Start a windows service, which is already deployed, at a specific time

If you REALLY want to do it this way and rely on a scheduler, all you have to do is schedule two command lines to be run. The first at your specified start time and the second at your stop time:

net start servicename

net stop servicename

No code required...

Change the code to have the service start and stop on its own. If you provide the start/stop time in a config file, you can customize the start/stop time by simply changing the file.

If cleverly written, you can have the service look for changes to the config file, and if detected, alter it's schedule without having to be stopped/restarted by the user.

EDIT ===========

Why was this one-voted? It's the most reliable solution because there are fewer moving parts than writing yet another app to control the service, and then tying it to the Windows scheduler.

You can use the class System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController to control the service programmatically from any .NET application. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.serviceprocess.servicecontroller.aspx[^].

But what application will do this operation to be practical? I guess, some other service which you have to create. That's why Service Scheduler could be the best alternative, as Prerak advised.

—SA