How to Rename a Windows Service
By Thomas Krehbiel
· Krehbiel Tech · Tuesday, Feb 17, 2009, 5:27 PM · 174 words · 6 comments · 
I came across a situation where I wanted to rename a Windows service that had already been installed. (In this case I wasn't able to rebuild the application to alter the service installation properties, which would of course be the ideal solution.) Google was spectacularly unhelpful, so this is how you do it:
Open RegEdit.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services.
Find the key for the service you want to change and simply rename it.
A reboot was necessary for the change to take effect in the Services snap-in.
You may also encounter a sub-key called DisplayName that you can change. This is not the same as the key above. When using "net start" and "net stop," for example, you need to refer to the key name above.
I did this on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003; presumably it will also work in Vista, etc.
STANDARD REGEDIT DISCLAIMER: Do not attempt this unless you know what you're doing. The consequences of a mistake could be disastrous.
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1. Mike said,
This doesn't seem to work for me. Changing the display name does but when the registry key name is changed the service will not start. This makes sens to me since the name - which translates to the key name - is a part of the executable.
Thursday, Jun 11, 2009, 11:25 AM
2. Tom said,
Not sure why it isn't working for you. All I did was rename the registry key and reboot (it was done to 3 different services, all .NET programs). I probably made sure the service was stopped first, too. This was on Windows Server 2003, haven't attempted on any other versions.
Sunday, Jun 21, 2009, 4:24 PM
3. Jake said,
If you have a subkey named Enum, you should delete that also. When you start the service up next time, it will recreate with the correct information.
Wednesday, Jun 24, 2009, 6:03 PM
4. CalvinK said,
Check your Windows Event viewer for the error given. It might be you adminstrator password for the service may need to be typed again
Thursday, Mar 11, 2010, 5:31 AM
5. CalvinK said,
Unfortunately there is a mistake with this advice. This is actually wrong place to change the service name. This is just the directory Windows looks up for the service. You should change the actual Displayname and the restart the machine.
Thursday, Mar 11, 2010, 5:48 AM
6. SteveLeFou said,
Thank you, CalvinK.
It is hard to believe how people post just about anything to get people to come to their site..
Monday, Feb 20, 2012, 3:21 PM