How to start window service automatically as soon as the system get started.

Question

Hi I want to run a window service as soon as the system get start automatically. I have made a service it is working properly but the problem is that when i shutdown the system and come next day and start the system the service is not started. I have to manually start the service but when i try and check by restarting the system the service is started only. Please can anyone suggest!!!

John Penn · Answer

Right-click on your service code module (created as Service1.cs by default) and select View Designer. In the designer window right-click anywhere and select Add Installer. This will add a module called ProjectInstaller1.cs to your service project. By default there will be a component in the designer window of ProjectInstaller1.cs called serviceInstaller1. Right-click on this and select Properties. One of the properties is a string array called ServicesDependedOn. This is where you list all of the services that your service expects to be running before it starts. More details here: http://joefreeman.co.uk/blog/2010/03/creating-a-setup-project-for-a-windows-wcf-service-with-visual-studio/ When you run the msi that will be created when you build your setup project the information in ProjectInstaller1 will be used to establish the dependency.

Vijay Yadav · Answer

Thanks to all... for helping me and @Suthish- if possible then definitely i would write an article for this.

Vulpes · Answer

Good detective work John :)

Suthish Nair · Answer

Guys this was a good thread. John/Vijay you need to create an article regarding this topic.

John Penn · Answer

Awesome! That's good to hear. Glad I could help!

Vijay Yadav · Answer

Hey John Thanks a lot!!! It is working fine now... :)

John Penn · Answer

Also- The serviceInstaller1 component is where you set the DisplayName and Description of your service (the text that appears in the Administrative Tools->Services list) and the startup type (manual/automatic/disabled). You should still use Automatic but with the dependency to SQL Server in place it should start correctly.

John Penn · Answer

If your SQL Server instance was setup as a default instance then the service name will be MSSQLSERVER. If it's a named instance then it will be MSSQL$ .

Vijay Yadav · Answer

Hi John You are right my service is geeting start before sql server starts. As you suggested to create an installer (i.e. a setup project) for the service. As far as i understood i have to just create a setup. Can you please ellaborate the same. Thanks a lot!

John Penn · Answer

Verify that your connection string has the correct login credentials. It's also possible that your service is starting before the SQL Server service has been started. If that's the case then you will need to establish a dependency for your service so that it won't try to start before SQL Server. You can do this by creating an installer (i.e. a setup project) for your service.

Vijay Yadav · Answer

Hi Everyone Thanks for your kind reply. @Suthish- I tried your way but it doesn't worked out. And the problem is that onstart of service i am retrieving data from database. As John and Mahesh suggested for exception handling I am writing the exception in the local file and it is showing  Cannot open database database_ name requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed for user 'sa'  on start of the computer. That means it is not able to retrieve the data on start of the service when the system start again but now the service is getting started as i changed the account from network service to local system. Please help!

Suthish Nair · Answer

Did you tried enabling Allow service to interact with desktop from Service --> Properties --> LogOn tab. Restart and try.. An alternative solution

Mahesh Chand · Answer

I agree with John. This is possible that your service is trying to run but getting an exception. If an exception occurs it won't start. Try to put a try..catch in your code within the service and if exception occurs write in a local text file. This was one of the way I used to diagnose my windows service problems.

John Penn · Answer

Vijay- You really should add some error logging to your service. Some possibilities are log4net and Elmah. You won't be able to fix your problem until you find out what's causing it and to do that you have to catch the exceptions being thrown and track down their cause(s).

John Penn · Answer

Sam - the goal of my post was not to supply an entire encyclopedia describing every possible diagnostic tool. I was just trying to offer a few helpful suggestions.

Vijay Yadav · Answer

@John yes i write this service but it is not working accordingly adn tried changing the Log on also but no use and @Sam i also don't understand what's there in system event logs.

Vijay Yadav · Answer

Thanks everyone for your reply. And Mahesh i done this but then also it is not working. You can see the images of the service in the attached file. One is when i start the service and another is when i shutdown and start the system again but service didn't get start. Please help!!!

Mahesh Chand · Answer

Also go to your Services window (Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Services) or just type services in Windows 7 search text box and open Services. Find your services name right click on it select Properties. On General tab make Startup Type = Automatic.

Sam Hobbs · Answer

Have you looked at the system event logs? I sometimes look at them but usually there is nothing there that I can undersand and/or do anything about but you sure should look there for a problem such as this. It is very likely that John Penn knows more about this than I do and I assume he just did not think to suggest this. Or maybe he knows that this is not worth suggesting.

John Penn · Answer

Did you write this service? If so you really should have some kind of exception handling in place that logs the errors to a flat file or a database so that you can diagnose any errors that may occur while the service is running (or trying to start). One possibility is that the service is attempting to access areas of the file system that the account it's running under does not have access to. As a test try changing the service's logon account to one with local admin rights to see if that fixes the problem (using the Log On tab of the service properties dialog). If the service runs normally then you should create another local account with the minimum permissions it needs to access those areas of the file system. Don't let it use an admin account for production use as that may introduce security issues.

Vulpes · Answer

If everything looks OK in the Service Manager console then it may be an OS problem. I'd make sure that you've installed all the latest updates and if you're using Vista I'd see if there's anything which helps in this thread ( http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/itprovistasetup/thread/cc3ce627-9a7e-4887-a793-edd66b70ea3e/ ).

Vijay Yadav · Answer

Hi Vulpes I have set the StartType propety to Automatic but hten also it is nt getting started. Any other idea?

Vulpes · Answer

You have to add an installer to your service and set the StartType to Automatic for the service to begin automatically when the system is booted. Please see this link ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa984431(VS.71).aspx ) for instructions on how to do this.