Windows service on Local Computer started and then stopped error

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.)
  3. Add more try/catch blocks and logging to the app to get a better picture of what's going on.

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


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


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
    }
}