On the File menu, click New Project.

The New Project dialog box opens.

Select the Windows Service project from the list of Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, or Visual J# project templates, and name it MyNewService. Click OK.

Note
The project template automatically adds a component class called Service1 that inherits from System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.

Click the designer to select Service1. Then, in the Properties window, set the ServiceName and the (Name) property for Service1 to MyNewService.

Set the AutoLog property to true.

On the View menu, click Code to open the Code Editor. Edit the Main method to create an instance of MyNewService. When you renamed the service in step 3, the class name was not modified in the Main method. In Visual C# and Visual J# applications, the Main method is located in the Program.cs and Program.js files, respectively.

' To access the Main method in Visual Basic, select Main from the
' method name drop-down list. This expands the Component Designer 
' generated code region.
Shared Sub Main()
  Dim ServicesToRun() As System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase
  ' Change the following line to match.
  ServicesToRun = New System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase() _
      {New MyNewService()}
  System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun)
End Sub

static void Main()
{
    System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
    // Change the following line to match.
    ServicesToRun = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] 
      { new MyNewService() };
    System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
}

public static void main(String[] args)
{
    System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;
    ServicesToRun = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] 
      { new MyNewService() };
    System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);
}

In Solution Explorer, right-click Service1.vb, Service1.cs, or Service1.jsl and select View Designer.

From the Components tab of the Toolbox, drag an EventLog component to the designer.

In Solution Explorer, right-click Service1.vb, Service1.cs, or Service1.jsl and select View Code.

Edit the constructor to define a custom event log.

' To access the constructor in Visual Basic, select New from the
' method name drop-down list. 
Public Sub New()
  MyBase.New()
  InitializeComponent()
  If Not System.Diagnostics.EventLog.SourceExists("MySource") Then
      System.Diagnostics.EventLog.CreateEventSource("MySource", _
      "MyNewLog")
  End If
  EventLog1.Source = "MySource"
  EventLog1.Log = "MyNewLog"
End Sub

public MyNewService()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    if (!System.Diagnostics.EventLog.SourceExists("MySource")) 
    {         
            System.Diagnostics.EventLog.CreateEventSource(
                "MySource","MyNewLog");
    }
    eventLog1.Source = "MySource";
    eventLog1.Log = "MyNewLog";
}

public MyNewService()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    if (!System.Diagnostics.EventLog.SourceExists("MySource"))
    {
        System.Diagnostics.EventLog.CreateEventSource(
                "MySource", "MyNewLog");
    }
    eventLog1.set_Source("MySource");
    eventLog1.set_Log("MyNewLog");
}

In Solution Explorer, right-click Service1.vb, Service1.cs, or Service1.jsl and select View Designer.

Click the background of the designer to select the service itself, rather than any of its contents.

With the designer in focus, right-click, and then click Add Installer.

By default, a component class containing two installers is added to your project. The component is named ProjectInstaller, and the installers it contains are the installer for your service and the installer for the service's associated process.

In Design view for ProjectInstaller, click ServiceInstaller1 or serviceInstaller1.

In the Properties window, set the ServiceName property to MyNewService.

Set the StartType property to Automatic.

In the designer, click ServiceProcessInstaller1 (for a Visual Basic project), or serviceProcessInstaller1 (for a Visual C# or Visual J# project). Set the Account property to LocalService. This will cause the service to be installed and to run on a local service account.

Security Note
The LocalService account acts as a non-privileged user on the local computer, and presents anonymous credentials to any remote server. Use the other accounts with caution, as they run with higher privileges and increase your risk of attacks from malicious code.

In Solution Explorer, right-click to select your project and select Properties from the shortcut menu. The project's Property Designer appears.

on the Application page, from the Startup object list, choose MyNewService.

Press CTRL+SHIFT+B to build the project.

In Solution Explorer, right-click to select your solution, point to Add, and then click New Project.

In the Project Types pane, select the Setup and Deployment Projects folder.

In the Templates pane, select Setup Project. Name the project MyServiceSetup. Click OK.

A setup project is added to the solution.

In Solution Explorer, right-click MyServiceSetup, point to Add, then choose Project Output.

The Add Project Output Group dialog box appears.

MyNewService is selected in the Project box.

From the list box, select Primary Output, and click OK.

A project item for the primary output of MyNewService is added to the setup project.

In Solution Explorer, right-click the setup project, point to View, and then click Custom Actions.

The Custom Actions editor appears.

In the Custom Actions editor, right-click the Custom Actions node and choose Add Custom Action.

The Select Item in Project dialog box appears.

Double-click the Application Folder in the list box to open it, select Primary Output from MyNewService (Active), and click OK.

The primary output is added to all four nodes of the custom actions — Install, Commit, Rollback, and Uninstall.

In Solution Explorer, right-click the MyServiceSetup project and click Build.

To install MyNewService.exe, right-click the setup project in Solution Explorer and select Install.

Follow the steps in the Setup Wizard. Build and save your solution.

Open the Services Control Manager by doing one of the following:

• In Windows XP and 2000 Professional, right-click My Computer on the desktop, then click Manage. In the Computer Management console, expand the Services and Applications node.

  - or -

• In Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 Server, click Start, point to Programs, click Administrative Tools, and then click Services.

  Note
  In Windows NT version 4.0, you can open this dialog box from Control Panel.

You should now see MyNewService listed in the Services section of the window.

Select your service in the list, right-click it, and then click Start.

Right-click the service, and then click Stop.

Open Server Explorer and access the Event Logs node. For more information, see How to: Work with Event Logs in Server Explorer.

Note
The Windows Service template and associated functionality is not available in the Standard Edition of Visual Studio. For more information, see Visual Studio Editions.

Locate the listing for MyNewLog and expand it. You should see entries for the actions your service has performed.

On the Start menu, open Control Panel and click Add/Remove Programs, and then locate your service and click Uninstall.

You can also uninstall the program by right-clicking the program icon for the .msi file and selecting Uninstall.

Note
If you installed the service on Windows 2000, you will need to reboot the system before you can reinstall the service. In Windows 2000, services are not completely deleted until the system is rebooted.