Question

I have a service that sometimes calls a batch file. The batch file takes 5-10 seconds to execute:

System.Diagnostics.Process proc = new System.Diagnostics.Process(); // Declare New Process     proc.StartInfo.FileName = fileName;     proc.StartInfo.WindowStyle = System.Diagnostics.ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;     proc.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = true;     proc.Start();     proc.WaitForExit(); 

The file does exist and the code works when I run the same code in-console. However when it runs inside the service, it hangs up at WaitForExit(). I have to kill the batch file from the Process in order to continue. (I am certain the file exists, as I can see it in the processes list.)

How can I fix this hang-up?

Update #1:

Kevin’s code allows me to get output. One of my batch files is still hanging.

‘C:\EnterpriseDB\Postgres\8.3\bin\pg_dump.exe’ -i -h localhost -p 5432 -U postgres -F p -a -D -v -f ‘c:\backupcasecocher\backupdateevent2008.sql’ -t ‘\’public\’.\’dateevent\” ‘DbTest’

The other batch file is:

‘C:\EnterpriseDB\Postgres\8.3\bin\vacuumdb.exe’ -U postgres -d DbTest

I have checked the path and the postgresql path is fine. The output directory does exist and still works outside the service. Any ideas?

Update #2:

Instead of the path of the batch file, I wrote the ‘C:\EnterpriseDB\Postgres\8.3\bin\pg_dump.exe’ for the proc.StartInfo.FileName and added all parameters to proc.StartInfo.Arguments. The results are unchanged, but I see the pg_dump.exe in the process window. Again this only happens inside the service.

Update #3:

I have run the service with a user in the administrator group, to no avail. I restored null for the service’s username and password

Update #4:

I created a simple service to write a trace in the event log and execute a batch file that contains ‘dir’ in it. It will now hang at proc.Start(); – I tried changing the Account from LocalSystem to User and I set the admnistrator user and password, still nothing.

Answer 1

Here is what i use to execute batch files:

proc.StartInfo.FileName                 = target; proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardError    = true; proc.StartInfo.RedirectStandardOutput   = true; proc.StartInfo.UseShellExecute          = false;  proc.Start();  proc.WaitForExit     (         (timeout <= 0)             ? int.MaxValue : timeout * NO_MILLISECONDS_IN_A_SECOND *                 NO_SECONDS_IN_A_MINUTE     );  errorMessage = proc.StandardError.ReadToEnd(); proc.WaitForExit();  outputMessage = proc.StandardOutput.ReadToEnd(); proc.WaitForExit(); 

I don’t know if that will do the trick for you, but I don’t have the problem of it hanging.