Below are some useful resources that I fell across as I did my first windows service. I thought putting them all together on one page would be a good idea. I hope you find it useful
There is a really useful article on the Microsoft website about how to create a Windows Service and how to use a compiled setup project to install the service. A link to this article is here (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816169)
One thing I did find out even after I followed these instructions is that if you create a Windows System Log with the same name as the Windows Service you can not get the service to uninstall. As such do not name System Event Logs with the exact same name as the service.
Another resource that describes the installation of a windows service in a bit more step by step detail is one written in Advisor Answers (http://zones.advisor.com/doc/17602)
There are also instructions on how to manually install a windows service within the MSDN library (search on How To: Start Services). This comes in useful if you are struggling with an installer program where you may have altered a parameter that is required for the installer to run properly or like in my case where I managed to have the service name and the log name the same. (you get better debug logging with the manual install on a failure)
Some very useful tips on how to manually remove a windows service when the installutil fails to do it for you can be found here: http://jayseae.cxliv.org/2005/02/03/manually_remove_a_windows_service.html
posted @ Thursday, June 01, 2006 3:28 PM