Installing service packs with SQL Server services stopped I always installed Service Packs on the servers with running SQL Server Services. This time I am faced with the situation where I have to patch multi-instance SQL Server that has its services stopped for each instance. There is no posiblity of starting the services without breaking one of the applications. It is not part of a cluster, just a regular stand-alone server. 

My question: Will stopped services affect instalation of SP?
You can definitely apply Service Packs or Cumulative Updates while the services are stopped. However, if there are steps that may require a reboot, you will be responsible for that.