Cannot install windows service

Question

I have created a very simple window service using visual studio 2010 and .NُET 4.0.

This service has no functionality added from the default windows service project, other than an installer has been added.

If I run "installutil.exe appName.exe" on my dev box or other windows 2008 R2 machines in our domain the windows service installs without issue.

When I try to do this same thing on our customer site, it fails to install with the following error.

Microsoft (R) .NET Framework Installation utility Version 4.0.30319.1
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

Exception occurred while initializing the installation:
System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\TestService\WindowsService1.exe' or one of its dependencies. Operation is not supported. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131515).

This solution has only 1 project and no dependencies added.

I have tried it on multiple machines in our environment and two in our customers. The machines are all windows 2008 R2, both fresh installs. One machine has just .net 2.0 and .net 4.0. The other .net 2, 3, 3.5 and 4.

I am a local admin on each of the machines.

I have also tried the 64bit installer but get the following error, so I think the 32 bit one is the one to use. System.BadImageFormatException

Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.

Yes, the service with all frameworks installed for another purpose, i was just illusrating the problem seems to be domain related. — Matthew Dalton, Nov 10 '10 at 21:53

score 291 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 09 '11 at 12:44

291

Another reason for this error might be that you copied your program from a source which windows considers untrusted. You can unblock the assembly by clicking "unblock" after you right-click and select properties on the file.

answered Mar 09 '11 at 12:44

doublehelix

3,118
1
14
10

12

This worked for me and answers the question more directly than the, "try a Setup Project" answer. Both work, but this is more likely the answer to the original question. – MKing Mar 21 '11 at 20:12
11

If it won't unblock and it resides in your /Program Files folder then move the .exe to your documents folder, unblock it there, and then move it back. Windows Explorer won't elevate unblock requests in the /Program Files folders. – Snives Feb 16 '12 at 22:31
22

Another useful advice: If you unblock a zip file before extraction, then all extracted files are automatically unblocked. Can save you a lot of work of unblocking them one by one :) – doublehelix Dec 04 '12 at 09:40
1

Remember and unblock any associated DLLs as well as the main exe folks – Alan Macdonald Jan 08 '14 at 10:47
Unblocking the individual files didn't work for me. I had to unblock the zip file I downloaded them in. – cja Oct 09 '14 at 11:54
Just in case somebody needs to do this and have lot of dlls and exe as dependency, you can use powershell command `Get-ChildItem | Unblock-File` in the directory where service executables are. It'll unblock all files. – Rumit Parakhiya Apr 05 '16 at 09:50
1

has MS fixed their error message yet? Is anyone aware of an MS ticket open for this? The error message gives you no indication of how to fix the problem. – Mike W Apr 20 '17 at 16:21

score 21 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 22 '16 at 03:51

21

Need to unblock files. or at least that's what fixed mine.

To do 'bulk' unblock in Powershell

get-childitem *.* | Unblock-File

or in DOS:

FOR %a in (*.*) do (echo.>%a:Zone.Identifier)

answered Jul 22 '16 at 03:51

OzBob

4,227
1
39
48

Or simply `get-childitem "C:\MyFolder" | unblock-file` – Peet Brits Feb 23 '17 at 10:46
If the files are being transferred to another machine, another easy way to unblock them all at once is to zip up the files, copy over the zip file, unblock the zip file, then extract it. The extracted files will also be unblocked. – cdhowie Feb 14 '18 at 21:24

score 14 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 21 '17 at 14:36

14

When we copy executable from another computer, Windows mark a flag on them for protection. Right Click on executable and in properties Click Unblock. It would clear flag and service executable would Install.

answered Feb 21 '17 at 14:36

Sanjay Sharma

635
8
10

score 10 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 02 '12 at 01:40

10

This issue came about for me because I was trying to install the service from a network location. By copying the service.exe to the local machine prior to using installutil, it fixed my problem and the service installed successfully.

