistalling/reinstalling... ALl I do is stop the service, replace the files and restart the service again...

answered 2008-11-18T18:28:30.833

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