Install a 64 bit service

[mwilner]

Hello,
I have to install a 64 bit service with IA 15.
I have set the installation into 64 bit mode and run the Install Service command but the service is not installed
~InstallAware Clipboard Data~
~Install Service~
~{4289179F-A4F3-4204-BC2F-C2B0CEC76FFC}~
~E:\Projects\PM_MO\PrintManager\PrintHotDropUtility\bin\x64\Release\PrintHotDropUtility.exe~
~"$TARGETDIR$\Print Manager"~
~~
~Print Hot Drop Scheduler~
~Print Hot Drop Scheduler~
~~
~0~
~FALSE~
~~
~~
~0~
~1~
~~
~~
~~
~Set 64 Bit Mode~
~{1204E5FC-98B8-4647-9D00-4C1783CFF341}~
~FALSE~
~FALSE~
~TRUE~

I have tried running the InstallUtil application and only the 64 bit version will succeed when in admin mode.
So a call to:
~InstallAware Clipboard Data~
~Run Program~
~{58A766F3-DFB7-4164-AE76-558F4475F231}~
~C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\InstallUtil.exe~
~FALSE~
~$TARGETDIR$\Print Manager\PrintHotDropUtility.exe~
~TRUE~
~STATUS~
will ultimately fail since I can't run in admin mode. A call with Run As is not possible as IA is not passing on the admin privilege it runs under and I can't request the admin info during installation.
How can I install the service successful?

Best regards,
\Manfred

[FrancescoT]

Dear Manfred,

to install a service it's necessary to run the installer in elevated mode.

Are you sure your installer gets elevated at start-up?

Regards

[mwilner]

Hi Francesco,
Yes I am sure, I run IA in elevated mode when debugging and in Application Requirements it is set to use Admin privileges.
Any chance that it is related to 64 bit services that can't be installed with the IA function?
Just to proof the point with a small project trying to install 1 64 bit service I am attaching the project.

Best regards,
\Manfred

[FrancescoT]

Dear Manfred,

you should include the "service exe" with the project, otherwise I do not have any chance to test what you are reporting.

Regards

[mwilner]

Hi Francesco,
Sorry about that here it is.
Best regards,

[FrancescoT]

Dear Manfred,

first of all I have a question.

why do you use NATIVE ENGINE to install the service, when the setup project itself is entirely based on MSI engine?

Regards

[mwilner]

Hi Francesco,
Your reply is not at all helpful. If it is not correct to use NATIVE ENGINE just say so and suggest a correct solution.
I have wasted a week waiting for help, granted I can't expect immediate help if I have no longer a paying service contract but I had been updating IA until recently and liked using it because compared to InstallShield it is easier to program. Unfortunately IA doesn't seem to offer what I need and I have to byte the bullet and work myself into the tedious programming of InstallShield as I am getting no where with IA and the support thereof.
I have to say that I was up to now quite happy even though not all solutions that I got here were working for me but I am between a rock and a hard place right now and have to complete this one way or another.
Best regards,

[FrancescoT]

Dear Manfred

honestly I really do not understand the sense of your reply and even more, why this can generate such kind of reply from you. Which I believe is really inappropriate indeed.

I just asked a question.

I was already able to install your service correctly and without errors, but I wanted to know the reason of your Native Engine choice in order to extend "eventually" my reply. I suppose it's not the case due your reply.

Attached you find an edited copy of your original project that demonstrates how to install such service correctly. Tested on WIN 7 x64.

Have a nice day

Regards

[mwilner]

Thank you Francesco,
As I explained I am very frustrated with all this as I have not been making any progress and it is just taking too long to complete.

As your project showed I was making a mistake and I am grateful to you to point this out.
Apparently I am not understanding how this should have been done in the first place that is the reason why I used Native Engine just following another example that I have seen before that successfully used this method on a 32 bit service.

I will following this method and see if this can complete the overall installation to a successful end.

Thank you again.
Best regards,

[bokkie]

Francesco,

Well said. Manfred's attitude was a bit out of order. In rugby terms, I'd have given him a yellow card and send him to the sin bin for ten minutes. Perhaps he was just having a bad hair day and was walking around like a bear with a sore head and I've had my share of those myself. Sometimes some people hiss and thrash about like a cut snake. Whatever the reason, he needs to thank you for what you've done for him. I tried your attached file and it works on my Win 10 (64-bit) OS just fine. Maybe he might have other questions to follow but for the sake of ten minute test using your sample he might save himself a lot more time than trying to complete his objectives using some other tool.

[bokkie]

Manfred,

For future services development, I'd really recommend you take a look at TopShelf. I seldom write a service without it. It's saved me countless hours and difficulty during debugging. If you want I'll give you a working template of a C# solution I created that shows how to use it.

[mwilner]

Hello Peter,
What is TopShelf and what is it doing?
Best regards,

[bokkie]

First, here's the http://topshelf-project.com/ to it. It's a dotnet assembly you add a reference to in your project. Essentially, you call a method in the assembly to create a host factory. That in turn calls another method you code that takes over and runs the service. This is where it gets really smart; you create your service as a console app. You debug it like a console app. That is, no messing around starting your service and then hope you are quick enough to attach your debugger to it. Better still, you are not dependent on having to provide your pdb files to do debugging and then making sure you have the right code available. Debugging it as a console app saves you all that pain and misery that often accompanies debugging services.

There are a lot of other things it does such as calling methods before the service is installed or uninstalled, stopped or started and quite a few other things which you don't need to use. The team that wrote TopShelf aimed to make it usable and therefore, to make it useful.

Installing a service written in TopShelf is a breeze. You open a dos command prompt and then type "myprogram.exe -install" and that's it. It does all the under-the-hood registration and creation for you. To tear the service down type "myprogram.exe -uninstall" and that's it. It does all the stopping, uninstalling and deregestering for you. If you want to see what your service looks like uncoupled from the services.msc then run myprogram.exe in a dos command prompt and you see everything it would do as a service behind the scenes. What's not to like?

Every service I write is based on TopShelf's assembly and factory. Because you install it in a dos command window, you'd use InstallAware to install your executable and any runtime dependencies and then create some MSIcode like I described to run the simple -install/-uninstall after the MSIcode does the typical Apply Install, you can then simply run myprogram.exe in the MSIcode using the run as a dos program statement. You don't need to provide any arguments except -install/-uninstall although you can provide substitutions for what your exe requires if you want to rename the service. I can't be sure, but I think TopShelf makes it easy to install two or more copies of your service's exe.

In short, TopShelf takes away a lot of the complexity developing a service but it does have a slightly uphill learning curve. The sample solution I have does a lot that TopShelf offers and I use it to kickstart all of my service development. I really can't imaging writing services without it anymore, and to be honest, I'd not like to.

[mwilner]

Thanks Peter, that is very interesting and I will make sure to check this out.
You mentioned in your explanation that you would use Run As to call on the install executable that would allude to me that this should run as administrator. Unfortunately IA is not passing the admin credentials it has to the Run command so you need to request admin credentials from the user which is not really acceptable. Is there a way around you can suggest?

Best regards,