NSSM

NSSM (The Non-Sucking Service Manager) is a lightweight command-line utility designed to convert ordinary Windows executables, scripts, or batch files into persistent Windows services, enabling background operation, automatic restart on failure, and full integration with the Service Control Manager. Originally created to overcome the limitations of Windows’ built-in sc.exe and the instabilities of srvany, NSSM captures stdout/stderr, rotates logs, sets environment variables, manages working directories, and exposes granular control over process priority, affinity, and recovery actions without requiring any code changes in the target program. System administrators deploy it to keep Node.js, Python, Java, or legacy DOS applications running after logoff, across reboots, and under dedicated service accounts; DevOps teams pair it with CI agents, NGINX, or custom microservices to achieve zero-downtime updates; and security auditors value its ability to drop privileges, apply sand-boxed tokens, and generate detailed event-log entries. The current build 2.24-101-g897c7ad, tracked as a single-version lineage, continues the project’s open-source heritage by offering 32- and 64-bit binaries that run unaltered from Windows XP through Windows 11 and Server 2022. Operation is entirely non-interactive: a single nssm install invocation opens an optional GUI or accepts command-line switches for unattended configuration, while nssm remove cleanly deregisters and optionally stops the service. Because the executable is self-contained and royalty-free, it fits easily into configuration-management tools such as Ansible, Chocolatey, or PowerShell DSC. NSSM is available for free on get.nero.com, with downloads provided via trusted Windows package sources (e.g. winget), always delivering the latest version, and supporting batch installation of multiple applications.

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