diff --git a/java/net/i2p/router/WindowsServiceUtil.java b/java/net/i2p/router/WindowsServiceUtil.java
index 17fb7ca..a1191a7 100644
--- a/java/net/i2p/router/WindowsServiceUtil.java
+++ b/java/net/i2p/router/WindowsServiceUtil.java
@@ -8,16 +8,17 @@ import java.io.InputStreamReader;
  * Provides querying of Windows services in order to discover I2P Routers
  * running as a service and avoid launching jpackaged routers redundantly.
  * It will prompt a user to start their I2P service if one is discovered.
- * 
+ *
  * see also:
  * https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/sc-query
  * https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.serviceprocess.servicecontrollerstatus?view=dotnet-plat-ext-6.0
- * https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10604844/how-to-verify-whether-service-exists-in-services-msc C#, API ideas only
+ * https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10604844/how-to-verify-whether-service-exists-in-services-msc
+ * C#, API ideas only
  * https://stackoverflow.com/questions/334471/need-a-way-to-check-status-of-windows-service-programmatically
  * https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5388888/find-status-of-windows-service-from-java-application
  * https://stackoverflow.com/questions/21566847/how-to-check-particular-windows-service-is-running-using
  * https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9792051/start-windows-service-with-java
- * 
+ *
  * There's a chance we can't tell ServiceController to do anything so if
  * that is the case then we'll just launch services.msc and tell the user to
  * take it from there.
@@ -48,16 +49,34 @@ public class WindowsServiceUtil {
     }
     return result;
   }
+  private String getStatePrefix(String qResult) {
+    String statePrefix = "STATE              : ";
+    // get the first occurrence of "STATE", then find the
+    // next occurrence of of ":" after that. Count the
+    // spaces between.
+    // numberOfSpaces = indexOf(":") - (indexOf(STATE)+5) +
+    int indexOfState = qResult.indexOf("STATE");
+    if (indexOfState >= 0) {
+      int indexOfColon = qResult.indexOf(":", indexOfState);
+      statePrefix = "STATE";
+      for (int f = 0; f == indexOfColon; f++) {
+        statePrefix += " ";
+      }
+      statePrefix += ": ";
+    }
+    return statePrefix;
+  }
   public String getServiceState(String serviceName) {
-    String STATE_PREFIX = "STATE              : ";
-    String s = queryService(serviceName);
+    // String statePrefix = "STATE              : ";
+    String qResult = queryService(serviceName);
+    String statePrefix = getStatePrefix(qResult);
     // check that the temp string contains the status prefix
-    int ix = s.indexOf(STATE_PREFIX);
+    int ix = qResult.indexOf(statePrefix);
     String stateString = "uninstalled";
     if (ix >= 0) {
       // compare status number to one of the states
-      String stateStr = s.substring(ix + STATE_PREFIX.length(),
-                                    ix + STATE_PREFIX.length() + 1);
+      String stateStr = qResult.substring(ix + statePrefix.length(),
+                                          ix + statePrefix.length() + 1);
       int state = Integer.parseInt(stateStr);
       switch (state) {
       case (1): // service stopped
@@ -67,7 +86,7 @@ public class WindowsServiceUtil {
         stateString = "starting";
         break;
       case (3): // don't know yet
-        //stateString = "started";
+        // stateString = "started";
         break;
       case (4): // service started
         stateString = "started";