Debug Windows Service

Question

Scenario

I\'ve got a windows service written in C#. I\'ve read all the google threads on how to debug it, but I still can\'t get it to work. I\'ve run \"PathTo.Net

Answer 1

I recently added this to a project and it works great for me. You can debug it just like any other EXE. After it is added go to your project properties and add a command line parameter (/EXE) in the Debug tab for the Debug build configuration.

<MTAThread()> _
Shared Sub Main()

    '' 
    '' let's add a command line parameter so we can run this as a regular exe or as a service
    ''
    If Command().ToUpper() = "/EXE" Then
        Dim app As MyService = New MyService()

        app.OnStart(Nothing)
        Application.Run()
    Else
        Dim ServicesToRun() As System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase

        ' More than one NT Service may run within the same process. To add
        ' another service to this process, change the following line to
        ' create a second service object. For example,
        '
        '   ServicesToRun = New System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase () {New Service1, New MySecondUserService}
        '
        ServicesToRun = New System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase() {New MyService}

        System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun)
    End If
End Sub

Answer 2

In order to be able to debug my service without deploying it, I always write it in the following way:

In your program.cs file:

#if DEBUG
    MyService myService = new MyService();
    myService.OnDebug();
    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(System.Threading.Timeout.Infinite);
#else
    ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
    ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[]
    {
        new MyService()
    };
    ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
#endif

and in your MyService.cs file:

    public void OnDebug()
    {
        OnStart(null);
    }

* NOTE *: You must build under 'Release' mode when you are finally done with debugging and you are ready to deploy the service otherwise the service will not be considered as a service.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I recommend following pattern for debug:

 var ServiceToRun = new SomeService(); 
 if (Environment.UserInteractive)
 {
    // This used to run the service as a console (development phase only)

    ServiceToRun.Start();

    Console.WriteLine("Press Enter to terminate ...");
    Console.ReadLine();

    ServiceToRun.DoStop();
 }
 else
 {
    ServiceBase.Run(ServiceToRun);
 }

Edit: make sure that your target is Console Application, not Windows Application, otherwise it will not work.

Answer 4

If you create your service with TopShelf you should be able to easily debug it from Visual Studio

Answer 5

This has helped me a lot when developing/debugging windows services:

http://windowsservicehelper.codeplex.com/

Just press F5 to debug. Very easy.

Andrey's approach is also very good.

Answer 6

I recommend to add /test on project properties debug tab as a start option. Then you can run your service without having to install it.