Why does my Windows Service logs not show up in the Application Event Log?

Question

I've created a run of the mill C# Windows Service using the windows service project template. I've been able to install it correctly, and start and stop it without any issues.

However, when I go to my event viewer to see the log of it starting and stopping, I get nothing.

Here's the sample code I'm testing:

public MyService()
    {
        InitializeComponent();

        ServiceName = "My Data Service";
        EventLog.Log = "Application";
    }

    protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
    {
        EventLog.WriteEntry("Starting My Data Service");
    }

    protected override void OnStop()
    {
        EventLog.WriteEntry("Ending MyData Service");
    }

Also, my OS is Windows Vista.

Answer 1

EventLog requires an EventSource created to be able to write.

Answer 2

If you want it to log to the default log use

EventLog.WriteEntry("Starting My Data Service", EventLogEntryType.Information);

Of course, you have to ensure that the service is running under an account with sufficient privileges to write to the log and to "run as a service".

Found this example on SO, Best Way to write to the event log

Here's an example where you specify the source too, rather than displaying as .NET Runtime... MSDN Example