I have a problem with a service. I have an installed application that runs as a service; when I start that service, a command prompt opens and immediately closes. The program isn't executing properly and I need to see the error output but the command prompt closes too quickly. Is there a way to force the window to remain open? Thanks everyone!
A:
Since a service doesn't allow for user-interaction, could you instead redirect your message to stderr or a file? Or post something to the Event Viewer?
Michael Todd
2010-01-14 18:12:10
A:
If the service doesn't keep it's own log file, there might be an error visible in the Event Log on that machine. You can open the EventViewer from the Control Panel / Administrative Tools section.
Ron Savage
2010-01-14 18:17:42
+1
A:
Services cannot create console windows, they run in their own session with their own "desktop". Given that you see one, I'd have to guess that you didn't actually create a service. What happened when you tried to install it with InstallUtil.exe?
This MSDN Library page has recommendations to debug a service's OnStart() method.
Hans Passant
2010-01-14 19:17:41