Develop Reference

CodedUI and Setup Installer Not Working

I used the CodedUI to record the installation of a product, and tried to replay the recording in visual studio. I'm getting some curious issues and I'm not sure how to work around these.
Message: Test method CodedUITestProject5.CodedUITest1.CodedUITestMethod1 threw exception:
Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UITest.Extension.FailedToLaunchApplicationException: "The application cannot be started because it cannot be found in the specified location, or the user does not have sufficient permissions to start the application." File: C:\Users\Sakamoto\AppData\Local\Temp\{CF4F5CDB-4597-4C70-BBFD-2687BB031067}\.cr\Setup.exe. Alternative file name: %TMP%\{CF4F5CDB-4597-4C70-BBFD-2687BB031067}\.cr\Setup.exe
The funny thing is the setup file is located on my desktop, and that's where the recording launched it from. Looking in UIMap.Designer.cs, it has to correct path listed in the recorded method right under the Variable Declarations section.
I am also running Visual Studio 2017 as Administrator.
Changing the UIMap.Designer.cs file so that all paths point to the file on the desktop, I get the following error:
Message: Test method CodedUITestProject5.CodedUITest1.CodedUITestMethod1 threw exception:
Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UITest.Extension.FailedToLaunchApplicationException: "The application cannot be started. This could be due to one of the following reasons:
1) Another instance of the application is already running and only one instance can be running at a time.
2) The application started another process and has now stopped. You may need to launch the process directly.
3) You do not have sufficient privileges for this application." File: C:\Users\Sakamoto\Desktop\Setup.exe.
Can someone help me get an automated run of the setup process going?

Windows, Start service System.InvalidOperationException: Cannot start service on computer '.' Access in Denied(Running as Admin)

I am trying to start service using the below code. This works fine for 99% machines but i get this issue on user machines. Any help to be able to reproduce this error or why this issue happens.
ServiceController sc = new ServiceController(name);
if (sc.Status == ServiceControllerStatus.Running ||
sc.Status == ServiceControllerStatus.StartPending)
{
sc.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus.Running);
Logger.Info("Service already running");
return true;
}
sc.Start();
Error I receive is
System.InvalidOperationException: Cannot start service on computer
'.'. ---> System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: Access is denied
I am running with Administrator privileges
When creating the service I also run sc sdset command to make service start stop by non admin processes.

There is a whole thread about it in social msdn. The issue persisted for numerous users and it seems you do not have enough privileges to start the service, in which case you will have to change the service into Administrative account:
make sure that the service is set to Local Account by:
Rightclick on the property(in Services.msc panel).
select the Log on option
And then check again to see if it's working.

I am assuming you are trying to achieve a scenario similar to this, i.e., install a service and start it automatically.
Assuming you have made sure that you are really running as Administrator, i.e., the Admin command prompt or Run As Administrator.
Also, assuming you have restarted the machine to make sure that old version of your service is really removed, as you have tried multiple times to install / uninstall your service.
The error Access is denied essentially means that the user running it does not have access. Since you have said that you are running as Administrator, it is possibly that even Administrator does not have access to start the service. May be you are in a locked down environment (likely via Group Policy), where only the Domain Administrator is the "most powerful" !
The next step would be to investigate the permissions your service has. A useful tool for this is: SubInAcl
https://ss64.com/nt/subinacl.html
Display or modify Access Control Entries (ACEs) for file and folder Permissions, Ownership and Domain.
SubInAcl /service "your service name"
The above command is not easy to use ! You need to download it from the Microsoft web site.
Another useful tool is the SC command. This would normally be available by default.
Service Control - Create, Start, Stop, Query or Delete any Windows SERVICE.
SC sdshow "your service name"
would give details of the permission.
This would give you data which can help in further investigation.
You could also start / stop the service with this command. You can try with this to check whether you are getting the same exception when using this tool as well.
The following serverfault question gives some details about setting permission to a service
https://serverfault.com/questions/187302/how-do-i-grant-start-stop-restart-permissions-on-a-service-to-an-arbitrary-user
If you want to see the Stack trace from installutil you can use the /ShowcallStack option
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/tools/installutil-exe-installer-tool
/ShowCallStack
Outputs the call stack to the log file if an exception occurs at any point during installation.

