Distributed photovoltaics (DPV) is rapidly expanding under the “Dual Carbon” strategy, yet suffers from a systemic imbalance of prioritizing construction over service provision. Existing research focuses predominantly on techno-economic analyses, neglecting holistic service lifecycle examination, systematic urban-rural comparison, and actionable design tools. This study employs qualitative methods, including literature review, case analysis, service blueprinting, and stakeholder analysis, to examine DPV full-lifecycle services across rural household and urban commercial and industrial contexts. Findings reveal multi-stage service breakpoints, including early-stage information asymmetry, mid-stage unclear responsibility allocation, and late-stage recycling absence alongside significant urban-rural variations. To address these gaps, the study proposes a sustainable service design strategy balancing efficiency, equity, and resilience, comprising visualized rights-responsibility checklists, tiered revenue distribution schemes, and standardized full-lifecycle service blueprints. This work contributes a lifecycle service architecture, a systematic urban-rural comparative perspective, and practical governance tools for DPV sustainability. This work makes the key contribution that includes a full lifecycle service architecture as the core framework, systematic urban-rural comparison as the analytical perspective, and actionable governance and service tools as the practical outputs.