Using SC.exe to set service credentials password fails

Question

I know this question has been asked in the past, but a satisfactory answer has not been provided.

I am using the SC command to config the credentials for a service.

SC.exe config "SERVICE NAME" obj= "domain\user" password= "password"

This completes successfully, but when I start the service, it fails to perform the login.
[NET START "service name"]

If I manually update ONLY the password from the services.msc, then when I start the service it works fine.

I have hundreds of servers to update this change occurs in the middle of a deployment, so manual intervention is NOT an option.

I have tried using the config to update the login account and then another config command for the password.

From all accounts, the SC.exe does not work for passwords and Microsoft has NO help.

IDEAS?

Answer 1

When you configure a service to run under a specific account via the normal route from the service properties windows automatically grants the account the log in as service right. When you use sc.exe you also have to grant the user the log on as service right.

Log On As Service Right

Answer 2

Besides stopping the service before making the changes, and granting the user permission to logon as a service, I also had to add the type= own parameter, otherwise it would fail with:

[SC] ChangeServiceConfig FAILED 87:

The parameter is incorrect

So this is the command that worked:

SC.EXE config "ServiceName" type= own obj= "domain\user" password= "password"

It even worked with special characters in the password, given I had the password between double brackets.