This is not an answer, it is my further exploration of the question.
Here is the log
Running a transacted installation.
Beginning the Install phase of the installation.
See the contents of the log file for the
D:\devnet10\Flight\Flight.ServiceHost\bin\Debug\flight.servicehost.exe assembly's progress.
The file is located at D:\devnet10\Flight\Flight.ServiceHost\bin\Debug\flight.servicehost.InstallLog.
An exception occurred during the Install phase.
System.InvalidOperationException: An exception occurred in the OnAfterInstall event handler of Flight.ServiceHost.Installation.
at System.Configuration.Install.Installer.Install(IDictionary stateSaver)
at Flight.ServiceHost.Installation.Install(IDictionary stateSaver) in D:\devnet10\Flight\Flight.ServiceHost\Installation.cs:line 36
at System.Configuration.Install.Installer.Install(IDictionary stateSaver)
at System.Configuration.Install.AssemblyInstaller.Install(IDictionary savedState)
at System.Configuration.Install.Installer.Install(IDictionary stateSaver)
at System.Configuration.Install.TransactedInstaller.Install(IDictionary savedState)
The inner exception System.InvalidOperationException was thrown with the following error message: Cannot start service PreFlight on computer '.'..
at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.Start(String[] args)
at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.Start()
at Flight.ServiceHost.Installation.OnAfterInstall(IDictionary savedState) in D:\devnet10\Flight\Flight.ServiceHost\Installation.cs:line 49
at System.Configuration.Install.Installer.Install(IDictionary stateSaver)
The inner exception System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception was thrown with the following error message: Access is denied.
The Rollback phase of the installation is beginning.
See the contents of the log file for the D:\devnet10\Flight\Flight.ServiceHost\bin\Debug\flight.servicehost.exe assembly's progress.
The file is located at D:\devnet10\Flight\Flight.ServiceHost\bin\Debug\flight.servicehost.InstallLog.
The Rollback phase completed successfully.
The transacted install has completed.
[Update]
I should mention that I am running WIndows 10
I managed to create an installer using an installer project, which does work.

The issue by me was RunningAsLocalService in topshelf, hope this helps someone.

Logs not going to CustomEventLog created in a WindowsService

I have a created a windows service and i am installing it using installutil. In the project installer i am creating a custom event log. But when my service starts my all logs are going to the "Application" instead of my cuustom log. Below is the code which i have added to installer.
// Create Event Source and Event Log
EventLogInstaller logInstaller = new EventLogInstaller();
logInstaller.Source = "MyServices";
logInstaller.Log = "MyService Events";
Installers.Add(logInstaller);
Furthurmore the name of service is MyService.exe.
When I uninstall and re-install the service, i installation fail with the following install log;
Running a transacted installation.
Beginning the Install phase of the installation. See the contents of
the log file for the D:\MyService\MyService\bin\Release\MyService.exe
assembly's progress. The file is located at
D:\MyService\MyService\bin\Release\MyService.InstallLog.
An exception occurred during the Install phase.
System.ArgumentException: Source MyServices already exists on the
local computer.
The Rollback phase of the installation is beginning. See the contents
of the log file for the
D:\MyService\MyService\bin\Release\MyService.exe assembly's progress.
The file is located at
D:\MyService\MyService\bin\Release\MyService.InstallLog.
The Rollback phase completed successfully.
The transacted install has completed.
And this is how i write log entry;
EventLog.WriteEntry("MyServices", logMessage, logType);
Can someone please help me what wrong i am doing.

When you add a new Log Source you have to restart the server for the log source to be found properly.
You also need your installer to be aware of if the log source is already there.
So add a quick check for the log source before you add it and restart the server after installing the first time to get the log source to work.

cannot uninstall a windows service: "...cannot be deleted, because it's equal to the log name."

I need to uninstall a Windows Service I have created, but I get this error using the "Uninstall or change program" program in windows:
Error. An exception occurred while
uninstalling. This exception will be
ignored and the uninstall will
continue. However, the application
might not be fully uninstalled after
the uninstall is complete. -> The
event log source '111 My Service'
cannot be deleted, because it's equal
to the log name.
Then I click "OK" and the program remains listed in the list of installed programs. What is worse, I cannot install a new version of it. The windows installer says that another version of this product is already installed and I should uninstall it first. How do I get rid of this program?
Update Here is what is happening when I run InstallUtil.exe /u command on it.
The uninstall is beginning. See the
contents of the log file for the
C:\MyService.MyService. assembly's progress. The file
is located at
C:\MyService.MyService.InstallLog.
Uninstalling assembly
'C:\MyService.MyService.exe'. Affected
parameters are: logtoconsole =
assemblypath = C:\MyService.exe
logfile =
C:\MyService.MyService.InstallLog
Removing EventLog source 111 My
Service. An exception occurred during
the uninstallation of the
System.Diagnostics.EventLogInstaller
installer.
System.InvalidOperationException: The
event log source '111 My Service'
cannot be deleted, because it's equal
to the log name. An exception occurred
while uninstalling. This exception
will be ignored and the uninstall will
continue. However, the application
might not be fully uninstalle l is
complete.
The uninstall has completed. An
exception occurred while uninstalling.
This exception will be ignored and the
uninstall will continue. However, the
application might not be fully
uninstalle l is complete.

