log4net not working in a windows service

Question

I have a console app which I am converting into a windows service. As a console app my log4net logging is working fine. But converting it into a windows service, my log4net logging has stopped working.

I have added this to my assemblyInfo.cs in the service project:

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(ConfigFile = "log4net.config", Watch = true)]

This is my service class with onstart and onstop:

private static log4net.ILog _log = log4net.LogManager.GetLogger(System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod().DeclaringType);
        private Builder _builder;

        public YCSWebServerService()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            _builder = new Builder();
        }

        protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
            _log.Info("YCSWebServerService started");
            _builder.Start();
        }

        protected override void OnStop()
        {
            _log.Info("YCSWebServerService stopped");
            _builder.Stop();
        }

I have a "specific" log4net config file added to my service project:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>

  <configSections>
    <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net" />
  </configSections>

  <log4net>
    <root>
      <level value="ALL" />
      <appender-ref ref="EventLogAppender" />
    </root>
    <appender name="EventLogAppender" type="log4net.Appender.EventLogAppender">
      <threshold value="DEBUG" />
      <applicationName value="Lantic YCS WebServer" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <conversionPattern value="(%-5level %date{hh}:%date{mm}:%date{ss} [%thread] %logger [%property{NDC}] ) %message %n" />
      </layout>
    </appender>
  </log4net>

</configuration>

Any ideas or tips?

I solved this issue by overriding the appender. Check this issue: stackoverflow.com/questions/1922430/… — RClemens

demp demp · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-26T17:48:19

Did you just add a log4net section to your app.config file? In your question you mentioned that you have "specific log4net config file", but the sample you gave looks like the whole contents of app.config. If app.config is the case then you could have simpler string in AssemblyInfo.cs:

[assembly: log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator(Watch = true)]

Also adding requirePermission="false" to the section in my app.config helped me when I fixed similar problem with log4net not logging to file for Windows Service (see extra attribute - requirePermission="false"):

<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler, log4net" requirePermission="false"/>
  </configSections>

log4net not working in a windows service

4 Answers