Note however that\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0registers itself as an Event Log message source which means that running multiple instances or different version of\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0from different locations may cause confusion. Also note that if you run the Event Viewer it will open the\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0executable, preventing you from overwriting it. Keep this in mind if you come to upgrade\u00a0nssm<\/em>.<\/p>\n Some features are labelled as supported as of a particular version. If the version described is newer than that available from the\u00a0download<\/a>\u00a0page there may be a pre-release\u00a0build<\/a>\u00a0with the feature enabled.<\/em><\/p>\n Equivalent command<\/em>\u00a0examples below show the\u00a0commands<\/a>\u00a0which would configure an\u00a0existing<\/em>\u00a0service to match the screenshots. In many cases they represent the defaults for the parameters in question and are thus redundant. Any parameter can also be reset to its default value with<\/p>\n You can use\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0to install a service. The command to type is:<\/p>\n The installer consists of several tabs with lots of configurable parameters. Most are preset to\u00a0nssm<\/em>‘s defaults, so it’s possible to install a service without leaving the\u00a0Application<\/em>\u00a0tab.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Path<\/em>\u00a0to the application (or script) you want to run and is the only mandatory field. If the application needs to start in a particular directory you can enter it in the\u00a0Startup directory<\/em>\u00a0field. If the field is left blank the default startup directory will be the directory containing the application. The\u00a0Arguments<\/em>\u00a0field can be used to specify any commandline arguments to pass to the application.<\/p>\n The screenshot below shows installation of a\u00a0UT2003<\/a>\u00a0server. The command to run such a service is\u00a0ucc server<\/strong>\u00a0so the full path to\u00a0UCC.exe<\/strong>\u00a0is entered under\u00a0Path<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0server<\/strong>\u00a0is entered under\u00a0Options<\/em>.<\/p>\n Equivalent\u00a0commands<\/a>:<\/p>\n Clicking\u00a0Install service<\/em>\u00a0completes the installation of the service.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Details<\/em>\u00a0tab lists system details about the service.<\/p>\n Equivalent\u00a0commands<\/a>:<\/p>\n The\u00a0Log on<\/em>\u00a0tab can be used to manage the user account which will run the service.\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will automatically ensure that the account you choose has the necessary\u00a0log on as a service<\/em>\u00a0permissions.<\/p>\n Equivalent\u00a0commands<\/a>:<\/p>\n Refer to the\u00a0command line usage<\/a>\u00a0documentation for details on configuring an account and password on the command line. If you need to configure a blank password you\u00a0must<\/em>\u00a0use the command line.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Dependencies<\/em>\u00a0tab lists any services or service groups which must be started before the the service can run.<\/p>\n You can enter service names or display names, one per line. Service group names must be preceded by the SC_GROUP_IDENTIFIER prefix (the + symbol).<\/p>\n Equivalent\u00a0commands<\/a>:<\/p>\n The\u00a0Process<\/em>\u00a0tab can be used to set\u00a0process<\/a>\u00a0priority and CPU affinity for the application. By default the application will run with normal priority and be allowed to execute on all CPUs. If you wish to restrict the process to a subset of available CPUs, uncheck “All processors” and select the CPU(s) as desired.<\/p>\n Process priority and affinity can be changed from the Windows task manager while the service is running.<\/p>\n Equivalent\u00a0commands<\/a>:<\/p>\n The\u00a0Shutdown<\/em>\u00a0tab lists the various\u00a0stop methods and timeouts<\/a>\u00a0used when tidying up the application after a crash or when the service is gracefully stopped.<\/p>\n Equivalent\u00a0commands<\/a>:<\/p>\n The\u00a0Exit actions<\/em>\u00a0tab can be used to tweak the\u00a0restart throttling<\/a>\u00a0and default\u00a0action on exit<\/a>\u00a0for the service. You can also specify a\u00a0mandatory delay<\/a>\u00a0between automatic restarts of the application.<\/p>\n To configure exit actions for specific application exit codes you must use the registry as described\u00a0below<\/a>.<\/p>\n Equivalent\u00a0commands<\/a>:<\/p>\n The\u00a0I\/O<\/em>\u00a0tab can be used to specify the input and\/or output files used when\u00a0I\/O redirection<\/a>\u00a0is enabled. Setting\u00a0Output<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Error<\/em>\u00a0is usually sufficient to capture log messages generated by the application.<\/p>\n Configure I\/O in the registry as described\u00a0below<\/a>\u00a0for more control over paths and access modes.