Wix installer: installed service unable to read HK

Question

I'm using wix tool 3.11 to create a msi which install a service. The installer runs a Custom Action and returns vars to wix to write to registry (HKLM). The service starts and try to read the registry but it can't be done and it fails. If I wrote the registry manually the installer works perfectly.

Error message from msi logs:

Product: Installer-- Error 1920. Service 'XPTO Server' (xpto_server) failed to start.  Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.

My Wix XML:

<Package InstallerVersion="200" Compressed="yes" InstallScope="perMachine" InstallPrivileges="elevated" />
...
<ComponentGroup Id="ProductComponents" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER">
  <Component Id="CMP_RegistryEntries" Guid="xxxxxxxxx" >
    <RegistryKey Root="HKLM" Key="SOFTWARE\XPTOInc\XPTO\XPTOServer\BetaVersion">
      <RegistryValue Name="token" Action="write" Value="[TOKEN]" Type="string" KeyPath="yes" />
      <RegistryValue Name="[IDENTIFIER_TYPE]" Action="write" Value="[INSTALLEDID]" Type="string" />
      <RegistryValue Name="installDir" Action="write" Value="[INSTALLFOLDER]" Type="string" />
    </RegistryKey>
  </Component>
  <Component Id="CMP_XPTOServerEXE" Guid="xxxxxx">
    <File Id="FILE_XPTOServerEXE" Name="xpto-server.exe" Source="Work\xpto-server.exe" KeyPath="yes" />
    <ServiceInstall Id="InstallExporterService" Name="xpto_server" DisplayName="XPTO Server" Description="Read data from Registry and do simple stuff" ErrorControl="normal" Start="auto" Type="ownProcess" />
    <ServiceControl Id="ServiceStateControl" Name="xpto_server" Remove="uninstall" Start="install" Stop="both" />
  </Component>
</ComponentGroup>

EDIT: When I manually wrote the vars to Registry, the service installs with msi pkg or running with sc.exe

EDIT 2: Here follows the log where sets the registry and then star service

MSI (s) (70:74) [15:40:37:560]: Created Custom Action Server with PID 16808 (0x41A8).
MSI (s) (70:E4) [15:40:37:613]: Running as a service.
MSI (s) (70:E4) [15:40:37:615]: Hello, I'm your 32bit Elevated Non-remapped custom action server.
MSI (s) (70:38) [15:40:37:973]: Executing op: ActionStart(Name=WriteRegistryValues,Description=Writing system registry values,Template=Key: [1], Name: [2], Value: [3])
Action 15:40:37: WriteRegistryValues. Writing system registry values
MSI (s) (70:38) [15:40:37:974]: Executing op: ProgressTotal(Total=3,Type=1,ByteEquivalent=13200)
MSI (s) (70:38) [15:40:37:975]: Executing op: RegOpenKey(Root=-2147483646,Key=SOFTWARE\XPTOInc\XPTO\XPTOServer\BetaVersion,,BinaryType=0,,)
MSI (s) (70:38) [15:40:37:975]: Executing op: RegAddValue(Name=token,Value=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,)
WriteRegistryValues: Key: \SOFTWARE\XPTOInc\XPTO\XPTOServer\BetaVersion, Name: token, Value: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MSI (s) (70:38) [15:40:37:976]: Executing op: RegAddValue(Name=envId,Value=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,)
WriteRegistryValues: Key: \SOFTWARE\XPTOInc\XPTO\XPTOServer\BetaVersion, Name: envId, Value: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MSI (s) (70:38) [15:40:37:976]: Executing op: RegAddValue(Name=installDir,Value=C:\Program Files (x86)\XPTOInc\XPTO\XPTO Server Beta\,)
WriteRegistryValues: Key: \SOFTWARE\XPTOInc\XPTO\XPTOServer\BetaVersion, Name: installDir, Value: C:\Program Files (x86)\XPTOInc\XPTO\XPTO Server Beta\
MSI (s) (70:38) [15:40:37:977]: Executing op: ActionStart(Name=InstallServices,Description=Installing new services,Template=Service: [2])
Action 15:40:37: InstallServices. Installing new services
MSI (s) (70:38) [15:40:37:977]: Executing op: ProgressTotal(Total=1,Type=1,ByteEquivalent=1300000)
MSI (s) (70:38) [15:40:37:978]: Executing op: ServiceInstall(Name=xpto_server,DisplayName=XPTOServer,ImagePath="C:\Program Files (x86)\XPTOInc\XPTO\XPTO Server Beta\xpto-server.exe",ServiceType=16,StartType=2,ErrorControl=1,,Dependencies=[~],,,Password=**********,Description=Read data from Registry and do simple stuff,,)
InstallServices: Service: 
MSI (s) (70:38) [15:40:37:980]: Executing op: ActionStart(Name=StartServices,Description=Starting services,Template=Service: [1])
Action 15:40:37: StartServices. Starting services
MSI (s) (70:38) [15:40:37:981]: Executing op: ProgressTotal(Total=1,Type=1,ByteEquivalent=1300000)
MSI (s) (70:38) [15:40:37:981]: Executing op: ServiceControl(,Name=xpto_server,Action=1,,)
StartServices: Service: XPTO Server
Error 1920. Service 'XPTO Server' (xpto_server) failed to start.  Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services.

Answer 1

Solution: The problem in this case was that the registry keys were not found in the expected location in the registry due to 32-bit / 64-bit issues.

• 64-bit section: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Company\App - MyValue
• 32 bit section: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Company\App - MyValue

End of answer. Leaving debugging efforts in place below though:

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Round 1:

Maybe try to read these two recent answers and check if anything rings a bell:

• Wix Service Installer sometimes fails to install or start
• Wix - ServiceControl start takes four minutes to fail, should be 30 sec

What does it say in the event viewer? (Windows + R eventvwr and OK)

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Round 2:

• Bitness: Are you sure you are reading from the right location in the registry? Are you installing a 32-bit MSI or a 64-bit MSI? (looks like 32-bit)
  • 64-bit section: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Company\App
  • 32 bit section: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Company\App
• Permissions: Did you check the permissions for the registry keys and values your setup writes using regedit.exe to inspect? Right click => Permissions (have to ask).
• Privileges: What account do you use to run the service? It sort of looks like standard LocalSystem? The account needs the SeServiceLogonRight privilege. See second line on section above for details.
• Logging: Do you use log4net or some other logging feature in your service? Did you try the verbose, debug MSI logging found in the first link in the top section?