Win service to install another win service (programmatically in C#?) - windows

Question

I have a win service running under the system session. I want this main service to control (install/remove) another winservice to be installed under another user (we main service have the user/password).
How to do that?

Answer 1

What you are intending to do sounds a bit hackish, but if you really want to do it then you can by using the sc.exe utility that is bundled with Windows. All you have to do is make sure the correct service files are in place on the file system (for example under %PROGRAMFILES%\[CompanyName]\[ServiceName]), then use Process.Start to invoke sc.exe with the right command line arguments.
To specify the name and password for the account the service should run under, use the obj= <account name> and password= <password> options. Note the space between the option and its value - without that space the command will fail.
Another option is to use Process.Start() to invoke installutil.exe (which is part of the .Net framework). A quick example of this is:
var installutil = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Windows)
+ "\\Microsoft.Net\\Framework\\v4.0.30319\\installutil.exe";
var arguments = string.Format( " /ServiceName=\"{0}\" /DisplayName=\"{1}\" \"{2}\" ",
serviceName,
displayName,
servicePath);
var psi = new ProcessStartInfo(installutil, arguments) {
CreateNoWindow = true,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
RedirectStandardInput = false,
RedirectStandardError = false,
ErrorDialog = false,
UseShellExecute = false
};
var p = new Process { StartInfo = psi, EnableRaisingEvents = true };
p.Start();
p.WaitForExit();

Answer 2

Seems like all I need in my main win service to call:
//Installs and starts the service
ServiceInstaller.InstallAndStart("MyServiceName", "MyServiceDisplayName", "C:\PathToServiceFile.exe");
And make sure inside the target (the one I want to control/install) Service code (ServiceInstaller) the right Installer:
public class MyServiceInstaller : Installer
{
private ServiceInstaller serviceInstaller;
private ServiceProcessInstaller processInstaller;
public MyServiceInstaller()
{
// instantiate installers for process and service
processInstaller = new ServiceProcessInstaller();
serviceInstaller = new ServiceInstaller();
// run under the system service account
processInstaller.Account = ServiceAccount.User;
processInstaller.Username = ".\\UserName";
processInstaller.Password = "password";
// service to start automatically.
serviceInstaller.StartType = ServiceStartMode.Automatic;
serviceInstaller.Description = "MyServiceDescription";
// name
string SvcName = "MyServiceNae";
// ServiceName must equal those on ServiceBase derived classes
serviceInstaller.ServiceName = SvcName;
// displayed in list
serviceInstaller.DisplayName = "My Service DisplayName ";
// add installers to collection
Installers.Add(serviceInstaller);
Installers.Add(processInstaller);
Committed += new InstallEventHandler((sender, args) =>
{
var controller = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController(SvcName);
controller.Start();
});
}
}
The installandstart:
public static void InstallAndStart(
string serviceName,
string displayName,
string fileName,
string username=null,
string password = null)
{
IntPtr scm = OpenSCManager(null, null, ScmAccessRights.AllAccess);
try
{
IntPtr service = OpenService(
scm,
serviceName,
ServiceAccessRights.AllAccess);
if (service == IntPtr.Zero)
{
service = CreateService(
scm,
serviceName,
displayName,
ServiceAccessRights.AllAccess,
SERVICE_WIN32_OWN_PROCESS,
ServiceBootFlag.AutoStart,
ServiceError.Normal,
fileName,
null,
IntPtr.Zero,
null,
username,
password);
if (service == IntPtr.Zero)
throw new ApplicationException("Failed to install service.");
try
{
StartService(service, 0, 0);
}
finally
{
CloseServiceHandle(service);
}
}
}
finally
{
CloseServiceHandle(scm);
}
}