Question

I need to enumerate SQL Servers from a VB.Net program. This fails if the SQL Browser service is not on. The default installation seems to have it disabled.

How can i test for the service status and if required, enable it and start it?

Answer 1

You don’t necessarily need SMO. You can use the ServiceController class. Here’s a simple example of starting a service that is not running:

' don't forget to reference the System.ServiceProcess and Imports System.Management DLLs 

imports System
imports System.ServiceProcess
imports System.Management

public module MyModule
Sub Main()
    Dim serviceName as String = "SQLBrowser"
    Dim sc As ServiceController = New ServiceController(serviceName)


    ' make sure start mode is automatic
    Dim path As String = "Win32_Service.Name='" & serviceName & "'"
    Dim p As New ManagementPath(path)
    Dim ManagementObj As New ManagementObject(p)
    Dim parameters As Object() = New Object(0) {}
    Dim value As String = "Automatic"
    parameters(0) = value
    ManagementObj.InvokeMethod("ChangeStartMode", parameters)

    if sc.Status = ServiceControllerStatus.Stopped or sc.Status = ServiceControllerStatus.Paused then
        Console.WriteLine(serviceName + " is starting.")
        sc.Start()
    else
        Console.WriteLine(serviceName + " is running.")
    end if
End Sub

end module