I created a server application that always need to be online and running.
In case that my application is been shutdown i want to restart the application.
Is there a way that "Windows service" will be my online insurance?
If not is there another way?
Thanks.
Yes, windows services can be set to restart if they fail.
In case that my application is been shutdown i want to restart the application.
This makes NO Sense and you should not do it.
If the admin shuts you down (and that is the only way a service is shut down) then he has a reason - maybe he has to apply emergency patches or something else.
If the app CRASHES that is another thing (and windows services can be set up to automatically restart when crashing), but if you geta shutdown request do NOT restart as a service. Never. I can name you a dozen cases where it would be stupid - mostly around system maintenance that you would interfere with. You basically risk being terminated because the computer is switched off.
If your application is not a windows service you need to learn the basics how windows works, because it is ridiculously crappy to have a normal application act as sever process. For anything, a user must be interactively logged in. Next time I see a server with a logged in user because some stupid programmer could not do his job I promise I (censored).
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My problem: Can I run an exe (a Windows Forms application) from a Windows service? If so, how?
You should be able to use System.Diagnostics.Process.Start http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.diagnostics.process.start.aspx to start an executable process.
But please keep in mind that services are expected (and most often does) run in their own context. For example the service would start running as soon as windows startes and even before any user is logged on. If your service decides to start the exe when no one is logged in, you will not see the UI of the form
First for all you should say what versions of windows, for vista and later here there article, for xp you should check "allow desktop interaction" in service property, but anyway it's considered as bad and insecure practice, so by any chance you should try to avoid that.
First excuse my for my bad English language
i'm Writing a security application for my company and i want to prevent users from opening specific program like torrent in my application. but this is not the problem. the problem begin where users can close my application some how....
they can end process and ...
i need some solution to Hide my application from users or make it Unclosable
i was thinking to something like Network Notify icon or Clock in windows, i read about Explorer extensions but they don't help me because they already Closable
by the way i need application start working on computer start-up Automatically
thanks Everybody
Execute your watcher as a windows service and provider a user gui that only give some visual feedback to the user from the service by using some kind of inter-process communication. If the user closes the gui, the service still runs in the background.
But if your users have local administrator rights they can always stop your program (or service) somehow, otherwise they wouldn't be administrators of the system anymore.
At the moment we have .NET WinService started under LocalService user at windows start. The service launch another WinForms Application using Process.Start().
But there are several problems in this solution:
We don't wait for an interactive user logon and the Application falls because it tries and fails to initialize DirectX device.
Application launched under LocalService perfectly interacts with user desktop in Windows XP. But it doesn't work in Windows 7 because of there are different graphic stations for each user in win7.
Sometimes we need to run application with current interactive logon user rights.
Does anybody know how to wait for user interactive logon in the service and start WinForms Application with these user rights?
I think this helps to solve all problems.
You will need a separate client app. Check out this document, page 6: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/hardware/gg463353.aspx.
For your monitoring/restart scenario look at CreateProcessAsUser as mentioned in the document. You will almost certainly need to have your client app coordinate with the service for this, and it's still pushing a square peg into a round hole.
I would try using a combination of the answers above.
To solve #1
At user logon, launch the Winforms application using autostart in registry or startup folder. Make it notify the service that it was started successfully.
To make sure that the Winform app is started successfully after user log on:
Have your service that checks if application is started running in the background as you have now but don't let it do the initial startup.
Instead just let it register when user logs on, should be possible to do by listening to OnSessionChange.
Set a delay for X number of seconds to allow the login/startup process finish before it starts checking for a running application (ok maybe not the best solution).
If the service discovers that the application is not started or crashes, restart it from the service using the method Mark points out, CreateProcessAsUser.
Is it possible that this just isn't the right approach for what you're trying to do? It seems possible that you'd be better off putting the monitoring logic or whatever has the uptime requirements into the service so that it's "always on" so to speak. Then you would be left with UI logic in the WinForms app, which could be open or closed with no ill effect.
