Question

So I have this Windows service created in VB.Net, and all it does is perform a few calls and sits there. (Does nothing really)

I have it installed on a test machine and when I start it manually, it starts up. When I stop manually, shuts down properly (onStop is called).

When I start it, and reboot the machine, the service starts like it should, but when I log in, the service isn’t running anymore and the onStop never showed up as being executed.

I installed the service with admin privileges, so that shouldn’t be an issue.

Here is what I have:

Sub New()

    ' This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
    InitializeComponent()

    ' Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call.

    '' Open our log file
    FileReader = New IO.StreamWriter("C:\test.txt", True)



    Log("Starting service...")

    '' Get the username from the process list (If explorer is open (Meaning a user is logged in)
    Dim ProcessList As System.Diagnostics.Process()
    ProcessList = System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcesses()
    Dim Proc As System.Diagnostics.Process
    For Each Proc In ProcessList
        If Proc.ProcessName.ToLower() = "explorer" Then
            My.Settings.Username = GetProcessUserName(Proc)
            Exit For
        End If
    Next

    Log("Fetched user name: " & My.Settings.Username)
    Try
        '' Get the IP address of the machine
        Dim h As System.Net.IPHostEntry = System.Net.Dns.GetHostByName(System.Net.Dns.GetHostName)
        My.Settings.IP = h.AddressList.GetValue(0).ToString

        '' Get the Machine Information
        My.Settings.MachineName = System.Environment.MachineName()

        '' Get the Operating System Version
        Dim osInfo As New FindOsInfo
        My.Settings.OS = osInfo.OsName.ToString().Replace(" ", "").Split("|")(0)

    Catch ex As Exception
        Log("Startup error: " & ex.Message)
    End Try


    '' Start server listen here


End Sub

'Protected Overrides Sub OnStart(ByVal args() As String)

'End Sub

Protected Overrides Sub OnStop()
    ' Add code here to perform any tear-down necessary to stop your service.
    Log("Closing down service...")
    FileReader.Close()

End Sub

    Public Sub Log(ByVal str As String)
        Dim time As DateTime = DateTime.Now
        FileReader.WriteLine("[" & time.ToString("G") & "] " & str)
        FileReader.Flush()
    End Sub

Thanks for your time!

Answer 1

The issue is most likely that My.Settings.UserName is nothing when you reboot the machine since there isn’t an interactive user, so your statement:

 Log("Fetched user name: " & My.Settings.Username)

is throwing an exception. You should move all of your code after:

Log("Starting service...")

inside the Try and also add a test for the existence of username before logging it:

If My.Settings IsNot Nothing AndAlso My.Settings.UserName IsNot Nothing Then
     Log("Fetched user name: " & My.Settings.Username)
Else
     Log("No interactive user")
End if