Adding a description to a .NET Windows Service

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Introduction

Although the .NET Framework provides extremely robust Windows Service support through the classes available under the System.ServiceProcess namespace, for some reason the ability to specify your the description displayed in the Services control panel applet/MMC snap-in for your service was omitted. There exists an attribute class named ServiceProcessDescription, but it actually specifies what the Services MMC displays under the name column, and the Description column is left blank. This article will walk you through a low-level hack for adding a description by adding it directly to your service's registry key.

Most services keep their configuration information in the registry under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ key. This is where the Service Control Manager (SCM) looks to get a list of services installed on a machine, and the Services control panel uses the SCM to list and modify the services. If you look under the key for a service, you'll see several entries, but we're interested in one in particular: the Description value. This is a REG_SZ (string) value, and this is where the SCM looks to get a service's description. We'll now take advantage of this arcane knowledge in the code below (you may download the source by clicking here):

//This code should be inserted into your ProjectInstaller class' code


public override void Install(IDictionary stateServer)
{
  Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey system,
    //HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Services\CurrentControlSet

    currentControlSet,
    //...\Services

    services,
    //...\<Service Name>

    service,
    //...\Parameters - this is where you can put service-specific configuration

    config; 

  try
  {
    //Let the project installer do its job

    base.Install(stateServer);

    //Open the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM key

    system = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("System");
    //Open CurrentControlSet

    currentControlSet = system.OpenSubKey("CurrentControlSet");
    //Go to the services key

    services = currentControlSet.OpenSubKey("Services");
    //Open the key for your service, and allow writing

    service = services.OpenSubKey(this.serviceInstaller1.ServiceName, true);
    //Add your service's description as a REG_SZ value named "Description"

    service.SetValue("Description", "This is my service's description.");
    //(Optional) Add some custom information your service will use...

    config = service.CreateSubKey("Parameters");
  }
  catch(Exception e)
  {
    Console.WriteLine("An exception was thrown during service installation:\n" + e.ToString());
  }
}

public override void Uninstall(IDictionary stateServer)
{
  Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey system,
    currentControlSet,
    services,
    service;

  try
  {
    //Drill down to the service key and open it with write permission

    system = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("System");
    currentControlSet = system.OpenSubKey("CurrentControlSet");
    services = currentControlSet.OpenSubKey("Services");
    service = services.OpenSubKey(this.serviceInstaller1.ServiceName, true);
    //Delete any keys you created during installation (or that your service created)

    service.DeleteSubKeyTree("Parameters");
    //...

  }
  catch(Exception e)
  {
    Console.WriteLine("Exception encountered while uninstalling service:\n" + e.ToString());
  }
  finally
  {
    //Let the project installer do its job

    base.Uninstall(stateServer);
  }
}

After you add the above code to your ProjectInstaller class, you should see a description for your service alongside your service's name after your service is installed. In a future article, we'll look at how we can add the description as a custom attribute and extend the ServiceInstaller class to add the description for us automatically.

