Error in installing Windows service developed in .NET

c# windows-services user-accounts
Sambha picture Sambha · Feb 5, 2010 · Viewed 21.5k times · Source

I have developed a windows service using C# and Visual Studio 2008. I have Windows XP SP2 installed on my machine. When I try to install the service using the installutil tool, after entering the username and password, I get the following error.

An exception occurred during the Install phase. System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: The account name is invalid or does not exist, or the password is invalid for the account name specified.

But the user does exist. I had created the user through control panel → User accounts → Create new account.

The command I used for installing the service was:

installutil /i TestService.exe

How can I resolve the issue?

Answer

Oded picture Oded · Feb 5, 2010

If the account is a local user account, try to use .\username when installutil prompts for the username and password.

The .\ stands for local machine.

Services require a fully qualified username (with domain), so when installing you need to be explicit about local user accounts.

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