running 2 windows services using different versions of the same application

Question

I have a server application that I install as a Windows service. I want to run two different versions of the same thing on the same server, they differ by the build I am on and the configuration. One being a beta version and the other being the live version. I can install two separate copies of the application on the server just fine but I can only start up on of them as a service at a time. Each service starts up fine if it is the only one. Any thoughts?

I am testing this on Windows 7 and on Server 2008.

Answer 1

The service name you register has to be unique. I add an instance ID to my service name when doing this type of thing.

Answer 2

Yep, as Brad says the name has to be unique (+1). And be careful what you pick, because it has to be unique in all space and time... We have had a service running on our windows servers for many years called "monitor" (it monitored processes). Imagine how overjoyed we were when Microsoft decided to add a service to Windows called... "monitor". Imagine our mirth as our installs started silently failing. Oh, how we laughed.

Pick your name carefully :-)