In advance excuss me if I dont make sense. I'm new to creating DOS bat files. I'm current trying to stop a service based on its state. Then writting a text file to be used for restart in the end of my bat file. set service=cmsservice for /f "tokens=3" %%a in ('sc query "%service%"^|find "STATE"') do ( if %cmsserviced%a==4 goto stop) :stop net stop cmsservice >> c:"\program files\motoplyr"\restart.txt if /I %EQU==1kb% c:\startup.txt goto startcms if /I %EQU==0kb% c:\startup.txt EQU==0kb goto eof goto :startCMS :startCMS net start CMSService eof

First DOS has nothing to do with XP. Next, I don't have any "sc query" in win2000. But if you post the output of that command, maybe I can muddle through the script. ===================================== Helping others achieve escape felicity M2

if %cmsserviced%a==4 goto stop should be if %%a==4 goto stop Next, think about what happens when %%a is not ==4. It will go to the next statement... which is the one labelled stop. There are various other errors. I recommend you type the following and read the help text: set /? if /? for /?

I remember doing this. I don't remember if it worked: (net stop someService || net start someService) 2>NUL