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There is still a far easier way even in .Net1.1 ... Member 3073689 3:46 20 Oct '08   In .Net 1.1, just create a setup project for your service (which you probably did already) and add a registry keyin Registry Editor. BTW, in Server2003, you have to put Description string directly under YourServiceName key, not in Parameters key... Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) There is a far easier way Xarium 17:06 3 May '07   On your ServiceInstaller class; service.Description = "Your project description"; Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: There is a far easier way bkavanaugh 3:15 1 Jun '07   Not in .NET 1.0/1.1. Look at when this article was written. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 3.00/5 (1 vote) .net 2.0 luc_arne 5:04 9 Oct '06   In .net 2.0 you can do that with the property Description of the ServiceInstaller. ... this.serviceInstaller1.Description = "The description to display"; ... Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.00/5 (2 votes) Nice Article krishna19 1:50 9 Jun '06   It Helped me a lot.... The other solutions posted have also been very usefull.. Thanks for all for sharing Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink A Cleaner Approach in C# c.sharpener 10:25 6 Feb '06   Perhaps a cleaner approach over the posted code is to simply exploit the ServiceInstaller.Committed event handler. As an example, public ProjectInstaller() { InitializeComponent(); serviceInstaller.Committed += new System.Configuration.Install.InstallEventHandler(serviceInstaller_Committed); } private void serviceInstaller_Committed(object sender, System.Configuration.Install.InstallEventArgs e) { serviceInstaller_ServiceDescription("service description text"); } private void serviceInstaller_ServiceDescription(string description) { RegistryKey registrykey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("System\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\" + serviceInstaller.ServiceName,true); registrykey.SetValue("Description",description); } This can still be optimized further by incorporating a try/catch on the registry operations, etc. But you get the general idea. c.sharpener Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 5.00/5 (1 vote) Re: A Cleaner Approach in C# Duoc BT 18:10 15 Feb '06   I like that. I put it into a class for reuse - public static void SetServiceDescription(string serviceName, string description) { RegistryKey regKey = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(@"System\CurrentControlSet\Services\" + serviceName, true); regKey.SetValue("Description", description); regKey.Close(); } Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 3.67/5 (2 votes) Registry Editor ye win zaw 17:50 29 Sep '05   If your windows service used setup project to deploy, then you can optionally use Registry Editor to faclitate this code. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Offical way to add a description to a service napalm2k 11:26 10 Sep '05   LPSTR lpszDescription = "Service Description Here"; ChangeServiceConfig2(hService, SERVICE_CONFIG_DESCRIPTION, &lpszDescription); Napalm Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 3.00/5 (2 votes) Very good! Caio Proiete 10:06 28 May '05   Just what I was looking for. Thanks for sharing! Cheers, Caio Proiete MCT, MCSD, MCDBA, MCAD .NET, MCSD .NET Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Reusable component (VB.NET) Scott Hutchinson 16:26 12 May '05   The code below seems to work for me. It enables the Windows Service developer to enter the ServiceDescription text in the ServiceInstaller properties window in the designer. Put the WindowsServiceInstaller class in its own class library project that references the System.ServiceProcess assembly, and reference that project in your Window Service project(s). In each ProjectInstaller.vb, just replace the two references to System.ServiceProcess.ServiceInstaller with WindowsServiceInstaller. Imports System.ServiceProcess Public Class WindowsServiceInstaller : Inherits ServiceInstaller       Private m_serviceDescription As String       <ComponentModel.Description("A lengthy description of the service that will display in the Description column of the Services MMC applet.")> _       Public Property ServiceDescription() As String             Get                   Return m_serviceDescription             End Get             Set(ByVal Value As String)                   m_serviceDescription = Value             End Set       End Property       Public Overrides Sub Install(ByVal stateSaver As System.Collections.IDictionary)             MyBase.Install(stateSaver)             Dim serviceKey As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey             Try                   Dim strKey As String = String.Format( _                      "System\CurrentControlSet\Services\{0}", Me.ServiceName)                   serviceKey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(strKey, True)                   serviceKey.SetValue("Description", Me.ServiceDescription)             Finally                   If Not serviceKey Is Nothing Then serviceKey.Close()             End Try       End Sub End Class Scott Hutchinson s.c.o.t.t.h.u.t.c.h.i.n.s.o.n@usa.net (to contact me, remove all dots left of @) Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 5.00/5 (1 vote) Re: Reusable