I am working on a console application that I want to run in the background of machines from the moment they boot to shutdown. Now I know that it would be optimum to create a Windows Service, but in this case I need to be able to intetact with certificate stores and I do not believe that a local service account certificate store will do.
I am looking at System.Timers for keeping the application running rather than bludgening in to death with an infinite while statement, is this a logical way to handle this or is there a better way in which to keep the application open? The application will be checking into a SQL database frequently to see if there is any work to do.
You can run Windows Services under any user with appropriate privileges. You are not required to run it under Local Service account.
Alternatively, you could use a tray icon to keep you application running, see here for a sample.
Although, you can run the application as a windows service it requires additional installation overhead. Also = as far as I understand the OP - the application should close when the user logs out, this does not hold true for windows services. So you will have close it explicitly when this behaviour is required.
You could create a windows service and impersonate the user to access the necessary certificate stores. See this question: SO Question
Now I know that it would be optimum to create a Windows Service, but in this case I need to be able to intetact with certificate stores and I do not believe that a local service account certificate store will do.
In Windows XP:
Start->Settings->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Services
Right click on your service->Properties->Log On tab->This Account->Specify account to run as
It's something similar for Windows Vista and Windows 7 but I'm on an XP machine right now.
I am looking at System.Timers for keeping the application running rather than bludgening in to death with an infinite while statement, is this a logical way to handle this or is there a better way in which to keep the application open?
A System.Timers is fine for periodically doing something. Again, you can implement this in a Windows service though.
At my company we have a product which pretty much interacts with everything you can imagine... registry, databases, devices, etc... it is composed of many parts but the entire application is launched by a single executable (start.exe) which is responsbile for launching everything else - this is all legacy code and run under a USER account.
Currently this is launched as a STARTUP item (or by double-clicking on the desktop icon) in Windows, meaning when the user logins into the USER account the application (start.exe) automatically kicks off, under this account it has all the permissions it needs to run and everything has been fine for years...
Now comes the change - I have written a service (Serv.exe) that is running as LocalSystem - this service is responsible for updating the various software components of our product and works as follows:
- when the product detects an update it signals the LocalSystem service (Serv.exe) and then terminates itself
- Serv.exe will then perform all the updating
Now, after everything is done, the product (via start.exe) needs to be launched again automatically ... and this is where I need some advice ... what is the best way to restart the product (start.exe)?
Right now I use the LocalSystem Service (Serv.exe) and impersonate the USER account as follows:
- CreateEnvironmentBlock for the USER
- CreateProcessAsUser(start.exe) as the USER with the corresponding EnvBlock
- DestroyEnvironmentBlock
But is this really 100% equivalent to double-clicking on the icon in the USER account context? I need to ensure that everything is identical when it is either launched on STARTUP of USER or by Impersonation from Serv.exe (LocalSystem) - is there a risk involved? Will I still have the same rights/abilities with all databases? registry? device interaction? etc..
By loading the EnvBlock I seem to get everything I need but ... is this not a good way to do it...?
Kind of hoping for some guidance and advice from the pro's out there ...
Any help or hints would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Update: Here is a post named: Launching an interactive process from Windows Service in Windows Vista and later. Which is exactly what you are looking for. It starts with:
The first thing you should do about it is that; don't do it. There are many limitations and bad implications and restrictions involved.
So first test if your current solution works. That depend on what the process is doing. If it is not involving user interaction. Or manipulating the current user session. Then you don't need this complex solution. If you need it, than good luck!
Before update: Its not 100% equivalent. Except authorization there are, in windows, sessions and, in each session, there are desktops. The process that is lunched from the service will run on the service session and desktop ( if the service has it). Depending on what the start.exe does, it may be important or not.
Look at the SetTokenInformation function.
Instead of launching the application directly as a "startup item" you could start a "launcher.exe" that then would launch your application. The service could then signal "launcher.exe" that another instance of the application should start after an update. Using this method you can't use the service to update "launcher.exe", but this executable should be very simple and hopefully not require any updates. Using this method would avoid all the pitfalls of trying to start an interactive application from a service.