.NET Windows Service - multiple services in one project

Question

Currently, I have a project with a Windows Service. I also created another "Setup Project" which installs the Windows Service.

My question is this: Can I add another Windows Service to the same project? (This way, I can use 1 installer, and share some code between the services more easily.) If I can, does that mean when one service encounters errors then both services are stopped, or do they error out independently of each other?

Are there any other differences between coding 1 service per project, or having multiple services in one project?

Answer 1

yes, you can have multiple services in the same project. Although they both use the same exe, they are loaded into different memory spaces and act independently of each other.

Answer 2

Hey Boris,

I know this is already answered, but if you'd like an example (code) of how to run two services in the same project please have a look at my answer to a similar question:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1688275/can-i-have-multiple-services-hosted-in-a-single-windows-executable/1688702#1688702.

Thanks!

Answer 3

Hi! I am a developer for an open source windows service hosting framework called Daemoniq. Running multiple services in one process is one of its features. You can download it from http://daemoniq.org

Current features include:

• container agnostic service location via the CommonServiceLocator
• set common service properties like serviceName, displayName, description and serviceStartMode via app.config
• run multiple windows services on the same process
• set recovery options via app.config
• set services depended on via app.config
• set service process credentials via command-line
• install, uninstall, debug services via command-line

Thanks!