component (VB.NET & C#) Caio Proiete 10:13 28 May '05   Hi Scott, I think your solution is more elegant than the solution proposed by the article. I just converted it to C#, in order to use in my projects Here it goes: using System; namespace System.ServiceProcess { /// /// Summary description for WindowsServiceInstaller. /// public class WindowsServiceInstaller : ServiceInstaller { [ComponentModel.Description("A lengthy description of the service that will display in the Description column of the Services MMC applet.")] public string ServiceDescription { get { return serviceDescription; } set { serviceDescription = value; } } public override void Install(System.Collections.IDictionary stateSaver) { base.Install (stateSaver); Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey serviceKey = null; try { string strKey = string.Format( @"System\CurrentControlSet\Services\{0}", this.ServiceName); serviceKey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(strKey, true); serviceKey.SetValue("Description", this.ServiceDescription); } finally { if (serviceKey != null) serviceKey.Close(); } } private string serviceDescription; } } Cheers, Caio Proiete MCT, MCSD, MCDBA, MCAD .NET, MCSD .NET Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 4.80/5 (2 votes) VB.Net Translation jbaggaley 2:15 23 Aug '04   Excellent article. Just to help any VB coders out there, here is a quick translation. Thanks Jon Public Overrides Sub Install(ByVal v_IDstateserver As System.Collections.IDictionary) Dim rgkSystem As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey Dim rgkCurrentControlSet As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey Dim rgkServices As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey Dim rgkService As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey Dim rgkConfig As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey Try ' 'Let the project installer do its job MyBase.Install(v_IDstateserver) 'Open the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM key rgkSystem = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("System") 'Open CurrentControlSet rgkCurrentControlSet = rgkSystem.OpenSubKey("CurrentControlSet") 'Go to the services key rgkServices = rgkCurrentControlSet.OpenSubKey("Services") 'Open the key for your service, and allow writing rgkService = rgkServices.OpenSubKey(Me.ServiceInstaller1.ServiceName, True) 'Add your service's description as a REG_SZ value named "Description" rgkService.SetValue("Description", "My service description") '(Optional) Add some custom information your service will use... rgkConfig = rgkService.CreateSubKey("Parameters") Catch ex As Exception Console.WriteLine("An exception was thrown during service installation:" & vbCrLf & ex.ToString()) End Try End Sub Public Overrides Sub Uninstall(ByVal v_IDstateserver As System.Collections.IDictionary) Dim rgkSystem As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey Dim rgkCurrentControlSet As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey Dim rgkServices As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey Dim rgkService As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey Dim rgkConfig As Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey Try 'Drill down to the service key and open it with write permission rgkSystem = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("System") rgkCurrentControlSet = rgkSystem.OpenSubKey("CurrentControlSet") rgkServices = rgkCurrentControlSet.OpenSubKey("Services") rgkService = rgkServices.OpenSubKey(Me.ServiceInstaller1.ServiceName, True) 'Delete any keys you created during installation (or that your service created) rgkService.DeleteSubKeyTree("Parameters") '... Catch ex As Exception Console.WriteLine("Exception encountered while uninstalling service:" & vbCrLf & ex.ToString()) Finally 'Let the project installer do its job MyBase.Uninstall(v_IDstateserver) End Try End Sub zz[ Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 3.00/5 (2 votes) Re: VB.Net Translation Anonymous 6:56 7 Oct '05   I had better luck putting the code in AfterInstall and AfterUninstall... Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink User privileges to stop service Anonymous 6:17 28 Apr '04   Hi, I run my service in context of a normal user. The idea was to log serious errors and then to stop the service by it self. But since the user does not seam to have the correct privilege it does not stop when using code like ServiceController sc = new ServiceController("MyService"); sc.Stop(); instead I get an exception. When I run my service in context of LocalSystem stopping works. The thing is I don't want to give my user account privileges like 'act as a part of the operating system'. Would have been very nice if they also had implemented sort of privilege 'can stop windows services' Thanks for any idea or help. