How to create a windows service from java app

Question

I ve just inherited a java application that needs to be installed as a service on XP and vista  It s been about 8 years since I ve used windows in any form and I ve never had to create a service  let alone from something like a java app  I ve got a jar for the app and a single dependency jar - log4j    What is the magic necessary to make this run as a service   I ve got the source  so code modifications  though preferably avoided  are possible

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I didn t like the licensing for the Java Service Wrapper   I went with ActiveState Perl to write a service that does the work   I thought about writing a service in C   but my time constraints were too tight

User · Answer

I think the Java Service Wrapper works well  Note that there are three ways to integrate your application  It sounds like option 1 will work best for you given that you don t want to change the code  The configuration file can get a little crazy  but just remember that  for option 1  the program you re starting and for which you ll be specifying arguments  is their helper program  which will then start your program  They have an example configuration file for this

User · Answer

I ve used JavaService before with good success  It hasn t been updated in a couple of years  but was pretty rock solid back when I used it

User · Answer

One more option is WinRun4J  This is a configurable java launcher that doubles as a windows service host  both 32 and 64 bit versions   It is open source and there are no restrictions on its use     full disclosure  I work on this project

User · Answer

I ve had some luck with the Java Service Wrapper

User · Answer

I am currently requiring this to run an Eclipse-based application but I need to set some variables first that is local to that application  sc exe will only allow executables but not scripts so I turned to autoexnt exe which is part of the Windows 2003 resource kit  It restricts the service to a single batch file but I only need one batch script to be converted into a service   ciao

User · Answer

Another good option is FireDaemon  It s used by some big shops like NASA  IBM  etc  see their web site for a full list

User · Answer

If you use Gradle Build Tool you can try my windows-service-plugin  which facilitates using of Apache Commons Daemon Procrun     To create a java windows service application with the plugin you need to go through several simple steps    Create a main service class with the appropriate method   public class MyService        public static void main String   args            String command    start           if  args length  gt  0                command   args 0                     if   start  equals command                    process service start function           else                  process service stop function                     Include the plugin into your build gradle file   buildscript     repositories       maven         url  https   plugins gradle org m2               dependencies       classpath  gradle plugin com github alexeylisyutenko windows-service-plugin 1 1 0         apply plugin   com github alexeylisyutenko windows-service-plugin    The same script snippet for new  incubating  plugin mechanism introduced in Gradle 2 1   plugins     id  com github alexeylisyutenko windows-service-plugin  version  1 1 0     Configure the plugin   windowsService     architecture    amd64    displayName    TestService    description    Service generated with using gradle plugin       startClass    MyService    startMethod    main    startParams    start    stopClass    MyService    stopMethod    main    stopParams    stop    startup    auto     Run createWindowsService gradle task to create a windows service distribution    That s all you need to do to create a simple windows service  The plugin will automatically download Apache Commons Daemon Procrun binaries  extract this binaries to the service distribution directory and create batch files for installation uninstallation of the service   In   project buildDir  windows-service directory you will find service executables  batch scripts for installation uninstallation of the service and all runtime libraries   To install the service run  lt project-name gt -install bat and if you want to uninstall the service run  lt project-name gt -uninstall bat  To start and stop the service use  lt project-name gt w exe executable   Note that the method handling service start should create and start a separate thread to carry out the processing  and then return  The main method is called from different threads when you start and stop the service   For more information  please read about the plugin and Apache Commons Daemon Procrun

User · Answer

I always just use sc exe  see http   support microsoft com kb 251192    It should be installed on XP from SP1  and if it s not in your flavor of Vista  you can download load it with the Vista resource kit   I haven t done anything too complicated with Java  but using either a fully qualified command line argument  x  java exe       or creating a script with Ant to include depencies and set parameters works fine for me