<\/p>\n Equivalent\u00a0commands<\/a>:<\/p>\n The\u00a0File rotation<\/em>\u00a0tab can be used in conjunction with\u00a0I\/O<\/a>\u00a0settings to configure\u00a0rotation<\/a>\u00a0of output files when the service restarts.<\/p>\n If the\u00a0Replace existing Output and\/or Error files<\/em>\u00a0checkbox is checked,\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will overwrite existing output files when starting the service. The default is to append to any existing files. If the\u00a0Rotate files<\/em>\u00a0checkbox is checked,\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will rename existing files prior to setting up I\/O redirection. Use the\u00a0Restrict rotation<\/em>\u00a0fields to disable file rotation for files which have been modified more recently than the specified number of\u00a0seconds<\/em>\u00a0or are smaller than the specified number of\u00a0kilobytes<\/em>.<\/p>\n By default\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0only performs file rotation when the service (re)starts. To enable rotation of files which grow to the specified size limit while the service is running, check the\u00a0Rotate while service is running<\/em>\u00a0checkbox. Online rotation ignores any configured file age limit.<\/p>\n Danger, moving parts! Online rotation requires\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0to intercept the application’s output and write the files itself. Increased complexity necessarily leads to increased risk of failure.<\/p>\n Equivalent\u00a0commands<\/a>:<\/p>\n The\u00a0Environment<\/em>\u00a0tab can be used to specify a newline-separated list of\u00a0environment variables<\/a>\u00a0to pass to the application. If the\u00a0Replace default environment<\/em>\u00a0checkbox is checked the variables specified will be the\u00a0only<\/em>\u00a0ones passed to the service. When it is left unchecked (the default), the environment created at service startup will be preserved.<\/p>\n Equivalent\u00a0commands<\/a>:<\/p>\n As of version 2.0 you can also bypass the GUI and install a service from the command line. The syntax is:<\/p>\n Please note that the actual program entered into the services database is\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0itself so you must not move or delete\u00a0nssm.exe<\/em>\u00a0after installing a service. If you do wish to change the path to\u00a0nssm.exe<\/em>\u00a0you can either remove and reinstall the service or edit\u00a0HKLM\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\servicename<\/em>\\ImagePath<\/strong>\u00a0to reflect the new location.<\/p>\n nssm<\/em>\u00a0correctly handles paths with spaces but passing arguments to it can be tricky because of how the command prompt works.<\/p>\n If the path to the application contains spaces you will need to enclose it in quotes otherwise the command prompt will interpret the path as\u00a0two<\/em>\u00a0arguments.<\/p>\n If one of the options you wish to provide contains spaces, you will need to quote that too\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0quote the quotation marks themselves.<\/p>\n Isaballa Sanfelipo suggests a method of installing a Java application from a batch file.<\/p>\n John Duffy needed to pass quotes through to the parameter list.<\/p>\n The command to remove a service is:<\/p>\n A confirmation window is displayed before the service is removed.<\/p>\n As of version 2.0 you can also remove services from the command line viz:<\/p>\n nssm<\/em>\u00a0will happily try to remove any service, not just ones\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0itself manages. Try not to delete services you shouldn’t…<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n When\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0receives a stop command from the Windows service manager, or when it detects that the monitored application has exited, it tries to shut down the monitored application, and any subprocesses, gracefully. If the application’s process tree does not exit promptly,\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0can forcibly terminate all processes and subprocesses belonging to the application.<\/p>\n There are four stages which\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0can use to shut down the application, and by default it will attempt all four in order. It is possible (though not recommended) to disable some or all of the methods from being used. Different applications will respond differently to the various requests, so leaving them all enabled is usually the best way to ensure that the application shuts down gracefully.<\/p>\n First\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will attempt to generate a Control-C event and send it to the application’s console. Batch scripts or console applications may intercept the event and shut themselves down gracefully. Java applications tend to respond well to Control-C events. GUI applications do not have consoles and will not respond to this method.\u00a0Not supported on Windows 2000.<\/em><\/p>\n Secondly\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will enumerate all windows created by the application and send them a\u00a0WM_CLOSE<\/em>\u00a0message. Applications may follow the convention of responding to the message by initiating a graceful exit.