Event Logging in C# on Windows 7/ 2008 Server.

Question

Hi

i am trying to make an event logger for my cmd line application. However I get this error when it tries to create the log for the first time.

The source was not found, but some or all event logs could not be searched. Inaccessible logs: Security.

So I found this is a because of windows 7 and some new security. So right now I have to give the .exe admin rights.

Is there a way around this so it would not need admin rights? I don't know if people would feel too good if they have to contently run my application with admin rights.

I am planning to put this later on a windows 2008 machine so I am guessing it will suffer from the same problem.

Answer 1

You could create the event source at the point of installation so they only need to make that choice once. Once the source is created in the registry you can add events to it without the need for admin rights.

As well as the CreateEventSource function there is also the EventLogInstaller class:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.eventloginstaller.aspx

WiX also offers this functionality in it's Utility extension:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/58538/how-do-you-create-an-event-log-source-using-wix

Answer 2

NETWORK SERVICE OR Impersonated User must have Read/Write access to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog\Security