User · Answer

I ve had some luck with the Java Service Wrapper

User · Answer

If you use Gradle Build Tool you can try my windows-service-plugin  which facilitates using of Apache Commons Daemon Procrun     To create a java windows service application with the plugin you need to go through several simple steps    Create a main service class with the appropriate method   public class MyService        public static void main String   args            String command    start           if  args length  gt  0                command   args 0                     if   start  equals command                    process service start function           else                  process service stop function                     Include the plugin into your build gradle file   buildscript     repositories       maven         url  https   plugins gradle org m2               dependencies       classpath  gradle plugin com github alexeylisyutenko windows-service-plugin 1 1 0         apply plugin   com github alexeylisyutenko windows-service-plugin    The same script snippet for new  incubating  plugin mechanism introduced in Gradle 2 1   plugins     id  com github alexeylisyutenko windows-service-plugin  version  1 1 0     Configure the plugin   windowsService     architecture    amd64    displayName    TestService    description    Service generated with using gradle plugin       startClass    MyService    startMethod    main    startParams    start    stopClass    MyService    stopMethod    main    stopParams    stop    startup    auto     Run createWindowsService gradle task to create a windows service distribution    That s all you need to do to create a simple windows service  The plugin will automatically download Apache Commons Daemon Procrun binaries  extract this binaries to the service distribution directory and create batch files for installation uninstallation of the service   In   project buildDir  windows-service directory you will find service executables  batch scripts for installation uninstallation of the service and all runtime libraries   To install the service run  lt project-name gt -install bat and if you want to uninstall the service run  lt project-name gt -uninstall bat  To start and stop the service use  lt project-name gt w exe executable   Note that the method handling service start should create and start a separate thread to carry out the processing  and then return  The main method is called from different threads when you start and stop the service   For more information  please read about the plugin and Apache Commons Daemon Procrun

User · Answer

Exe4j is a very good option although it is not free  Check it out at Exe4j In the wizard to create the  exe file  you are give the option to create a service

User · Answer

With Apache Commons Daemon you can now have a custom executable name and icon   You can also get a custom Windows tray monitor with your own name and icon  I now have my service running with my own name and icon  prunsrv exe   and the system tray monitor  prunmgr exe  also has my own custom name and icon   Download the Apache Commons Daemon binaries  you will need prunsrv exe and prunmgr exe    Rename them to be MyServiceName exe and MyServiceNamew exe respectively   Download WinRun4J and use the RCEDIT exe program that comes with it to modify the Apache executable to embed your own custom icon like this   gt  RCEDIT exe  I MyServiceName exe customIcon ico  gt  RCEDIT exe  I MyServiceNamew exe customTrayIcon ico   Now install your Windows service like this  see documentation for more details and options    gt  MyServiceName exe   IS  MyServiceName     --Install  quot C  path-to MyServiceName exe quot      --Jvm auto --Startup auto --StartMode jvm     --Classpath  quot C  path-to MyJarWithClassWithMainMethod jar quot      --StartClass com mydomain MyClassWithMainMethod   Now you have a Windows service of your Jar that will run with your own icon and name   You can also launch the monitor file and it will run in the system tray with your own icon and name   gt  MyServiceNamew exe   MS  MyServiceName

User · Answer

A pretty good comparison of different solutions is available at   http   yajsw sourceforge net  mozTocId284533  Personally like launch4j

User · Answer

it s simple as you have to put shortcut in   Windows 7 C  users All Users Start Menu Programs Startup Admin   or User home directory  userProfile    Windows 10   In Run   shell startup  in it s property -  shortcut -  target -   java exe -jar D     runJar jar  NOTE  This will run only after you login    With Admin Right  sc create serviceName binpath   java exe -jar D     runJar jar  Will create windows service  if you get timeout use cmd  c D  JAVA7 1 jdk1 7 0 51 bin java exe -jar d  jenkins jenkins war but even with this you ll get timeout but in background java exe will be started  Check in task manager  NOTE  This will run at windows logon start-up before sign-in  Based on service  Startup Type    Detailed explanation of creating windows service

