Windows Service cannot access Castle Windsor config data in app.config

Question

Hi all

I use Castle Windsor in a couple of web apps just fine by putting the config data in web.config.

So when I decided to use it in a Windows Service I thought it would be a cinch. My app.config file looks like the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="castle" type="Castle.Windsor.Configuration.AppDomain.CastleSectionHandler,Castle.Windsor" />
  </configSections>
  ...various other stuff...
  <castle>
    <components>
      ...component listings...
    </components>
  </castle>
</configuration>

I'm creating my container like this:

WindsorContainer windsorContainer = new WindsorContainer(new XmlInterpreter());

But crazily, when the app runs I get

Could not find section 'castle' in the configuration file associated with this domain.
   at Castle.Core.Resource.ConfigResource..ctor(String sectionName)
   at Castle.Core.Resource.ConfigResource..ctor()
   at Castle.Windsor.Configuration.Interpreters.AbstractInterpreter..ctor()
   at Castle.Windsor.Configuration.Interpreters.XmlInterpreter..ctor()
   ...application stack trace...

I'm a bit bamboozled. Anyone got any tips?

Cheers

David

Answer 1

Well, let's hit the obvious. An executable will be using myprog.exe.config for it's configuration. The app.config should be copied to that filename and placed in the output folder with the .exe. Do you have that file with the service executable?

Answer 2

I seem to recall something about app.config files and windows services. Since the application that is actually "running" your service is svchost.exe and that exe exists in %windir%\system32, that is where you config file needs to be. Try placing it there (%windir%\system32) and see what happens.