Question

I installed a Windows serivce that fetches has to fetch some strings from the App.Config file by the following method in OnStart – ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["stringName"];
Inside the App.Config, I also have a source defined for the log file which I use to write to my log file.

However, as I successfully install my service and try to start it from Serivce Control Explorer inside My Computer -> Manage - > Device Manager, I get a message saying

The service on the local computer and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if not used by toher applications

Inside the Windows Event Viewer, I get the following error detail (perhaps there is an exception thrown while starting the service)

Here’s the error detail for the same:

Service cannot be started. System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: Configuration system failed to initialize ---> System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: Unrecognized configuration section add. (C:\Program Files (x86)\Default Company Name\ServiceSetup\ServiceChecker.exe.Config line 3)
   at System.Configuration.ConfigurationSchemaErrors.ThrowIfErrors(Boolean ignoreLocal)
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.ThrowIfParseErrors(ConfigurationSchemaErrors schemaErrors)
   at System.Configuration.ClientConfigurationSystem.EnsureInit(String configKey)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.Configuration.ClientConfigurationSystem.EnsureInit(String configKey)
   at System.Configuration.ClientConfigurationSystem.System.Configuration.Internal.IInternalConfigSystem.GetSection(String sectionName)
   at System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.GetSection(String sectionName)
   at System.Configuration.PrivilegedConfigurationManager.GetSection(String sectionName)
   at System.Dia...

The above detail shows error detail related to .exe.config file of the service. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the service and the installation Account for the serivce is set as Local system which has broad system previliges.

my App.Config in the project:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
    <configuration>
<appSettings>
      <add key="UtilName" value="sample.exe"/>
      <add key="App1" value="MyApp"/>
      <add key="App1E" value="MyApp.exe"/>
      <add key="App2" value="MyApp2"/>
      <add key="App2E" value="MyApp2.exe" />
      <add key="AppDirectory" value="Company\MyProject" />
      <add key="CMDArgs" value="\start"/>
</appSettings>    
      <system.diagnostics>
        <sources>
          <source name="ServiceTrace" switchName="ServiceTraceSwitch" switchType="System.Diagnostics.SourceSwitch">
            <listeners>
              <add name="ServiceLog" type="System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener" initializeData="servicetrace.log"/>
            </listeners>
          </source>
        </sources>
        <switches>
          <add name="ServiceTraceSwitch" value="Information" />
        </switches>
        <trace autoflush="true" indentsize="4"></trace>
      </system.diagnostics>

    </configuration>

Answer 1

Seems that your app.config (or .exe.config) contains an unrecognized section. The error message usually says something like

Unrecognized configuration section ‘section name’

so i assume that you just added your config values without the needed parent element. The element has to be added as a child element of the section. Make sure it looks something like this:

<configuration>
   <appSettings>
     <add key="MyKey" value="MyValue" />
   </appSettings>
   ...some more configuration...
</configuration>