Guide to Using nssm for Windows Service Management and .NET 6 Web Application Deployment

nssm (Non‑Sucking Service Manager) is a lightweight Windows service wrapper that can turn any executable, including console or GUI programs, into a service that starts automatically on boot.

Key features: supports ordinary exe programs, simple installation and modification, and automatic monitoring with automatic restart if the process crashes.

Official website: https://nssm.cc/

Configuration Details

Path – the executable to run.

Startup directory – the directory of the application.

Arguments – command‑line arguments for the executable.

Service name – the name of the created Windows service.

Common commands:

nssm install servername   // create service and open configuration UI
nssm start servername     // start service
nssm stop servername      // stop service
nssm restart servername   // restart service
nssm remove servername    // delete service
nssm edit servername      // edit service configuration
nssm set servername param value   // set a service parameter
sc delete servername      // Windows built‑in command to delete a service

Practical example: turning a .NET 6 web application into a Windows service.

Application start command:

dotnet WebApplication_nssm.dll --urls=http://*:8888/ --port=8888

Installation steps using nssm:

nssm install
Path: C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe
Startup directory: D:\TechLearn\001\Tools--nssm\WebApplication_nssm\bin\Debug\net6.0
Arguments: WebApplication_nssm.dll --urls=http://*:8888/ --port=8888
Service name: webapp8888

After clicking “install service”, the service appears in the Windows Services list.

Service management commands:

D:\nssm-2.24\win64>nssm start webapp8888
D:\nssm-2.24\win64>nssm stop webapp8888
D:\nssm-2.24\win64>nssm restart webapp8888
D:\nssm-2.24\win64>nssm edit webapp8888
D:\nssm-2.24\win64>nssm remove webapp8888

These commands demonstrate starting, stopping, restarting, editing, and removing the service, with corresponding success messages.