Installing a .NET Windows Service on a machine that doesn't have Visual Studio installed

Question

Hi all

I have created a Windows Service (called MuskOx) which runs on my development machine (which obviously has Visual Studio installed).

The Bin folder of the project contains the following files:

• InstallUtil.InstallLog
• muskox.InstallLog
• muskox.InstallState
• MuskOx.exe.config
• MuskOx.vshost.exe
• MuskOx.vshost.exe.config
• MuskOx.vshost.exe.manifest
• Kctc.dll (a class library used by MuskOx)
• Kctc.pdb
• MuskOx.exe
• MuskOx.pdb

Can anyone tell me what I need to do to install the service on another machine which doesn't have VS installed? I haven't the faintest idea what half of those files do and I'm finding Googling answers a little unproductive.

Thanks

David

Answer 1

You don't need to ship any of the .vshost.* files. The pdb files are debug files so only ship those if you want symbols in your debug output. And of course when installing the service on another machine, InstallLog and InstallState files should get generated so you don't need to ship those either.

Answer 2

Copy MuskOx.exe and Kctc.dll to the target machine. Run installutil.exe to get it registered, its available in c:\windows\microsoft.net\framework\v2.0.50727

Answer 3

For .net applications use the installutil.exe as Hans already pointed out. You can also use sc.exe to install and uninstall services.

Answer 4

You can do it with your application:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/358700/how-to-install-a-windows-service-programmatically-in-c