diff --git a/recipes/_node_windows.rb b/recipes/_node_windows.rb
index 8296a14ac4..af596cff2f 100644
--- a/recipes/_node_windows.rb
+++ b/recipes/_node_windows.rb
@@ -121,4 +121,5 @@
 
 service service_name do
   action :start
+  only_if { !WMI::Win32_Service.find(:first, :conditions => {:name => service_name}).nil? }
 end