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Windows Services Can Install Themselves

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22 Nov 2007CPOL2 min read 282.7K   209   59
Never use the InstallUtil.exe utility that ships with the .NET SDK again.

Introduction

Using the InstallUtil.exe utility that ships with the .NET SDK can be a real pain. It's rarely in the PATH so you probably have to hunt down the utility when you are working on QA and production servers as I do. Installing a Windows Service should be easier. In this short article, I'll show you a way to make your Windows Services install themselves without needing InstallUtil.exe at all.

Assumptions

Let's assume that your service project has a service installer, a service process installer and a class derived from System.Configuration.Install.Installer already. If not, check out Mahmoud Nasr's excellent article on Windows Service development, then come back here.

Key Information

Thanks to Reflector for .NET by Lutz Roeder, it's easy to discover how the InstallUtil.exe utility does its job. After some setup, the InstallUtil.exe tool jumps to a method called InstallHelper in the ManagedInstallerClass in the System.Configuration.Install namespace. And what's really interesting is that the command line arguments passed to InstallUtil.exe as an array of strings are then passed directly to this helper method.

Well, this made me think, "If all InstallUtil.exe does is call the ManagedInstallerClass' InstallHelper method, why can't my service executable do the same thing to install itself on command?" The little class below makes it simple to do just that.

Using the Code

Create a new CS file in your service executable project containing the following code. You may also need to add a reference to the System.Configuration.Install.dll from the Global Assembly Cache if you don't already have one.

C#
using System.Reflection;
using System.Configuration.Install;

namespace gotnet.biz.Utilities.WindowsServices
{
    public static class SelfInstaller
    {
        private static readonly string _exePath =
            Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
        public static bool InstallMe()
        {
            try
            {
                ManagedInstallerClass.InstallHelper(
                    new string[] { _exePath } );
            }
            catch
            {
                return false;
            }
            return true;
        }

        public static bool UninstallMe()
        {
            try
            {
                ManagedInstallerClass.InstallHelper(
                    new string[] { "/u", _exePath } );
            }
            catch
            {
                return false;
            }
            return true;
        }
    }
}

Now you need to come up with some sort of convention for knowing when to invoke the installer. Below is just an example of how you might handle this in your Main() method, the entry point to your service. I like the convention of using -i or -install parameters to install the service and -u or -uninstall to uninstall it. I also like to use -c or -console to mean starting the application in a console rather than as a service. However, that's a topic for a different article.

C#
using gotnet.biz.Utilities.WindowsServices;

namespace MyService.WinHost
{
    static class Program
    {
        public static void Main( string[] args )
        {
            if (args != null && args.Length == 1 && args[0].Length > 1
                && (args[0][0] == '-' || args[0][0] == '/'))
            {
                switch (args[0].Substring( 1 ).ToLower())
                {
                    default:
                        break;
                    case "install":
                    case "i":
                        SelfInstaller.InstallMe();
                        break;
                    case "uninstall":
                    case "u":
                        SelfInstaller.UninstallMe();
                        break;
                    case "console":
                    case "c":
                        MyConsoleHost.Launch();
                        break;
                }
            }
            else
                MyWinServiceHost.Launch();
        }
    }
}

Now, assuming my executable is named MyWinSvcHost.exe, I can invoke the installer by running:

C:\> MyWinSvcHost.exe -install

Or to uninstall my service, I would use this:

C:\> MyWinSvcHost.exe -uninstall

Other Ideas

This little bit of code called the SelfInstaller is full of possibilities. You could pass parameters to the InstallMe method to pass on to the ServiceProcessInstaller in your program, for example. Perhaps the domain name, user name and password used to start your service could be passed all the way from your Main() method to the ServiceProcessInstaller. Cool, right? I thought you would like that.

History

  • 22 Nov, 2007 - Initial publication

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Web Developer
United States United States
After 16 years as an ardent C++ aficionado, Kevin switched to C# in 2001. Recently, Kevin's been dabbling in dynamically typed languages. Kevin is the Software Architect for Snagajob.com, the #1 source for hourly and part-time employment on the web.

