Unable to get service to install automatically with custom actions

I have not been able to determine why my installer package will not execute
the custom actions that create the windows service when my service is
installed. I even stuck a service notification message in the
ProjectInstaller code and see nothing to indicate it is being executed.

For my development environment I am using Visual Studio 2003 with the .Net
Framework 1.1. I on Windows XP Professional. I currently have all Windows
patches installed except for the .Net 2.0 framework.

If I compile the service and manually run InstallUtil then the service is
created and can be run successfully. That's how I tested the service. This
does NOT seem to utilize the ProjectInstaller class within the executable;
it works with or without this code.

If I run the msi from the compiled installation project then the program
itself is installed but, as far as I can tell, there is no attempt to
register the service.

There is only one service in the project. I created the ProjectInstaller.cs
for my service and it has everything I would expect to be there including
adding the ServiceProcessInstaller and ServiceInstaller to the Installers
object.

Each of the 4 tasks in the Custom Actions points to the primary output of
the service. Each has the InstallerClass property set to True.

I noticed that each of the custom actions actually uses the obj directory
for the source instead of the bin directory but I don't know if this is
normal.

The service executable has the startup object set to the entry point.

There is a file called servicename.InstallState in the install directory
after the install that I don't recall seeing in past projects. It has SOAP
code in it.

Is there anything else I can check or anything that could cause this
behavior?

Thanks for any assistance,
Bill Faulk

Bill
Tue Jun 06 11:56:48 CDT 2006

Additional info:

The install does the same thing if run on a different system.

"Bill Faulk" <billf@xxmission.com> wrote in message
news:O%23IigsPiGHA.1324@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>I have not been able to determine why my installer package will not execute
>the custom actions that create the windows service when my service is
>installed. I even stuck a service notification message in the
>ProjectInstaller code and see nothing to indicate it is being executed.
>
> For my development environment I am using Visual Studio 2003 with the .Net
> Framework 1.1. I on Windows XP Professional. I currently have all Windows
> patches installed except for the .Net 2.0 framework.
>
> If I compile the service and manually run InstallUtil then the service is
> created and can be run successfully. That's how I tested the service. This
> does NOT seem to utilize the ProjectInstaller class within the executable;
> it works with or without this code.
>
> If I run the msi from the compiled installation project then the program
> itself is installed but, as far as I can tell, there is no attempt to
> register the service.
>
> There is only one service in the project. I created the
> ProjectInstaller.cs for my service and it has everything I would expect to
> be there including adding the ServiceProcessInstaller and ServiceInstaller
> to the Installers object.
>
> Each of the 4 tasks in the Custom Actions points to the primary output of
> the service. Each has the InstallerClass property set to True.
>
> I noticed that each of the custom actions actually uses the obj directory
> for the source instead of the bin directory but I don't know if this is
> normal.
>
> The service executable has the startup object set to the entry point.
>
> There is a file called servicename.InstallState in the install directory
> after the install that I don't recall seeing in past projects. It has SOAP
> code in it.
>
> Is there anything else I can check or anything that could cause this
> behavior?
>
> Thanks for any assistance,
> Bill Faulk
>

Bill
Tue Jun 06 13:35:16 CDT 2006

Nevermind, I deleted the ProjectInstaller.cs and the custom actions, rebuilt
the solution, recreated the ProjectInstaller and custom actions, and then
rebuilt again. The install worked just fine after that. I don't know why it
didn't work the first time I did it.

"Bill Faulk" <billf@xxmission.com> wrote in message
news:%23Jd75oYiGHA.4896@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Additional info:
>
> The install does the same thing if run on a different system.
>
> "Bill Faulk" <billf@xxmission.com> wrote in message
> news:O%23IigsPiGHA.1324@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>I have not been able to determine why my installer package will not
>>execute the custom actions that create the windows service when my service
>>is installed. I even stuck a service notification message in the
>>ProjectInstaller code and see nothing to indicate it is being executed.
>>
>> For my development environment I am using Visual Studio 2003 with the
>> .Net Framework 1.1. I on Windows XP Professional. I currently have all
>> Windows patches installed except for the .Net 2.0 framework.
>>
>> If I compile the service and manually run InstallUtil then the service is
>> created and can be run successfully. That's how I tested the service.
>> This does NOT seem to utilize the ProjectInstaller class within the
>> executable; it works with or without this code.
>>
>> If I run the msi from the compiled installation project then the program
>> itself is installed but, as far as I can tell, there is no attempt to
>> register the service.
>>
>> There is only one service in the project. I created the
>> ProjectInstaller.cs for my service and it has everything I would expect
>> to be there including adding the ServiceProcessInstaller and
>> ServiceInstaller to the Installers object.
>>
>> Each of the 4 tasks in the Custom Actions points to the primary output of
>> the service. Each has the InstallerClass property set to True.
>>
>> I noticed that each of the custom actions actually uses the obj directory
>> for the source instead of the bin directory but I don't know if this is
>> normal.
>>
>> The service executable has the startup object set to the entry point.
>>
>> There is a file called servicename.InstallState in the install directory
>> after the install that I don't recall seeing in past projects. It has
>> SOAP code in it.
>>
>> Is there anything else I can check or anything that could cause this
>> behavior?
>>
>> Thanks for any assistance,
>> Bill Faulk
>>
>
>