Windows

You could use the SC command in a bat file or run it in a startup script. Here is an example with notes.

sc config
This command has a number of functions but one is to determine the status of a service at system startup. A service can be set to run automatically, manually or not at all. The commands are

sc config ServiceName start= flag

Here ServiceName is the name of the service and flag has one of the values auto, demand. or disabled . For example, to set a service to run manually the command is
sc config ServiceName start= demand
Note that there must be a space after the equals sign. The correct value for the parameter ServiceName may not always be obvious and the next command can be used to find it for all services.

You can use a GPO if the computers are in a domain. Computer Config, Windows Settings, Security Settings, System Services. Choose the service, enter parameters and change the pull-down to force the service to start at system start-up.