Checking for a Windows Service from Java

[Barry Brashear]

Is there a way from Java to determine if a particular windows service
is started?

Thanks.

[Horatio Westock]

I really don't know what the proper way to do this is, but seeing as it's windows only, you could run the command "net start" and read the output, looking for the service you are interested in.

[Merrill Higginson]

I agree with Horatio. That sounds like a good way to do it.

If you're not familiar with how to start a process outside the JVM, the call is Runtime.getRuntime().exec("net start");

I'd read the following article, though, before coding this, because there are lots of pitfalls in running processes outside the JVM.

http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-12-2000/jw-1229-traps.html