Kevin loves welding, riding motorcycles and spending time with his family. Kevin has also been an adjunct professor teaching software engineering topics at a college in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia since 2000. Check out Kevin's technical blog at www.gotnet.biz for more goodies.

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralRe: InstallHelper Doesn't release Service1.exe file after uninstall Pin
Veener29-Apr-09 13:56
Veener29-Apr-09 13:56 
QuestionSetting ServiceProcessInstaller attributes Pin
Chris Newton28-May-08 2:45
Chris Newton28-May-08 2:45 
GeneralFor the console lovers ;-) Pin
a1n3-Mar-08 4:06
a1n3-Mar-08 4:06 
GeneralRe: For the console lovers ;-) Pin
W. Kevin Hazzard6-Mar-08 6:51
W. Kevin Hazzard6-Mar-08 6:51 
GeneralGreat article Pin
Srinath Gopinath30-Dec-07 18:09
Srinath Gopinath30-Dec-07 18:09 
GeneralInstall on first run [modified] Pin
Ashley van Gerven21-Dec-07 17:55
Ashley van Gerven21-Dec-07 17:55 
GeneralRe: Install on first run Pin
W. Kevin Hazzard26-Dec-07 3:54
W. Kevin Hazzard26-Dec-07 3:54 
GeneralRe: Install on first run Pin
Ashley van Gerven26-Dec-07 4:13
Ashley van Gerven26-Dec-07 4:13 
I think if you stop the service you can replace the .exe no problem.

cheers
Ashley


"For fifty bucks I'd put my face in their soup and blow." - George Costanza


CP article: SmartPager - a Flickr-style pager control with go-to-page popup layer.


GeneralCan't start service. Pin
Ricky27-Nov-07 14:09
Ricky27-Nov-07 14:09 
GeneralRe: Can't start service. Pin
W. Kevin Hazzard29-Nov-07 10:00
W. Kevin Hazzard29-Nov-07 10:00 
GeneralRe: Can't start service. Pin
Ricky30-Nov-07 12:44
Ricky30-Nov-07 12:44 
GeneralRe: Can't start service. Pin
Ricky30-Nov-07 12:54
Ricky30-Nov-07 12:54 
GeneralI took a different tack [modified] Pin
PIEBALDconsult26-Nov-07 16:12
mvePIEBALDconsult26-Nov-07 16:12 
GeneralRe: I took a different tack Pin
cplas14-Jan-09 14:04
cplas14-Jan-09 14:04 
GeneralYou can go further (an alternative approach) Pin
Oleg Shilo26-Nov-07 15:18
Oleg Shilo26-Nov-07 15:18 
GeneralRe: You can go further (an alternative approach) Pin
tag200126-Nov-07 18:24
tag200126-Nov-07 18:24 
GeneralRe: You can go further (an alternative approach) Pin
Oleg Shilo26-Nov-07 18:41
Oleg Shilo26-Nov-07 18:41 
GeneralRe: You can go further (an alternative approach) Pin
One Smart Motor Scooter27-Nov-07 6:46
One Smart Motor Scooter27-Nov-07 6:46 
GeneralRe: You can go further (an alternative approach) Pin
W. Kevin Hazzard29-Nov-07 9:55
W. Kevin Hazzard29-Nov-07 9:55 
GeneralDoesn't seem to work for me Pin
Steve Messer23-Nov-07 20:49
Steve Messer23-Nov-07 20:49 
GeneralRe: Doesn't seem to work for me Pin
W. Kevin Hazzard24-Nov-07 4:21
W. Kevin Hazzard24-Nov-07 4:21 
GeneralRe: Doesn't seem to work for me [modified] Pin
Steve Messer24-Nov-07 4:36
Steve Messer24-Nov-07 4:36 
GeneralRe: Doesn't seem to work for me Pin
W. Kevin Hazzard24-Nov-07 5:24
W. Kevin Hazzard24-Nov-07 5:24 
GeneralRe: Doesn't seem to work for me Pin
Steve Messer24-Nov-07 6:08
Steve Messer24-Nov-07 6:08 
GeneralIndispensable Pin
edu.net23-Nov-07 5:17
edu.net23-Nov-07 5:17 

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