Windows Service not writing text file after installation in Windows - c#

I have created a console based app and running fine, and same app converted into windows services. When i install it through visual studio for debugging its install and run smoothly, but when the code flow goes to change the app.config file value 0 to 1 it throw an exception UnauthorizedAccessException' and access denied.

The issue can be due to one of these 2 reasons:
If you are not accessing file using an absolute path, the service might be looking for the file at a location other than where you are expecting.
Services are started from an application called Service Control
Manager. This application lives in the system directory
%WinDir%\System32
On a Windows 7 Ultimate - 64 bits this path is actually : %WinDir%\SysWOW64
The WindowsService process could be running under an account different
from what the Visual Studio might be running under.
Either you can make the service run under an account that already has permission to the file or give permissions to the account that the service is already running under.

Related

Winform application not running after installing into program files directory

I had created a windows form application and used setup project to create installer. But after installing my application the application is not opening from the location it is installed("c:\Programs Files(86x)\"). But the application runs fine if i copy the entire installed files to another drive. Actually my application is creating some folder inside the installed directory when running. so i thought it is some problem related to windows permissions. I had set app privileges as "requireAdministrator" and still not working. Can anyone help me with a solution?
Actually my application is creating some folder inside the installed directory when running.
Don't do that!
The Program Files folder is read only to standard users, and has been since Windows 2000. And since Windows Vista even Administrator users will require elevation to get write access into this folder.
Use the All Users Application Data folder instead (Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData).
The alternative is an advanced installer product (meaning purchasing the full version of InstallShield or similar rather than the version included with Visual Studio) which supports adding an action to your install process that both creates the folder and sets new permissions, and does this at install time. But that's really a cheat, anyway. Just use Application Data.

Machine needing to restart after binary update of desktop application

We have one Desktop application build with .NET3.5 in VS 2008. It is deployed on Network location which is accessible across the firm. Shortcut is created on user's machine to start the application. Desktop is being build (compiled) in AnyCPU configuration as Some user using XP machine and some are using Windows 7. Whenever new build (dlls and exe) deployed on network location, user have to close the app and restart it to work properly
Problem
We are facing a issue whenever we deploy new build (dlls and EXE) of the application. On Windows 7 machine application is not starting if we close the current running instance. User has to restart the machine itself to get it work.
Any help or suggestion is appreciated.
There is limited info to go on but the first thing I would make sure of, is the application still running under the Processes tab in the task Manager?
Go to the task manager on the computer and check the running processes tab to see if this app is still running.
It could be that it doesn't shut itself down properly after the user quits the application.
If the program is still running in the background then Windows will require a restart before the new dll's are loaded.