User · Answer

Exe4j is a very good option although it is not free  Check it out at Exe4j In the wizard to create the  exe file  you are give the option to create a service

User · Answer

A simple way is the NSSM Wrapper Wrapper  see my blog entry

User · Answer

it s simple as you have to put shortcut in   Windows 7 C  users All Users Start Menu Programs Startup Admin   or User home directory  userProfile    Windows 10   In Run   shell startup  in it s property -  shortcut -  target -   java exe -jar D     runJar jar  NOTE  This will run only after you login    With Admin Right  sc create serviceName binpath   java exe -jar D     runJar jar  Will create windows service  if you get timeout use cmd  c D  JAVA7 1 jdk1 7 0 51 bin java exe -jar d  jenkins jenkins war but even with this you ll get timeout but in background java exe will be started  Check in task manager  NOTE  This will run at windows logon start-up before sign-in  Based on service  Startup Type    Detailed explanation of creating windows service

User · Answer

Yet another answer is Yet Another Java Service Wrapper  this seems like a good alternative to Java Service Wrapper as has better licensing  It is also intended to be easy to move from JSW to YAJSW  Certainly for me  brand new to windows servers and trying to get a Java app running as a service  it was very easy to use   Some others I found  but didn t end up using    Java Service Launcher I didn t use this because it looked more complicated to get working than YAJSW  I don t think this is a wrapper  JSmooth Creating Window s services isn t its primary goal  but can be done  I didn t use this because there s been no activity since 2007

User · Answer

A pretty good comparison of different solutions is available at   http   yajsw sourceforge net  mozTocId284533  Personally like launch4j

User · Answer

Apache Commons Daemon is a good alternative  It has Procrun for windows services  and Jsvc for unix daemons  It uses less restrictive Apache license  and Apache Tomcat uses it as a part of itself to run on Windows and Linux  To get it work is a bit tricky  but there is an exhaustive article with working example   Besides that  you may look at the bin service bat in Apache Tomcat to get an idea how to setup the service   In Tomcat they rename the Procrun binaries  prunsrv exe -  tomcat6 exe  prunmgr exe -  tomcat6w exe    Something I struggled with using Procrun  your start and stop methods must accept the parameters  String   argv    For example  start String   argv   and  stop String   argv   would work  but  start    and  stop    would cause errors   If you can t modify those calls  consider making a bootstrapper class that can massage those calls to fit your needs

User · Answer

I am currently requiring this to run an Eclipse-based application but I need to set some variables first that is local to that application  sc exe will only allow executables but not scripts so I turned to autoexnt exe which is part of the Windows 2003 resource kit  It restricts the service to a single batch file but I only need one batch script to be converted into a service   ciao

User · Answer

I didn t like the licensing for the Java Service Wrapper   I went with ActiveState Perl to write a service that does the work   I thought about writing a service in C   but my time constraints were too tight

User · Answer

Apache Commons Daemon is a good alternative  It has Procrun for windows services  and Jsvc for unix daemons  It uses less restrictive Apache license  and Apache Tomcat uses it as a part of itself to run on Windows and Linux  To get it work is a bit tricky  but there is an exhaustive article with working example   Besides that  you may look at the bin service bat in Apache Tomcat to get an idea how to setup the service   In Tomcat they rename the Procrun binaries  prunsrv exe -  tomcat6 exe  prunmgr exe -  tomcat6w exe    Something I struggled with using Procrun  your start and stop methods must accept the parameters  String   argv    For example  start String   argv   and  stop String   argv   would work  but  start    and  stop    would cause errors   If you can t modify those calls  consider making a bootstrapper class that can massage those calls to fit your needs

User · Answer

I ve used JavaService before with good success  It hasn t been updated in a couple of years  but was pretty rock solid back when I used it

