Windows service on Local Computer started and then stopped error

Question

Usually  I get this error   The  service name  service on Local Computer started and then stopped  Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other service or programs  when there s something wrong with my code  like non-existing drive paths  etc  The windows service will not start   I have a windows service that backs up folder files  to a location if it reached the size limit  Details are all provide by an XML Configuration that the windows service reads on start  I have a separate windows forms that has a button that does exactly what my windows service s onstart is doing  I use my windows forms for debugging the code before I put it in my windows service   When I start my windows forms  It does what it suppose to do  When I put my code in the windows service OnStart   method the error showed up   Here s my code   protected override void OnStart string   args         private static string backupConfig     D  LogBackupConfig backupconfig xml       private static string serviceStat     D  LogBackupConfig Status txt       private static string fileFolderStat     D  LogBackupConfig FileFolderStat txt        protected override void OnStart string   args                if  File Exists backupConfig                         FileSystemWatcher watcher   new FileSystemWatcher                XmlTextReader reader   new XmlTextReader backupConfig                XmlNodeType type              List lt string gt  listFile   new List lt string gt                 string fileWatch                      this loop is for reading XML elements and assigning to variables             while  reader Read                                  type   reader NodeType                  if  type    XmlNodeType Element                                        if  reader Name     File                                                 reader Read                            fileWatch   reader Value                                            else if  reader Name     Folder                                                 reader Read                            fileWatch   reader Value                                                                    reader Close                 watcher Path   fileWatch              watcher Filter                         this loop reads whether the service will watch a file folder             XmlTextReader reader1   new XmlTextReader backupConfig               while  reader1 Read                                  type   reader1 NodeType                  if  type    XmlNodeType Element                                        if  reader1 Name     File                                                 watcher IncludeSubdirectories   false                          watcher Changed    new FileSystemEventHandler OnChangedFile                                             else if  reader1 Name     Folder                                                 watcher IncludeSubdirectories   true                          watcher Changed    new FileSystemEventHandler OnChangedFolder                                                                     reader1 Close                 watcher EnableRaisingEvents   true                     else                       StreamWriter sw   new StreamWriter serviceStat  true               sw WriteLine  File not found  Please start the Log Backup UI first                 sw Close                      I don t know what keeps the windows service not starting  the windows form simulator worked fine  What seems to be the problem   UPDATE  After many trials I ve noticed that using only a folder directory  w out file   the windows service doesn t work  When I replaced the fileWatch variable with a specific file  including its directory   the windows service started  When I changed it back to a folder location  it didn t work  What I think is that folder locations doesn t work in a filewatcher   When I tried creating a new windows service that watches a folder location  it worked   However  when I tried the same location in my original windows service  it didn t work  I was mindf   ed  It seems that I have to create a new windows service and build the installer everytime I place a new code function   This way I can keep track where I get an error

User · Answer

Meanwhile  another reason   accidentally deleted the  config file caused the same error message appears        Service on local computer started and then stopped  some services stop automatically

User · Answer

If the service starts and stops like that  it means your code is throwing an unhandled exception   This is pretty difficult to debug  but there are a few options    Consult the Windows Event Viewer   Normally you can get to this by going to the computer server manager  then clicking Event Viewer -  Windows Logs -  Application   You can see what threw the exception here  which may help  but you don t get the stack trace  Extract your program logic into a library class project   Now create two different versions of the program  a console app  for debugging   and the windows service    This is a bit of initial effort  but saves a lot of angst in the long run   Add more try catch blocks and logging to the app to get a better picture of what s going on

User · Answer

The account which is running the service might not have mapped the D -drive  they are user-specific   Try sharing the directory  and use full UNC-path in your backupConfig   Your watcher of type FileSystemWatcher is a local variable  and is out of scope when the OnStart method is done  You probably need it as an instance or class variable

User · Answer

EventLog Log should be set as  Application

User · Answer

In our case  nothing was added in the Windows Event Logs except logs that the problematic service has been started and then stopped    It turns out that the service s CONFIG file was invalid  Correcting the invalid CONFIG file fixed the issue

User · Answer

You may want to unit test the initialization - but because it s in the OnStart method this is near to impossible   I would suggest moving the initialization code out into a separate class so that it can be tested or at least re-used in a form tester   Secondly to add some logging  using Log4Net or similar  and add some verbose logging so that you can see details about runtime errors   Examples of runtime errors would be AccessViolation etc  especially if your service is running without enough privileges to access the config files

User · Answer

I have found it very handy to convert your existing windows service to a console by simply changing your program with the following  With this change you can run the program by debugging in visual studio or running the executable normally  But it will also work as a windows service  I also made a blog post about it  program cs  class Program       static void Main                 var program   new YOUR PROGRAM            if  Environment UserInteractive                        program Start                      else                       ServiceBase Run new ServiceBase                                 program                                     YOUR PROGRAM cs   RunInstallerAttribute true   public class YOUR PROGRAM   ServiceBase       public YOUR PROGRAM                 InitializeComponent               protected override void OnStart string   args                Start               protected override void OnStop                   Stop Logic Here            public void Start                   Start Logic here

User · Answer

Please check that you have registered all HTTP endpoints in the local mahcine s Access Control List  ACL   http   just2thepoint blogspot fr 2013 10 windows-service-on-local-computer html

User · Answer

Not sure this will be helpful  but for debugging a service you could always use the following in the OnStart method   protected override void OnStart string   args         System Diagnostics Debugger Launch                 than you could attach your visual studio to the process and have better debug abilities   hope this was helpful  good luck

User · Answer

I came across the same issue  My service is uploading receiving XMLS and write the errors to the Event Log   When I went to the Event Log  I tried to filter it  It prompt me that the Event Log was corrupted   I cleared the Event Log and all OK

User · Answer

Use Timer and tick event to copy your files   On start the service  start the time and specify the interval in the time   So the service is keep running and copy the files ontick   Hope it help

[c#] Windows service on Local Computer started and then stopped error

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