Debugging windows services in .NET
April 19th, 2008
The other day I was trying to test a Windows Service that I implemented for a friend. I thought to myself that this was going to be an easy endeavor. I just needed to install the service, run it, set some breakpoints, then attach its process to the debugger and that was it. Oh boy… I was SOOO wrong. It was not as easy as I thought it would be.
I cannot remember how much time I spent trying to make it work using the above approach. It was until I decided not to rely on this “supposedly clean” way for debugging .NET Windows Service applications that I was able to complete my testing, so I could tell my friend “here is the service.”
Here is what I wrote to solve my debugging problem:
static void Main()
{
#if (!DEBUG)
System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
ServicesToRun = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[]{
new MyService()
};
System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
#else
// Debug code: this allows the process to run
// as a non-service.
// Put a breakpoint on the following line
MyService service = new MyService();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(
System.Threading.Timeout.Infinite
);
#endif
}
I know, I know, this is not pretty, but It works. At the end that’s the only thing that matters 
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