Service Status

VBScript: Batch Audit Service Status Across Multiple Windows Servers

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Keeping track of critical services—like SQL, IIS, or Print Spooler—across a large server farm is a common headache for admins. While PowerShell is the modern go-to, many legacy environments and specific automation workflows still rely on the reliability of VBScript and WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation).

This script allows you to pull a full inventory of every service on a list of servers, including their start mode (Automatic/Manual), current state (Running/Stopped), and the Service Account being used.

Prerequisites & Setup

  1. Create the workspace: Create a folder named C:\Temp\ServiceDetails.
  2. The Server List: Create a file named Servers.txt in that folder. List your server names or IP addresses, one per line.
  3. Permissions: You must run this script from an account that has Local Administrator rights on all target servers to query WMI.

The VBScript Solution

Save the code below as ServiceDetails.vbs in your C:\Temp\ServiceDetails folder.

VBScript
' --- START OF SCRIPT ---
ServerList = "C:\Temp\ServiceDetails\Servers.txt"
arrServices = Array("") ' Leave empty to get all services
Dim objFSO : Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Dim objOut : Set objOut = objFSO.CreateTextFile("C:\Temp\ServiceDetails\ServiceQuery.csv")
arrComputers = Split(objFSO.OpenTextFile(ServerList).ReadAll, vbNewLine) 
' Write CSV Headers
ObjOut.WriteLine "SERVER, SERVICE DISPLAY NAME, SERVICE STARTMODE, SERVICE STATUS, SERVICE ACCOUNT"
For Each strComputer In arrComputers
    If Trim(strComputer) <> "" Then
        strAlive = IsAlive(strComputer)
        objFound = 0
        If strAlive = "Alive" Then
            On Error Resume Next
            Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2")
            If Err.Number <> 0 Then
                ObjOut.WriteLine strComputer & ", WMI ERROR, N/A, N/A, N/A"
                Err.Clear
            Else
                Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_Service")
                For Each objItem In colItems
                    ObjOut.WriteLine strComputer & "," & objItem.DisplayName & "," & objItem.StartMode & "," & objItem.State & "," & objItem.StartName 
                    objFound = 1
                Next
            End If
        Else
            ObjOut.WriteLine strComputer & "- UnResolved, N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A"      
        End If
    End If
Next
objOut.Close
MsgBox "Service Export Complete!", 64, "LazyAdmin Notification"
' Function to Ping the server before attempting WMI connection
Function IsAlive(strComputer)
    Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
    Set objExecObject = WshShell.Exec("%comspec% /c ping -n 1 -w 500 " & strComputer)
    strText = objExecObject.StdOut.ReadAll()
    If Instr(strText, "Reply from") > 0 Then
        IsAlive = "Alive"
    Else
        IsAlive = "Dead"
    End If 
End Function

How it Works

  • WMI (Win32_Service): The script connects to the root\CIMV2 namespace on the remote machine to query the Win32_Service class. This is the same data you see in services.msc.
  • The Ping Check: Before trying to connect (which can be slow if a server is down), the IsAlive function pings the host. This significantly speeds up the script if you have offline servers in your list.
  • CSV Output: All data is appended to a .csv file, making it ready for a pivot table in Excel to find services running under old service accounts or identifying disabled critical services.

#SysAdmin #WindowsServer #VBScript #WMI #ITAutomation #ServerManagement #TechTips #LazyAdmin #Infrastructure #ITAudit

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