How to install and start a Windows Service using WiX

65
votes

I tried to use the codes below in Wix.

But when installing, the installer was freezing for like 3 minutes on status: Starting services, then I got this message "Service Jobservice failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services". Is there any wrong in my codes? And can I ask the user to input the windows system user name and password during the installation to get the "privileges"?

Thanks a lot!

    <File Id='JobServiceEXE' Name='JobService.exe' DiskId='1'
        Source='JobService.exe' Vital='yes' KeyPath='yes'/>         
    <ServiceInstall Id="ServiceInstaller" Type="ownProcess" Vital="yes"
        Name="JobService" DisplayName="123 Co. JobService"
        Description="Monitoring and management Jobs" Start="auto"
        Account="LocalSystem" ErrorControl="ignore" Interactive="no" />
    <ServiceControl Id="StartService"  Stop="both" Remove="uninstall"
        Name="JobService" Wait="yes" />
</Component>
4
windows-servicesinstallationwixautostart
I removed the " Wait="yes" ", and installation is OK now, but the status of service "JobService" is "stopped" in Windows Task Manager, how can it be automatically started? Thank you. – Ray
Start="auto" in the ServiceInstall element – Stephen Drew

4 Answers

80
votes

The following code works for me... no need to prompt for username/password :)

    <File Id='JobServiceEXE' Name='JobService.exe' DiskId='1' Source='JobService.exe'  KeyPath='yes'/>         
    <ServiceInstall
      Id="ServiceInstaller"
      Type="ownProcess"
      Name="JobService"
      DisplayName="123 Co. JobService"
      Description="Monitoring and management Jobs"
      Start="auto"
      Account="[SERVICEACCOUNT]"
      Password="[SERVICEPASSWORD]"
      ErrorControl="normal"
      />
      <ServiceControl Id="StartService" Start="install" Stop="both" Remove="uninstall" Name="JobService" Wait="yes" />
    </Component>
17
votes

I found the solution on this page would install the service correctly but that the ServiceControl element would not start the service.

Comparing the wix installed service with manual installed service ("JobService.exe /install"), the "Path to executable" field was missing a start switch. Fixed this in wix with the arguments attribute of ServiceInstall;

<File Id='JobServiceEXE' Name='JobService.exe' DiskId='1' Source='JobService.exe'  KeyPath='yes'/>         
  <ServiceInstall
  Id="ServiceInstaller"
  Type="ownProcess"
  Name="JobService"
  DisplayName="123 Co. JobService"
  Description="Monitoring and management Jobs"
  Start="auto"
  Account="[SERVICEACCOUNT]"
  Password="[SERVICEPASSWORD]"
  ErrorControl="normal"
  Arguments=" /start JobService"
  />
  <ServiceControl Id="StartService" Start="install" Stop="both" Remove="uninstall" Name="JobService" Wait="yes" />
</Component>

A long time lurker, this is my first post on here - I hope it helps someone.

4
votes

An update for users of version 3.x of WiX. The following code will install and start the service under the local account. Note the Arguments property in the ServiceInstall tag.

<File Source="$(var.MyService.TargetPath)" />
<ServiceInstall Id="ServiceInstaller" Name="MyService" Type="ownProcess" Vital="yes" DisplayName="My Service" Description="My Service Description" Start="auto" Account="LocalSystem" ErrorControl="normal" Arguments=" /start MyService" Interactive="no" />
<ServiceControl Id="StartService" Name="MyService" Stop="both" Start="install" Remove="uninstall" Wait="yes" />
1
votes

For me, it helped for at least one time, I removed service for both install and uninstall

<ServiceControl Remove="both" />

I assume this removed something from Regedit