Try to execute next command in cmd:
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\InstallUtil.exe /u "c:\myservice.exe"
The second option is:
sc delete <service name>
After running the line above you can try to remove the service branch as well in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services.

The accepted answer didn't work for me.
What worked is open regedit in administrator mode and find the service and delete it.

I had the exact same problem (and nothing in the selected answer worked).
Surprisingly, what fixed the problem was (using the standard "Uninstall or change program" or "Programs and Features" windows dialog) right-clicking on the program and choosing repair (this was apparently successful), and then uninstalling.

This just happened to me and the solution above didn't work where you run the InstallUtil.exe or delete the service. I had initially set up my service with the "LocalSystem" security context, and it was installed with that. I later changed the security context to "User" and recompiled the service executable and tried to uninstall the old service. The error messages were coming up that are described here, and once I went and changed the security context back to "LocalSystem" I could fully uninstall.
In other words, you might want to uninstall your old service with the executable it was created with rather than a newer one with possible modifications.

Installing C# Windows Service on Windows 7

I have a batch file that I have been using to install my C# Windows Services for awhile now, never had a problem until Windows 7. I have attempted to run the batch file with Administrator privileges. I have attempted to run the command prompt with admin privs, navigate to the windows service EXE and run InstallUtil there. Still doesn't work.
After reading some other suggestions I tried moving my files out of the /bin folder and running them from another location but that also didn't work.
The batch file looks like this
#ECHO OFF
REM The following directory is for .NET 2.0
set DOTNETFX2=%SystemRoot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
set PATH=%PATH%;%DOTNETFX2%
echo Installing IEPPAMS Win Service...
echo ---------------------------------------------------
InstallUtil /i IEPPAMS_WinService1.exe
echo ---------------------------------------------------
echo Done.
and I have a install log file that I dump info to. If I just double click the .bat file I get
Running a transacted installation.
Beginning the Install phase of the
installation. See the contents of the
log file for the
C:\Users\Justin\Desktop\service
test\IEPPAMS_WinService1.exe
assembly's progress. The file is
located at
C:\Users\Justin\Desktop\service
test\IEPPAMS_WinService1.InstallLog.
An exception occurred during the
Install phase.
System.InvalidOperationException:
Cannot open Service Control Manager on
computer '.'. This operation might
require other privileges. The inner
exception
System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception
was thrown with the following error
message: Access is denied.
The Rollback phase of the installation
is beginning. See the contents of the
log file for the
C:\Users\Justin\Desktop\service
test\IEPPAMS_WinService1.exe
assembly's progress. The file is
located at
C:\Users\Justin\Desktop\service
test\IEPPAMS_WinService1.InstallLog.
The Rollback phase completed
successfully.
The transacted install has completed.
When I run the .bat file with admin privileges nothing is written to the log file, and the service is still not installed.
Any thoughts? Is there a new way to install services in Windows 7?

Right click on the batch file and run it as Administrator.
You are most likely running into battle with the new security model (User Account Control) from Windows Vista and Windows 7. Even if you are running as an account that has Admin rights you will still need to elevate to do some (most) administrative activities. (Yes it is possible to disable this feature, but don't)
UAC (MSDN)
UAC (Wikipedia)
InstallUtil (MSDN)
Edit... The correct commandline is InstallUtil YourApp.exe. The /i does not look to be a vaild switch for InstallUtil.

So I was able to fix the problem by typing in the command line the entire path to InstallUtil and it worked. So after navigating to the folder that had my EXE I typed the following:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.21006\installutil.exe
IEPPAMS_WinService1.exe
Not sure why I have to do that in Windows 7 now when I never had to in XP, but oh well. Thanks for all the suggestions!

When I run the .bat file with admin privileges nothing is written to the log file, and the service is still not installed.
First off, you HAVE to run as admin permissions.
Second, when you "Run as Administrator", it actually changes the directory to c:\windows\system32 as the initial directory ( no idea why ), which would probably explain why running as admin causes no log file. Manually change to the path IEPPAMS_WinService1.exe resides in that the start of your script.