Installing a Windows Service -Setup.exe fails

There is a weird issue I am facing. I created my first windows service looking through various blogs and tutorials.
Then created setup for that adding installer etc. It works fine while installing , un-installing via Visual Studio but it fails when i deploy it .
Below is a summary of the errors, details of these errors are listed later in the log.
* Activation of C:\Users\bhuvint\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\CPNS Library\ServicePackage\CommonPushNotificationWindowsService.application resulted in exception. Following failure messages were detected:
+ You cannot start application CommonPushNotificationWindowsService from this location because it is already installed from a different location.
+ You cannot start application CommonPushNotificationWindowsService from location file:///C:/Users/bhuvint/Documents/Visual%20Studio%202010/Projects/CPNS%20Library/ServicePackage/CommonPushNotificationWindowsService.application it is already installed from location file:///C:/inetpub/wwwroot/ServicePackage/CommonPushNotificationWindowsService.application. You can start it from location file:///C:/inetpub/wwwroot/ServicePackage/CommonPushNotificationWindowsService.application or you can uninstall it and reinstall it from location file:///C:/Users/bhuvint/Documents/Visual%20Studio%202010/Projects/CPNS%20Library/ServicePackage/CommonPushNotificationWindowsService.application.
I have already un-installed the service and trying to install it from the deployed service in the same pc to test. But it fails with above error.
I feel i have deployed the windows service the wrong way. Could you guys please suggest how to deploy a windows service ?? (I have looked through net. All suggest building it and installing it from visual studios. But how to publish it is the thing which i need.)
Please help asap.
Possibly you built the setup project before uninstalling the preovious service. In that case you can't use the new setup to uninstall the service, since the setup won't be the same and can't be able to access the service installed.
You should try to go to a previous version of your project and uninstall the service and for the future unistall the service each time you're building your setup project.
This happened to me several times.
Run visual studio in debug mode, and in your properties of your service project goto tab build events in Post-Build event command line and add a -d so you can run your service without installing it, it will run as an console app
The LocalService account acts as a non-privileged user on the local computer, and presents anonymous credentials to any remote server. Use the other accounts with caution, as they run with higher privileges and increase your risk of attacks from malicious code.
If your service application will not install correctly, check to make sure that the ServiceName property for the service class is set to the same value as is shown in the installer for that service. The value must be the same in both instances in order for your service to install correctly.
NoteNote
You can also look at the installation logs to get feedback on the installation process.
You should also check to determine whether you have another service with the same name already installed. Service names must be unique for installation to succeed.
STUPIDITY PERSONIFIED
As i told i was deploying my service. So this published code had a "setup.exe" file to it. Now I had already created a setup project for the windows service , which i was using for the installing , uninstalling . And i din't know (These words needs courage !!) that msi file created is required to install the windows service. So as i got through the folder structure of the setup project. I came across the .msi file . And hence the problem got solved. The Main problem was :
Me not knowing to use setup projects
And I confused setup.exe with the published windows service with the setup of windows service.
I am really sorry for stealing bandwidth off your precious time. Thanks to all for the valuable inputs.

Running Application at StartUp

Hi i am running windows 7 64 bit.
I made an application that uses sql lite database and to do operation application has application manifist file to require admin.
Now issue is that i need to run this application when ever windows starts up it should run after login.
now i tried two approaches
1.Writing Registry Run
2.Creating ShortCut to StartUp Folder.
when ever i restart my application it does not start up.even if i get the path from regedit or startup shortcut is clicked the application starts up.
What is the Issue?
One thing i noticed that if application does not requires Admin permission then it launches. but in that case database exception occurs"Attempt to write a read only database"
but launching with admin rights Works on WinXP
did you check the permissions of the directory containing the sqlite db ? the directory should be write enabled

Windows Service in C# works on dev machine, crashes in test environment

I have been working on an application using .NET 4 and c# in Visual Studio 2010 Express. It's purpose is to watch a directory and import any documents it finds into our imaging system.
I included an installer class which provides the information needed by installutil.exe.
So to install locally, I build the solution, and then at command line:
installutil.exe MyProjectExecutable.exe
Which installs it as a service. This works fine in my development environment.
To deploy to the test environment, I use the same method:
installutil.exe MyProjectExecutable.exe.deploy
Except of course the executable has a second extension, .deploy. This is the way the application is published by Visual Studio. Everything works up tot his point
Here is the problem: once I have done this, I run the service and it starts properly, as indicated in the log file. However, once it detects files in the directory, the service will not do anything with them and will eventually crash. The only way I can tell it has crashed is to look in the windows Event Viewer. It will show the message:
"An unhandled win32 exception occurred in MyProjectExecutable.exe.deploy [4108]. Just-In-Time debugging this exception failed with the following error: Debugger could not be started because no user is logged on."
Two questions:
1) What could be causing this
2) Am I going through the correct steps to install a windows service, or is there a better way?
Both environments have .NET 4 installed.
In both environments I am placing the same documents in the import directory.
In both environments the service runs under the Local System account.
If my question reflects a lack of C# experience, my apologies in advance.
subscribe to AppDomain.UnhandledException Event
Are you watching a directory under 'Documents and Settings?' You mention that you're running under Local System, but is that in the C# code or in the Services Panel?
Start->Run
services.msc
< Find your App >
Right-click, Properties
Log On Tab
Log On As
This Account
< Plug in a user / pass with permissions >
In my experience this it is always a security problem. Check the rights that the service running user has. Can it access the folders you are monitoring and make the needed changes?
I have found the problem. in the config file, the listen directory was "c" whereas it should have been "C". Until now, I didn't think Windows was case-sensitive. Thanks for the help guys.

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