I ran into this issue myself and couldn't find a solution so after several days of research and testing and trying different things I FINALLY figured out a solution that solves this problem!
When you use Windows InstallUtil.exe to install the service it creates an event log source same as the name of your service and adds it to the "Application" event log. However when it uninstalls the service it doesn't remove this source. So when you try to re-install it, it tries to add the source again, but since it is already there it makes an error and since there is an error it rolls back the installation.
What I did is I added code to my service for self installing/uninstalling and a method to clean up the event logging that it uses and that Windows creates when it installs it the first time. That extra method is what fixed it for me. With the following code, pretty much just run the -delevent a couple times until it says nothing exists. Then try installing again and it should work.
In a command prompt with admin rights call these:
Service1.exe -install
Service1.exe -uninstall
Service1.exe -delevent
Here is my code:
Program.cs:
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Configuration.Install;
using System.ServiceProcess;
using System.ComponentModel;
namespace WindowsService1
{
static class Program
{
/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
static void Main(string[] args)
{
if (args.Length > 0)
{
foreach (string item in args)
{
switch (item.ToLower())
{
case "-install":
Install(false, args); break;
case "-uninstall":
Install(true, args); break;
case "-delevent":
DeleteEventStuff(); break;
default:
Console.Error.WriteLine("Argument not expected: " + item); break;
}
}
}
else
{
ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[]
{
new Service1()
};
ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
}
}
// This is the method that does the actual installing/uninstalling of the service for Windows
static void Install(bool uninstall, string[] args)
{
try
{
Console.WriteLine(uninstall ? "Uninstalling Service" : "Installing Service");
using (AssemblyInstaller inst = new AssemblyInstaller(typeof(MyProjectInstaller).Assembly, args))
{
IDictionary state = new Hashtable();
inst.UseNewContext = true;
try
{
if (uninstall)
{
inst.Uninstall(state);
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Uninstall Successful");
}
else
{
inst.Install(state);
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Installed Successfuly. Now Commiting...");
inst.Commit(state);
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Commit Successful");
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
try
{
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("ERROR: " + ex.Message);
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Rolling back service installation...");
inst.Rollback(state);
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Rollback Successful");
}
catch { }
throw;
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.Error.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}
}
// This is the method that cleans up the event logging that Windows creates on install
static void DeleteEventStuff()
{
// Delete the event log stuff that the service actually uses.
if (System.Diagnostics.EventLog.SourceExists(Service1.eventSource))
{
try
{
System.Diagnostics.EventLog.DeleteEventSource(Service1.eventSource);
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Event source deleted successfully!");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Error deleting event source: " + ex.Message);
}
}
else
Console.WriteLine(); Console.WriteLine("The event source '" + Service1.eventSource + "' does not exist.");
if (System.Diagnostics.EventLog.Exists(Service1.eventLog))
{
try
{
System.Diagnostics.EventLog.Delete(Service1.eventLog);
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Event log deleted successfully!");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Error deleting event log: " + ex.Message);
}
}
else
Console.WriteLine(); Console.WriteLine("The event log '" + Service1.eventLog + "' does not exist.");
// Delete the event log stuff that windows installer utilities thinks the service will use.
if (System.Diagnostics.EventLog.SourceExists(Service1._serviceName))
{
try
{
System.Diagnostics.EventLog.DeleteEventSource(Service1._serviceName);
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Event source deleted successfully!");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Error deleting event source: " + ex.Message);
}
}
else
Console.WriteLine(); Console.WriteLine("The event source '" + Service1._serviceName + "' does not exist.");
if (System.Diagnostics.EventLog.Exists(Service1._serviceName))
{
try
{
System.Diagnostics.EventLog.Delete(Service1._serviceName);
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Event log deleted successfully!");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Error deleting event log: " + ex.Message);
}
}
else
Console.WriteLine(); Console.WriteLine("The event log '" + Service1._serviceName + "' does not exist.");
// Delete the actual custom event log file stored on the hard drive if it exists so it can be recreated on re-install
if (System.IO.File.Exists(@"%SystemRoot%\System32\winevt\Logs\" + Service1.eventLog + ".evtx"))
{
try
{
System.IO.File.Delete(@"%SystemRoot%\System32\winevt\Logs\" + Service1.eventLog + ".evtx");
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Event log found deleted from hard drive successfully!");
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine();
Console.WriteLine("Error deleting event log from hard drive: " + ex.Message);
}
}
else
Console.WriteLine(); Console.WriteLine("The event log '" + Service1._serviceName + "' file was not found on the hard drive.");
}
}
}
