How to automatically start your service after install?

Jason Z picture Jason Z · Oct 17, 2008 · Viewed 27.3k times · Source

How do you automatically start a service after running an install from a Visual Studio Setup Project?

I just figured this one out and thought I would share the answer for the general good. Answer to follow. I am open to other and better ways of doing this.

Answer

Jason Z picture Jason Z · Oct 17, 2008

Add the following class to your project.

using System.ServiceProcess;  

class ServInstaller : ServiceInstaller
{
    protected override void OnCommitted(System.Collections.IDictionary savedState)
    {
        ServiceController sc = new ServiceController("YourServiceNameGoesHere");
        sc.Start();
    }
}

The Setup Project will pick up the class and run your service after the installer finishes.