User · Answer

I ve had some luck with the Java Service Wrapper

User · Answer

With Java 8 we can handle this scenario without any external tools  javapackager tool coming with java 8 provides an option to create self contained application bundles   -native type Generate self-contained application bundles  if possible   Use the -B option to provide arguments to the bundlers being used  If type is specified  then only a bundle of this type is created  If no type is specified  all is used   The following values are valid for type   -native type Generate self-contained application bundles  if possible   Use the -B option to provide arguments to the bundlers being used  If type is specified  then only a bundle of this type is created  If no type is specified  all is used   The following values are valid for type   all  Runs all of the installers for the platform on which it is running  and creates a disk image for the application  This value is used if type is not specified  installer  Runs all of the installers for the platform on which it is running  image  Creates a disk image for the application  On OS X  the image is the  app file  On Linux  the image is the directory that gets installed  dmg  Generates a DMG file for OS X  pkg  Generates a  pkg package for OS X  mac appStore  Generates a package for the Mac App Store  rpm  Generates an RPM package for Linux  deb  Generates a Debian package for Linux    In case of windows refer the following doc we can create msi or exe as needed   exe  Generates a Windows  exe package  msi  Generates a Windows Installer package

User · Answer

JavaService is LGPL  It is very easy and stable  Highly recommended

User · Answer

I ve used JavaService before with good success  It hasn t been updated in a couple of years  but was pretty rock solid back when I used it

User · Answer

A simple way is the NSSM Wrapper Wrapper  see my blog entry

User · Answer

I ve had some luck with the Java Service Wrapper

User · Answer

With Apache Commons Daemon you can now have a custom executable name and icon   You can also get a custom Windows tray monitor with your own name and icon  I now have my service running with my own name and icon  prunsrv exe   and the system tray monitor  prunmgr exe  also has my own custom name and icon   Download the Apache Commons Daemon binaries  you will need prunsrv exe and prunmgr exe    Rename them to be MyServiceName exe and MyServiceNamew exe respectively   Download WinRun4J and use the RCEDIT exe program that comes with it to modify the Apache executable to embed your own custom icon like this   gt  RCEDIT exe  I MyServiceName exe customIcon ico  gt  RCEDIT exe  I MyServiceNamew exe customTrayIcon ico   Now install your Windows service like this  see documentation for more details and options    gt  MyServiceName exe   IS  MyServiceName     --Install  quot C  path-to MyServiceName exe quot      --Jvm auto --Startup auto --StartMode jvm     --Classpath  quot C  path-to MyJarWithClassWithMainMethod jar quot      --StartClass com mydomain MyClassWithMainMethod   Now you have a Windows service of your Jar that will run with your own icon and name   You can also launch the monitor file and it will run in the system tray with your own icon and name   gt  MyServiceNamew exe   MS  MyServiceName

User · Answer

JavaService is LGPL  It is very easy and stable  Highly recommended

User · Answer

I think the Java Service Wrapper works well  Note that there are three ways to integrate your application  It sounds like option 1 will work best for you given that you don t want to change the code  The configuration file can get a little crazy  but just remember that  for option 1  the program you re starting and for which you ll be specifying arguments  is their helper program  which will then start your program  They have an example configuration file for this

User · Answer

Use  winsw  which was written for Glassfish v3 but works well with Java programs in general   Require  NET runtime installed

User · Answer

I think the Java Service Wrapper works well  Note that there are three ways to integrate your application  It sounds like option 1 will work best for you given that you don t want to change the code  The configuration file can get a little crazy  but just remember that  for option 1  the program you re starting and for which you ll be specifying arguments  is their helper program  which will then start your program  They have an example configuration file for this

User · Answer

I didn t like the licensing for the Java Service Wrapper   I went with ActiveState Perl to write a service that does the work   I thought about writing a service in C   but my time constraints were too tight

User · Answer

Use  winsw  which was written for Glassfish v3 but works well with Java programs in general   Require  NET runtime installed

