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"net start service" and "sc start". What is the difference?

Fresh5 days ago
Mar 15, 2026115573 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

Services can be stopped and started using two commands in Command Prompt Shell. net start service "some service" sc start "some service" what is the difference between these commands?

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Fix for: "net start service" and "sc start". What is the difference?

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Grawity's answer is certainly helpful, but I found a fundamental difference between these commands detailed on http://cbfive.com/command-line-service-management-net-v-sc/ . In particular, this page notes that these two commands differ in their timing: "net" is synchronous and "sc" is asynchronous. SC sends the control to the service and then returns to the command prompt. This typically results in SC START returning the service in a state of START_PENDING. NET START will wait for the service it…

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