Question

I’m looking and trying to install my console application as service but not figured out how to do it.

any recommendation ?

actually i just wanted to install as service and start automatically each time windows starts or delay start

program Project1;

  Uses
  Windows,
  SysUtils,
  Dialogs,
  Messages,TlHelp32,Classes, Graphics, Controls, SvcMgr,ExtCtrls;

 Const
  SECURITY_NT_AUTHORITY: TSIDIdentifierAuthority = (Value: (0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5));
  SECURITY_BUILTIN_DOMAIN_RID = $00000020;
  DOMAIN_ALIAS_RID_ADMINS = $00000220;

  type
  TService1 = class(TService)
  private
  public
    function GetServiceController: TServiceController; override;
  end;


  var
  Service1: TService1;
  Msg: TMsg;

 Procedure ServiceController(CtrlCode: DWord); stdcall;
  begin
   Service1.Controller(CtrlCode);
 end;


 Function TService1.GetServiceController: TServiceController;
  begin
    Result := ServiceController;
 end;

Function IsAdmin: Boolean;
var
  hAccessToken: THandle;
  ptgGroups: PTokenGroups;
  dwInfoBufferSize: DWORD;
  psidAdministrators: PSID;
  x: Integer;
  bSuccess: BOOL;
begin
  Result   := False;
  bSuccess := OpenThreadToken(GetCurrentThread, TOKEN_QUERY, True,
    hAccessToken);
  if not bSuccess then
  begin
    if GetLastError = ERROR_NO_TOKEN then
      bSuccess := OpenProcessToken(GetCurrentProcess, TOKEN_QUERY,
        hAccessToken);
  end;
  if bSuccess then
  begin
    GetMem(ptgGroups, 1024);
    bSuccess := GetTokenInformation(hAccessToken, TokenGroups,
      ptgGroups, 1024, dwInfoBufferSize);
    CloseHandle(hAccessToken);
    if bSuccess then
    begin
      AllocateAndInitializeSid(SECURITY_NT_AUTHORITY, 2,
        SECURITY_BUILTIN_DOMAIN_RID, DOMAIN_ALIAS_RID_ADMINS,
        0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, psidAdministrators);
      {$R-}
      for x := 0 to ptgGroups.GroupCount - 1 do
        if EqualSid(psidAdministrators, ptgGroups.Groups[x].Sid) then
        begin
          Result := True;
          Break;
        end;
      {$R+}
      FreeSid(psidAdministrators);
    end;
    FreeMem(ptgGroups);
  end;
end;

begin

 if IsAdmin then
   begin
                 // Install me as service 
   end else
 begin
    ShowMessage('Not Running As Admin');
 end;


  while GetMessage(Msg, 0, 0, 0) do
   begin
   TranslateMessage(Msg);
   DispatchMessage(Msg);
  end;

end.

Answer 1

There are at least two ways: one of these is the ‘right’ way, and one is ‘wrong’ (but works.)

The wrong-but-works way

You can run any application as a service through (host) helper utilities, such as:

• ServiceEx, “a freeware Windows application that allows a normal program to run as a Windows service”. I have never used this, I just found it through Googling.
• One of two utilities Microsoft provides (Since it’s from MS, I would use this one.)

Why is this the wrong way? Because if you want your application to run as a service, you should create a service app. And it just so happens that that’s very easy with Delphi. This is the right way:

The right way: create a service app

This delphi.about.com article has a lot of information about service applications. However, it’s fairly simple: create a new service application through File > New > [perhaps Other >] Service Application. Set the display name etc. To install it, run with the command line switch /install; to uninstall run with /uninstall.

If the reason you want your command-line app to run as a service is because you don’t want to write two applications, with good design you can minimise the extra work. In your project group have two applications, your command-line app and your service app. Then share the code in other files – i.e. write the code to do your app’s work once, and include / call it from both projects.