The idea is simple:

  1. With powershell script, you can do almost everything on Windows, for instance, start/stop a service: 
    Start-Service -Name FortiSslvpnDaemon
Stop-Service -Name FortiSslvpnDaemon
  2. Create a desktop shortcut for that script
  3. You can change the look of shortcut on clicking!! That makes a switch with visual state

Here an example powershell script that start/stop a service:

$shortCutFile = "C:\Users\xxx\Desktop\ToggleFortiVPNDaemon.lnk"
$svcName = "FortiSslvpnDaemon"

function Change-Shortcut-Icon($scFile, $iconNo) {
    $WScriptShell = New-Object -ComObject WScript.Shell
    $shortcut = $WScriptShell.CreateShortcut($scFile)
    $shortcut.IconLocation = "C:\Windows\System32\imageres.dll, $iconNo"
    $shortcut.Save()
}

$svc = Get-Service -Name $svcName
if ($svc.Status -eq 'Running') {
    Stop-Service -Name $svcName
    echo "stoped"
    Change-Shortcut-Icon $shortCutFile 26
} elseif ($svc.Status -eq 'Stopped') {
    Start-Service -Name $svcName
    echo "started"
    Change-Shortcut-Icon $shortCutFile 28
}

Store this script as ToggleFortiVPNDaemon.ps1 somewhere like C:/myscripts, and create Desktop shortcut for it, rename the shortcut to ToggleFortiVPNDaemon.

To run the shortcut as Admin (required by service commands), open property dialog of the shortcut, in the Target field, add powershell before the script name, and click Advanced button, check the Run as Admin.

Now, double click the Desktop shortcut, after a confirmation for admin permission, the service is under control.

The shortcut icon changes as you click, to reflect the service state, and that’s the fantastic part, let’s examine it a bit more.

The Change-Shortcut-Icon function accepts a $iconNo argument, which is the index into icons in resource file imageres.dll, you can use a separate *.ico file for this, but the builtin icon resource is just easier for maintain, it’s already there.

To view all icons in imageres.dll, I recommand IconViewer, after install, it’s integreted in windows property dialog. In above script, I use number 26 and 28, those are:

  • red cross icon for Stopped status
  • green check icon for Running status

But I still don’t know how to get the icon number, the #number shown in IconViewer is not right, I tried it out, tell me if you know how.