User · Answer

Another good option is FireDaemon  It s used by some big shops like NASA  IBM  etc  see their web site for a full list

User · Answer

One more option is WinRun4J  This is a configurable java launcher that doubles as a windows service host  both 32 and 64 bit versions   It is open source and there are no restrictions on its use     full disclosure  I work on this project

User · Answer

I always just use sc exe  see http   support microsoft com kb 251192    It should be installed on XP from SP1  and if it s not in your flavor of Vista  you can download load it with the Vista resource kit   I haven t done anything too complicated with Java  but using either a fully qualified command line argument  x  java exe       or creating a script with Ant to include depencies and set parameters works fine for me

User · Answer

Another good option is FireDaemon  It s used by some big shops like NASA  IBM  etc  see their web site for a full list

User · Answer

With Java 8 we can handle this scenario without any external tools  javapackager tool coming with java 8 provides an option to create self contained application bundles   -native type Generate self-contained application bundles  if possible   Use the -B option to provide arguments to the bundlers being used  If type is specified  then only a bundle of this type is created  If no type is specified  all is used   The following values are valid for type   -native type Generate self-contained application bundles  if possible   Use the -B option to provide arguments to the bundlers being used  If type is specified  then only a bundle of this type is created  If no type is specified  all is used   The following values are valid for type   all  Runs all of the installers for the platform on which it is running  and creates a disk image for the application  This value is used if type is not specified  installer  Runs all of the installers for the platform on which it is running  image  Creates a disk image for the application  On OS X  the image is the  app file  On Linux  the image is the directory that gets installed  dmg  Generates a DMG file for OS X  pkg  Generates a  pkg package for OS X  mac appStore  Generates a package for the Mac App Store  rpm  Generates an RPM package for Linux  deb  Generates a Debian package for Linux    In case of windows refer the following doc we can create msi or exe as needed   exe  Generates a Windows  exe package  msi  Generates a Windows Installer package

User · Answer

I didn t like the licensing for the Java Service Wrapper   I went with ActiveState Perl to write a service that does the work   I thought about writing a service in C   but my time constraints were too tight

User · Answer

Another good option is FireDaemon  It s used by some big shops like NASA  IBM  etc  see their web site for a full list

User · Answer

I think the Java Service Wrapper works well  Note that there are three ways to integrate your application  It sounds like option 1 will work best for you given that you don t want to change the code  The configuration file can get a little crazy  but just remember that  for option 1  the program you re starting and for which you ll be specifying arguments  is their helper program  which will then start your program  They have an example configuration file for this

User · Answer

I ve used JavaService before with good success  It hasn t been updated in a couple of years  but was pretty rock solid back when I used it

User · Answer

Yet another answer is Yet Another Java Service Wrapper  this seems like a good alternative to Java Service Wrapper as has better licensing  It is also intended to be easy to move from JSW to YAJSW  Certainly for me  brand new to windows servers and trying to get a Java app running as a service  it was very easy to use   Some others I found  but didn t end up using    Java Service Launcher I didn t use this because it looked more complicated to get working than YAJSW  I don t think this is a wrapper  JSmooth Creating Window s services isn t its primary goal  but can be done  I didn t use this because there s been no activity since 2007

User · Answer

I always just use sc exe  see http   support microsoft com kb 251192    It should be installed on XP from SP1  and if it s not in your flavor of Vista  you can download load it with the Vista resource kit   I haven t done anything too complicated with Java  but using either a fully qualified command line argument  x  java exe       or creating a script with Ant to include depencies and set parameters works fine for me

User · Answer

I always just use sc exe  see http   support microsoft com kb 251192    It should be installed on XP from SP1  and if it s not in your flavor of Vista  you can download load it with the Vista resource kit   I haven t done anything too complicated with Java  but using either a fully qualified command line argument  x  java exe       or creating a script with Ant to include depencies and set parameters works fine for me

[java] How to create a windows service from java app

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