Relative path not working in windows service

Question

I have a bit weird situation. In the onstart method of a windows service if I put following code:

File.AppendAllText(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "\\TestFile.txt", "Started " + AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory);

it works and inside text file this is stored:

Started C:\Users\guser\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\FreeSpaceControlService\FreeSpaceControlService\bin\Debug\

The text file is created inside debug directory.

But if I use such code instead of the above(at the same place):

  File.AppendAllText("TestFile.txt", "Started");        

The text file is not created in the same directory as above. Why it is not created in the same directory? (It seems it was created in WIndows/System32 now that I check it - are there two executables? Why did the first return Debug directory?)

and where you typically(in which path) store settings for windows service and logs?

Answer 1

Because the working directory of Windows services is %WinDir%\System32.

You can verify this for yourself:

File.AppendAllText(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "\\TestFile.txt",
                   "My working directory is: " + Directory.GetCurrentDirectory());

and where you typically(in which path) store settings for windows service and logs?

• Settings: In the Windows registry.
• Logs: In the Windows event log.
• Any other files your service might need: Somewhere below System.Environment.SpecialFolder.CommonApplicationData (e.g. C:\ProgramData\myService). For more details, see the following question:
  What is the significance of the ProgramData folder in Windows?.

Answer 2

I realize that this is an old question, but I wanted to provide an answer in the case that it could be useful for someone else that stumbles upon this question and needs an answer.

I needed to figure out something similar, i.e. calling an executable from the directory that the service is installed in, the answers to this question were helpful:

What directory does a Windows Service run in?

Ultimately, it was not the accepted answer for that question that was useful, but a different answer. I used this code to access the directory that the service was installed in:

Path.GetDirectoryName(Environment.GetCommandLineArgs()[0])

Answer 3

A relative path is based on the 'Current directory', AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory and Environment.CurrentDirectory are not necessarily the same.