<\/p>\n Thirdly\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will enumerate all threads created by the application and send them a\u00a0WM_QUIT<\/em>\u00a0message, which will be received if the application has a thread message queue.<\/p>\n As a last resort\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0can call\u00a0 To disable any of the methods above, create an integer (REG_DWORD) value\u00a0HKLM\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\servicename<\/em>\\Parameters\\AppStopMethodSkip<\/strong>\u00a0and set it to the sum of one or more of the numbers below.<\/p>\n If, for example, you knew that an application did not respond to Control-C and did not have a thread message queue, you could set\u00a0AppStopMethodSkip<\/em>\u00a0to 5.<\/p>\n It is highly recommended\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0to disable the\u00a0 By default\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will wait up to 1500 milliseconds for the application to exit after trying each of the methods described above. The timeout can be configured on a per-method basis by creating integer (REG_DWORD) values underHKLM\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\servicename<\/em>\\Parameters<\/strong>\u00a0in the registry and setting them to the desired number of milliseconds to wait.<\/p>\n Note that the timeout applies to all processes spawned by the application so the total timeout may be longer than expected if the application has multiple subprocesses.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n To configure the action which\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0should take when the application exits, edit the default value of the key\u00a0HKLM\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\servicename<\/em>\\Parameters\\AppExit<\/strong>. If the key does not exist in the registry when\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0runs it will create it and set the value to\u00a0Restart<\/strong>. Change it to either\u00a0Ignore<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0Exit<\/strong>\u00a0to specify the action taken.\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will only create this key if it doesn’t already exist. Your changes will not be overridden.<\/p>\n To specify a different action for particular exit codes, create a string (REG_SZ) value underneath the\u00a0AppExit<\/strong>\u00a0key whose name is the exit code being considered. For example to stop the service on an exit code of 0 (which usually means the application finished successfully), create\u00a0HKLM\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\servicename<\/em>\\Parameters\\AppExit\\0<\/strong>\u00a0and set it to\u00a0Exit<\/strong>. Look in the Event Log for messages from\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0to see what exit codes are returned by your application.<\/p>\n If your application’s exit code does not correspond to a registry entry,\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will use the default value of\u00a0AppExit<\/strong>\u00a0when deciding what to do.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n As of version 2.22,\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0can apply a mandatory delay between restarts of the application. This could be used, for example, to run a command at regular intervals such as an hourly batch script.<\/p>\n To specify a restart delay, create an integer (REG_DWORD) value\u00a0HKLM\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\servicename<\/em>\\Parameters\\AppDelay<\/strong>\u00a0and set it to the number of milliseconds to wait between restarts.<\/p>\n The service will report its state as Paused while waiting for the next restart. Sending it a Continue control will temporarily cancel the delay and trigger a restart immediately.<\/p>\n Please see the section on\u00a0<\/a>restart throttling\u00a0below for notes on how\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0works when both throttling and restart delays are configured.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n To avoid a tight CPU loop,\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will throttle restarts of the service if the monitored application exits too soon after starting. By default a threshold of 1500 milliseconds is used. To specify a different value, create an integer (REG_DWORD) valueHKLM\\System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\servicename<\/em>\\Parameters\\AppThrottle<\/strong>\u00a0and set it to the required number of milliseconds.<\/p>\n The first restart will be attempted with no delay. If the restarted application continues to exit before running for the threshold amount of milliseconds,\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will pause for at least 2000 milliseconds, doubling the pause time for each subsequent failure. The maximum time it will pause is 256000 milliseconds, around four minutes. The delay counter is reset when the service successfully runs for at least the threshold time.<\/p>\n If you determine why the service failed and take action to correct the problem, you can send a Continue control to the service, which will be shown as Paused. In this way you can avoid having to wait for the next restart attempt.<\/p>\nnssm reset <servicename> <parameter><\/pre>\n
