32-bit windows service do not start on 64-bit windows 7

Question

I have a 32-bit windows .exe. Which will run as windows service. This .exe runs fine as servics for window 2000/xp 32-bit version.

However when try to run on 64-bit windows 2008 server it crash. I am observing two cases.

1) If I build the application on VC++ 6. From Event log entry it seems to Kernel.dll is crashing.

Faulting application name: , version: , time stamp: 0x4e6461c0
Faulting module name: KERNELBASE.dll, version: 6.1.7600.16385, time stamp: 0x4a5bdbdf
Exception code: 0xe06d7363
Fault offset: 0x0000b727
Faulting process id: 0xe2c
Faulting application start time: 0x01cc83cb1052e4b3
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\\\Admin.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\syswow64\KERNELBASE.dll
Report Id: 4e0693b4-efbe-11e0-a07f-001143e8bb9d

2) If I build the application with VS2005 32 bit, A run time error displayed and Event log says msvscrt.dll is crashed.

Faulting application name: , version: ,
Faulting module name: MSVCR80.dll, version: 8.0.50727.4927, time stamp: 0x4a2752ff
Exception code: 0x40000015
Fault offset: 0x000046b4
Faulting process id: 0x34c
Faulting application start time: 0x01cc8c4f2a223426
Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\\\Admin.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.vc80.crt_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.4927_none_d08a205e442db5b5\MSVCR80.dll
Report Id: 69554d57-f842-11e0-a07f-001143e8bb9d

Please help me out resolve this issue.

Have you tried debugging the application? A Web search on 0xe06d7363 says that this is an uncaught C++ exception, so a stack trace should quickly show what went wrong. A Web search on 0x40000015 says that this is a C runtime fatal exit, so a stack trace of that should also quickly identify the reason. — Raymond Chen
It is probably the same failure reason, the VS2005 version properly calls terminate() on the unhandled C++ exception. Finding out why the exception is raised is never hard with a debugger, next to impossible without one. — Hans Passant

Branko Dimitrijevic Branko Dimitrijevic · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-16T12:17:46

You need to diagnose the problem better before you can solve it, which probably means finding a way to reproduce it while program is executing under the debugger. Some suggestions:

Since your service is EXE (and not DLL that runs under svchost.exe, which is a generic host process name for services that run from DLLs), you should be able to use "Attach to Process" option in Visual Studio to attach the debugger to it. You might need to start the Visual Studio as administrator and/or change the user under which the service executes to be able to do that.

Also, if the service crashes soon after starting, you might need to call MessageBox with MB_SERVICE_NOTIFICATION to pause execution long enough so you can attach the debugger.

However, if the service crashes during startup before it even reaches the MessageBox, you need to build it as console application. Now you can actually start it under the debugger and see what is going on.

32-bit windows service do not start on 64-bit windows 7

2 Answers