diff --git a/doc/userguide/manpages/suricata.rst b/doc/userguide/manpages/suricata.rst
index 9652d7a43f..a85795c01a 100644
--- a/doc/userguide/manpages/suricata.rst
+++ b/doc/userguide/manpages/suricata.rst
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ SIGHUP
     used to re-open log files after they may have been moved away by
     log rotation utilities.
 
+On Windows, when running as a service, the service control code 128 is the
+equivalent of SIGUSR2.
+
 FILES AND DIRECTORIES
 ---------------------
 
diff --git a/doc/userguide/rule-management/rule-reload.rst b/doc/userguide/rule-management/rule-reload.rst
index 5da25c7b46..b3b7953d84 100644
--- a/doc/userguide/rule-management/rule-reload.rst
+++ b/doc/userguide/rule-management/rule-reload.rst
@@ -41,6 +41,30 @@ This will cause Suricata to reload rules without the caller blocking or waiting.
 
   suricatasc -c ruleset-reload-nonblocking
 
+.. _rule-reload-windows-service:
+
+Via Windows service control
+---------------------------
+
+Windows does not support the ``USR2`` signal or the UNIX domain socket.
+Instead, when Suricata is running as a Windows service, a rule reload can be
+requested by sending the service the user-defined control code ``128``::
+
+  sc.exe control Suricata 128
+
+This is a non-blocking reload. ``sc.exe`` does not report the result of the
+reload; it is logged by Suricata.
+
+When installed with ``--service-install``, only SYSTEM and Administrators may
+send control codes to the Suricata service. A service installed by older
+versions of Suricata, or by other tools, may allow any interactive user to
+send control codes. This can be restricted with::
+
+  sc.exe sdset Suricata "D:(A;;CCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRRC;;;SY)(A;;CCDCLCSWRPWPDTLOCRSDRCWDWO;;;BA)(A;;CCLCSWLORC;;;IU)(A;;CCLCSWLORC;;;SU)"
+
+.. note:: In PowerShell, ``sc`` is an alias for ``Set-Content``, so
+          ``sc.exe`` must be used.
+
 Resources Reloaded
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
diff --git a/src/suricata.c b/src/suricata.c
index e79729a033..0da0dac37e 100644
--- a/src/suricata.c
+++ b/src/suricata.c
@@ -3040,6 +3040,18 @@ void SuricataMainLoop(void)
 
         TmThreadCheckThreadState();
 
+#ifdef OS_WIN32
+        /* Service control requests are handled like their signal equivalents,
+         * SC_SERVICE_REQUEST_RELOAD_RULES like SIGUSR2. */
+        uint32_t requests = SCServiceTakeRequests();
+        if (requests & SC_SERVICE_REQUEST_RELOAD_RULES) {
+            SCLogNotice("Rule reload requested by service control");
+            if (DetectEngineEnabled() && sigusr2_count < 2) {
+                sigusr2_count++;
+            }
+        }
+#endif
+
         if (sighup_count > 0) {
             OutputNotifyFileRotation();
             sighup_count--;
diff --git a/src/win32-service.c b/src/win32-service.c
index 0b61ebe746..c3b3d64930 100644
--- a/src/win32-service.c
+++ b/src/win32-service.c
@@ -137,6 +137,9 @@ static bool SCServiceGetCommandLine(
 
 static SERVICE_STATUS_HANDLE service_status_handle = 0;
 
+/* Pending SC_SERVICE_REQUEST_* flags, handled by the main loop. */
+static SC_ATOMIC_DECLARE(uint32_t, service_requests);
+
 static int service_argc = 0;
 
 static char **service_argv = NULL;
@@ -185,11 +188,27 @@ static void SCAtExitHandler(void)
     }
 }
 
+/**
+ * \brief Get and clear the pending service control requests.
+ *
+ * \retval SC_SERVICE_REQUEST_* flags
+ */
+uint32_t SCServiceTakeRequests(void)
+{
+    return SC_ATOMIC_AND(service_requests, 0);
+}
+
 /**
  * \brief Service handler
  */
 static DWORD WINAPI SCServiceCtrlHandlerEx(DWORD code, DWORD etype, LPVOID edata, LPVOID context)
 {
+    if (code == SC_SERVICE_CONTROL_RELOAD_RULES) {
+        /* Defer logging to the main loop, after logging initialization. */
+        SC_ATOMIC_OR(service_requests, SC_SERVICE_REQUEST_RELOAD_RULES);
+        return NO_ERROR;
+    }
+
     if (code == SERVICE_CONTROL_SHUTDOWN || code == SERVICE_CONTROL_STOP) {
         SERVICE_STATUS status = {
             SERVICE_WIN32,
diff --git a/src/win32-service.h b/src/win32-service.h
index 87d4bc634e..bb808fe85a 100644
--- a/src/win32-service.h
+++ b/src/win32-service.h
@@ -25,6 +25,13 @@
 #define SURICATA_WIN32_SERVICE_H
 
 #ifdef OS_WIN32
+/* User-defined service control codes, must be in the range 128-255. */
+#define SC_SERVICE_CONTROL_RELOAD_RULES 128
+
+/* Requests returned by SCServiceTakeRequests(). */
+#define SC_SERVICE_REQUEST_RELOAD_RULES BIT_U32(0)
+
+uint32_t SCServiceTakeRequests(void);
 int SCRunningAsService(void);
 int SCServiceInit(int argc, char **argv);
 int SCServiceInstall(int argc, char **argv);