Installing a service<\/h3>\n
nssm install <servicename><\/pre>\n
Application tab<\/h4>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nssm.cc\/images\/install_application.png\")
<\/p>\nnssm set UT2003 Application C:\\games\\ut2003\\System\\UCC.exe<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppDirectory C:\\games\\ut2003\\System<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppParameters server<\/pre>\n
Details tab<\/h4>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nssm.cc\/images\/install_details.png\")
<\/p>\nnssm set UT2003 DisplayName UT2k3<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 Description Unreal Tournament 2003<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 Start SERVICE_AUTO_START<\/pre>\n
Log on tab<\/h4>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nssm.cc\/images\/install_logon.png\")
<\/p>\nnssm set UT2003 ObjectName LocalSystem<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 Type SERVICE_WIN32_OWN_PROCESS<\/pre>\n
Dependencies<\/h4>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nssm.cc\/images\/install_dependencies.png\")
<\/p>\nnssm set UT2003 DependOnService MpsSvc<\/pre>\n
Process tab<\/h4>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nssm.cc\/images\/install_process.png\")
<\/p>\nnssm set UT2003 AppPriority NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppNoConsole 0<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppAffinity All<\/pre>\n
Shutdown tab<\/h4>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nssm.cc\/images\/install_shutdown.png\")
<\/p>\nnssm set UT2003 AppStopMethodSkip 0<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppStopMethodConsole 1500<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppStopMethodWindow 1500<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppStopMethodThreads 1500<\/pre>\n
Exit actions tab<\/h4>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nssm.cc\/images\/install_exitactions.png\")
<\/p>\nnssm set UT2003 AppThrottle 1500<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppExit Default Restart<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppRestartDelay 0<\/pre>\n
I\/O tab<\/h4>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nssm.cc\/images\/install_io.png\")
<\/p>\nnssm set UT2003 AppStdout C:\\games\\ut2003\\service.log<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppStderr C:\\games\\ut2003\\service.log<\/pre>\n
File rotation tab<\/h4>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nssm.cc\/images\/install_rotation.png\")
<\/p>\nnssm set UT2003 AppStdoutCreationDisposition 4<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppStderrCreationDisposition 4<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppRotateFiles 1<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppRotateOnline 0<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppRotateSeconds 86400<\/pre>\n
nssm set UT2003 AppRotateBytes 1048576<\/pre>\n
Environment tab<\/h4>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nssm.cc\/images\/install_environment.png\")
<\/p>\nnssm set <servicename> AppEnvironmentExtra JAVA_HOME=C:\\java<\/pre>\n
Installing from the command line<\/h4>\n
nssm install <servicename> <application> [<options>]<\/pre>\n
Quoting issues<\/h4>\n
nssm install <servicename> \"C:\\Program Files\\app.exe\"<\/pre>\n
nssm install <servicename> <application> \"\"\"This is one argument\"\"\"<\/pre>\n
nssm install solr \"%JavaExe%\" -Dsolr.solr.home=\"\\\"%CD%\\solr\"\\\"\r\n-Djetty.home=\"\\\"%CD%\"\\\" -Djetty.logs=\"\\\"%CD%\\logs\"\\\" -cp\r\n\"\\\"%CD%\\lib\\*.jar\"\\\";\"\\\"%CD%\\start.jar\"\\\" -jar \"\\\"%CD%\\start.jar\"\\\"<\/pre>\n
nssm set NodeServer3000 AppParameters \"\"\"\"\"\"\"$Env:NODE_JS_NPM\"\"\"\"\"\" start\"<\/pre>\n
Removing a service<\/h3>\n
nssm remove <servicename><\/pre>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nssm.cc\/images\/remove.png\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/nssm.cc\/images\/confirmremove.png\")
<\/p>\nnssm remove <servicename> confirm<\/pre>\n
Service shutdown<\/h3>\n
TerminateProcess()<\/code>\u00a0to request that the operating system forcibly terminate the application. The\u00a0TerminateProcess()<\/code>\u00a0call cannot be trapped or ignored, so in most circumstances the application will be killed. However, it is unlikely that it will be able to perform any cleanup operations before it exits.<\/p>\n\n
TerminateProcess()<\/code>\u00a0call. When the service is stopped\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will exit. If the application is not terminated before that happens it may continue running and\u00a0nssm<\/em>\u00a0will no longer be able to control it.<\/p>\n\n
Actions on exit<\/h3>\n
Restart delay<\/h3>\n
Restart throttling<\/h3>\n