Using a Service Under Windows

Environment: Windows NT/2000/XP

Description

This demo shows how to create, start, stop, and delete a service under Windows NT/2000/XP.

This program demonstrates the use of these API commands:

• OpenSCManager()
• CloseServiceHandle()
• CreateService()
• OpenService()
• SetServiceStatus()
• DeleteService()
• RegisterServiceCtrlHandler()
• StartServiceCtrlDispatcher()
• LPSERVICE_MAIN_FUNCTION
• LPHANDLER_FUNCTION

Try this demo with an Administrator Account and a normal User or Guest Account! This program logs all commands it receives and executes into the logfile C:\DemoService.txt.

This program is used in two modes:

• Service.exe (without parameters) runs the program with the GUI (see screenshot)
• Service.exe /Service runs it as a Service (Windows calls Service.exe with the "/Service" parameter if the already installed Service is started)

In a Service, it is not possible to set a normal Timer (SetTimer()) because the service does not own a window and can't receive Window Messages.

For demonstration, I set a waitable timer that writes every five seconds to the log file, even when no user is logged on.

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