how to ensure whether the windows service is in starting or started state

Question

I get a running status for both starting and started state using ServiceControllerStatus. Is there any way to find whether the service has been completely started

Answer 1

Yes, but it is a little ugly:

Import ADVAPI32.DLL:

[DllImport ("advapi32.dll", EntryPoint = "QueryServiceStatus", CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
internal static extern bool QueryServiceStatus (IntPtr hService, ref SERVICE_STATUS dwServiceStatus);

declare some structs:

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct SERVICE_STATUS
{
    public int serviceType;
    public int currentState;
    public int controlsAccepted;
    public int win32ExitCode;
    public int serviceSpecificExitCode;
    public int checkPoint;
    public int waitHint;
}

public enum State
{
    SERVICE_STOPPED = 0x00000001,
    SERVICE_START_PENDING = 0x00000002,
    SERVICE_STOP_PENDING = 0x00000003,
    SERVICE_RUNNING = 0x00000004,
    SERVICE_CONTINUE_PENDING = 0x00000005,
    SERVICE_PAUSE_PENDING = 0x00000006,
    SERVICE_PAUSED = 0x00000007,
}

EDIT: Easier to user QueryServiceStatus(), but in general it remains the same. See the links for details, I don't think it is helpful if I paste that much code here.

Then you can use the ControlService with control code SERVICE_CONTROL_INTERROGATE to issue status information requests.

See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms682108(VS.85).aspx

http://www.pinvoke.net/default.aspx/advapi32.ControlService

Answer 2

The ServiceController.Status() property already uses the native QueryServiceStatus() API function. It will return ServiceControllerStatus.StartPending if the service returns the SERVICE_START_PENDING status code.

You'll have to take the return value as-is, the service is in complete control of its status codes. If you never get StartPending then the service most likely just doesn't require any time to get started. Which is fairly common. If you find the service to be unresponsive for a while, even though you got the Running status back then there's a flaw in the service implementation.