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Runnig Winzip from Windows Service Adeel Ahmad 2:23 12 Apr '04   Hi everybody... i have made a windows service which call winzip from service and make a zip file, i have tested it on windows 2000 professional which is under XYZ domain and it is working fine, but when i isntalled it on Widnows 2000 Server which is under workgroup, is not working means unable to create a zip file. so kindly reply me if any body have any idea... looking farward for kind reply with best regards, Adeel Ahmad Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink multiple services Per Søderlind 5:55 16 Mar '04   1st. excellent article, you got my 5 Do you know if Install() is called once or is it called for every Installer.Add() ? Reason I ask is that I have an application that loads more than one service and would like to set the description for each service dynamicly public MyInstaller() // Constructor { ServiceProcessInstaller process = new ServiceProcessInstaller(); process.Account = ServiceAccount.LocalSystem; service1 = new svcInstaller(); service1.StartType = ServiceStartMode.Manual; service1.ServiceName = "Svc1"; service1.DisplayName = "1st service"; service1.Description = "This is my first service"; service2 = new svcInstaller(); service2.StartType = ServiceStartMode.Manual; service2.ServiceName = "Svc2"; service2.DisplayName = "2nd service"; service2.Description = "This is my second service"; Installers.Add(service1); Installers.Add(service2); } internal class svcInstaller : ServiceInstaller { public string Description; } privat svcInstaller service1,service2; public override void Install(IDictionary stateServer) { Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey system,currentControlSet,services,service try { base.Install(stateServer); . . . } } ../Per Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Key Flushing is required pcsInfo 8:21 9 Mar '04   thanks for the code. it worked fine after I added the two lines to close the keys and so flush the Values into the registry: for install: "//(Optional) Add some custom information your service will use... config = service.CreateSubKey("Parameters"); config.Close();" for uninstall: "//Delete any keys you created during installation (or that your service created) service.DeleteSubKeyTree("Parameters"); service.Close();" nevertheless thanks alot. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 5.00/5 (1 vote) Génial Anonymous 14:05 1 Dec '03   Je viens de le tester. Ca marche complètement et en plus... j'ai tout compris. Merci beaucoup pour cette aide précieuse. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink default Start Parameters Bill DeWeese 15:52 6 Nov '03   I would like to default the service start parameters to some value when installing the service.   Is this possible?   In a serviced component I can set the default of the construction string using the following code… <Transaction(TransactionOption.Required), _ ConstructionEnabledAttribute(Default:="someValue")> _ Public Class clsAppPoolManager       Inherits ServicedComponent ... End class But I can’t figure out how to do this for a service. Once the service is installed you’ll notice via the service properties dialog box, there are accommodations that allow parameters to be passed in when the service is started. I would like to set that ‘start parameters’ text box to a default value. Are there attributes, similar to the code above, I may add to my class to get the desired effect? Thanks in Advance, Bill DeWeese bill@deweese.com Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 4.00/5 (3 votes) COM .NET Marshaling ash88 22:00 22 Oct '03   Hi All, I have two exe's. Therefore, these are two different processes on the same machine. One of these process is Managed Code while the other is Unmanaged COM object. I need to be able to make these processes talk to each other. In other words, I need cross-process communication. Is this possible? Whats the best way to achieve this? Any help greatly appreciated! Thanks. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.00/5 (1 vote) Re: COM .NET Marshaling Priyacb 2:49 6 Jul '04   Yes, cross process communication is possible. You have to use RCW (Runtime Callable Wrapper). Pls go through this article. You will get clear idea. http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpconcomwrappers.asp The below link provide you a good sample code. http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dndotnet/html/callcomcomp.asp Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Problems writing registry key Michael Gamauf 2:52 5 Sep '03   The routine wouldn't write the key until i put the code into the afterinstall event handler of the serviceinstaller object... Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink running a exe file from windows service goodnews123 23:55 27 Aug '03   Hi everybody, I want to run a exe file from windows service which interacts with desktop. I can run a process ( e.g notepad.exe ) from a service but can not run an exe file which opens a console window when started from a command prompt. Here is the code sample below:- protected override void OnStart(string[] args) { string sysFolder = @"C:\somepath\test.exe"; ProcessStartInfo pInfo = new ProcessStartInfo(); pInfo.FileName = sysFolder; pInfo.UseShellExecute = true; Process p = new Process(); p = Process.Start(pInfo); } Can anybody suggests anything?? Thanks.. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Re: running a exe file from windows service Okeno Palmer 7:57 29 Aug '03   You will need to have the Service be able to interct with the desktop to view the console ouput while your program is running. Right-Click on your Service, choose properties, and go the LogOn tab. Check the "Allow service to interact with Desktop" option. This should get you going. ..:: Keno ::.. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

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