Install Windows Service created in Visual Studio

Question

When I create a new Windows Service in Visual Studio 2010, I get the message stating to use InstallUtil and net start to run the service.

I have tried the following steps:

1. Create new project File -> New -> Project -> Windows Service
2. Project Name: TestService
3. Build project as is (Service1 constructor, OnStart, OnStop)
4. Open command prompt, run "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe" TestService.exe
5. Run net start TestService.

Output of step 4

Running a transacted installation.

Beginning the Install phase of the installation.

See the contents of the log file for the C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\TestService\TestService\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.exe assembly's progress.

The file is located at C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\Tes tService\TestService\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.InstallLog.

Installing assembly 'C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\TestS ervice\TestService\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.exe'.

Affected parameters are:

logtoconsole =

logfile = C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\TestService\T estService\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.InstallLog

assemblypath = C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\TestServ ice\TestService\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.exe

No public installers with the RunInstallerAttribute.Yes attribute could be found in the C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\TestService\TestSe rvice\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.exe assembly.

The Install phase completed successfully, and the Commit phase is beginning.

See the contents of the log file for the C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\TestService\TestService\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.exe assembly's progress.

The file is located at C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\Tes tService\TestService\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.InstallLog.

Committing assembly 'C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\TestS ervice\TestService\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.exe'.

Affected parameters are:

logtoconsole =

logfile = C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\TestService\T estService\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.InstallLog

assemblypath = C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\TestServ ice\TestService\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.exe

No public installers with the RunInstallerAttribute.Yes attribute could be found in the C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\TestService\TestSe rvice\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.exe assembly.

Remove InstallState file because there are no installers.

The Commit phase completed successfully.

The transacted install has completed.

Output of step 5

The service name is invalid.

More help is available by typing NET HELPMSG 2185.

Answer 1

Here is an alternate way to make the installer and get rid of that error message. Also it seems that VS2015 express does not have the "Add Installer" menu item.

You simply need to create a class and add the below code and add the reference System.Configuration.Install.dll.

using System.Configuration.Install;
using System.ServiceProcess;
using System.ComponentModel;


namespace SAS
{
    [RunInstaller(true)]
    public class MyProjectInstaller : Installer
    {
        private ServiceInstaller serviceInstaller1;
        private ServiceProcessInstaller processInstaller;

        public MyProjectInstaller()
        {
            // Instantiate installer for process and service.
            processInstaller = new ServiceProcessInstaller();
            serviceInstaller1 = new ServiceInstaller();

            // The service runs under the system account.
            processInstaller.Account = ServiceAccount.LocalSystem;

            // The service is started manually.
            serviceInstaller1.StartType = ServiceStartMode.Manual;

            // ServiceName must equal those on ServiceBase derived classes.
            serviceInstaller1.ServiceName = "SAS Service";

            // Add installer to collection. Order is not important if more than one service.
            Installers.Add(serviceInstaller1);
            Installers.Add(processInstaller);
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

You need to open the Service.cs file in the designer, right click it and choose the menu-option "Add Installer".

It won't install right out of the box... you need to create the installer class first.

Some reference on service installer:

How to: Add Installers to Your Service Application

Quite old... but this is what I am talking about:

Windows Services in C#: Adding the Installer (part 3)

By doing this, a ProjectInstaller.cs will be automaticaly created. Then you can double click this, enter the designer, and configure the components:

• serviceInstaller1 has the properties of the service itself: Description, DisplayName, ServiceName and StartType are the most important.

• serviceProcessInstaller1 has this important property: Account that is the account in which the service will run.

For example:

this.serviceProcessInstaller1.Account = ServiceAccount.LocalSystem;

Answer 3

Another possible problem (which I ran into):

Be sure that the ProjectInstaller class is public. To be honest, I am not sure how exactly I did it, but I added event handlers to ProjectInstaller.Designer.cs, like:

this.serviceProcessInstaller1.BeforeInstall += new System.Configuration.Install.InstallEventHandler(this.serviceProcessInstaller1_BeforeInstall);

I guess during the automatical process of creating the handler function in ProjectInstaller.cs it changed the class definition from

public class ProjectInstaller : System.Configuration.Install.Installer

to

partial class ProjectInstaller : System.Configuration.Install.Installer

replacing the public keyword with partial. So, in order to fix it it must be

public partial class ProjectInstaller : System.Configuration.Install.Installer

I use Visual Studio 2013 Community edition.

Answer 4

Looking at:

No public installers with the RunInstallerAttribute.Yes attribute could be found in the C:\Users\myusername\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\TestService\TestSe rvice\obj\x86\Debug\TestService.exe assembly.

It looks like you may not have an installer class in your code. This is a class that inherits from Installer that will tell installutil how to install your executable as a service.

P.s. I have my own little self-installing/debuggable Windows Service template here which you can copy code from or use: Debuggable, Self-Installing Windows Service

Answer 5

Stealth Change in VS 2010 and .NET 4.0 and Later

No public installers with the RunInstallerAttribute.Yes attribute could be found

There is an alias change or compiler cleanup in .NET that may reveal this little tweak for your specific case.

If you have the following code …

RunInstaller(true)   // old alias  

You may need to update it to

RunInstallerAttribute(true)  // new property spelling

It is like an alias changed under the covers at compile time or at runtime and you will get this error behavior. The above explicit change to RunInstallerAttribute(true) fixed it in all of our install scenarios on all machines.

After you add project or service installer then check for the “old” RunInstaller(true) and change it to the new RunInstallerAttribute(true)

Answer 6

Two typical problems:

1. Missing the ProjectInstaller class (as @MiguelAngelo has pointed)
2. The command prompt must “Run as Administrator”