answered Feb 02 '12 at 01:40

Brandon Ward

143
3
7

2

Based on question http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8524423/could-not-load-file-or-assembly-hresult-0x80131515-when-adding-controller-to-m One could also set the runtime `loadFromRemoteSources` element to true in the machine.config. – Joshua Drake Aug 06 '12 at 19:09
I had to go to the properties of every file and "Unblock" the file. – Trevor Daniel Aug 25 '16 at 09:02

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 10 '10 at 10:04

2

don't forget to vote up... Try the SC as follows: 1. open command line 2. write the below- sc create ServiceName BinPath= "ExePath". report on results...

answered Nov 10 '10 at 10:04

user437631

1,112
4
12
28

The result of that is [SC] CreateService SUCCESS but the service still cannot be started. It complains it cannot find the specified file. – Matthew Dalton Nov 10 '10 at 21:52
I added full network share trust also. Still it says cannot find the specified file. – Srikanth P Vasist May 24 '13 at 08:31

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 13 '12 at 10:37

1

i have this issue and it for different between of .net version of util and my service
i use util for .net 2 and my service build with .net4

answered Jun 13 '12 at 10:37

Saeed-rz

1,435
1
20
38

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 25 '14 at 17:12

1

In my case this error was caused by accidentally passing the directory containing the service to InstallUtil instead of passing the service exe.

Obviously human error but I found the error message quite misleading.

answered Sep 25 '14 at 17:12

Redwood

66,744
41
126
187

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 02 '16 at 12:53

1

you can use this command in developer command prompt run administrator

installutil C:\...\MyService\bin\Debug\MyService.exe

answered Aug 02 '16 at 12:53

Oguzhan Kircali

453
5
11

2

That is what he already does and it doesn't solve his problem. – Sascha Nov 09 '17 at 10:17

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Jan 31 '12 at 20:18

I also faced the same issue. In my case I was deploying new version of utilities , i copied new exe , installog files and then trying to uninstall the utils.

I copied back the old version , uninstal the utils , copied the new version and installed it again. Anyway it is the logical sequence I should have followed in first place.

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Jan 03 '15 at 22:19

As per @doublehelix's response above, this answer put me on track for my particular issue which related to a service issue running in Windows XP (Unblock is not an option in the security tab that I could find). In my case I was attempting to run a service from a separate drive (i.e. not on the same drive as Windows and not under program files) although the actual physical disk was the same. Moving my service into the Program Files folder solved my underlying issue. (I intended to 'comment' against @doublehelix's answer but I don't seem to be able to in my current status).

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 03 '22 at 02:49

0

Simply right click on your service files and select properties and then check the unblock checkbox

https://brianseekford.azurewebsites.net/2011/07/13/hresult-0x80131515-when-running-installutil-to-install-a-net-service/

answered Jan 03 '22 at 02:49

albert sh

1,095
2
14
31

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered May 16 '22 at 13:38

Unblocking files did the job here. Weird thing is that the blocked files came from a signed installer run with admin privileges. Had to unblock several files in several folders at once.

I used the following registry tweaks to add context menus to a folder or file when Shift + right-click is pressed (it doesn't show up if just right-clicked).

Credits and references to the author in each code block.

Folder tweak:

Just save it as ShiftUnblockFolder.reg and import into Registry.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Created by: Shawn Brink
; Created on: March 17th 2019
; Tutorial: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/129101-add-unblock-file-context-menu-windows-10-a.html

[HKCR\Directory\shell\unblock]
"MUIVerb"="Unblock"
"Extended"=""
"SubCommands"=""

[HKCR\Directory\shell\unblock\shell\001flyout]
"MUIVerb"="Unblock files only in this folder"

[HKCR\Directory\shell\unblock\shell\001flyout\command]
@="powershell.exe get-childitem -LiteralPath '%L' | Unblock-File"

[HKCR\Directory\shell\unblock\shell\002flyout]
"MUIVerb"="Unblock files in this folder and subfolders"

[HKCR\Directory\shell\unblock\shell\002flyout\command]
@="powershell.exe get-childitem -LiteralPath '%L' -recurse | Unblock-File"

Single file tweak:

ShiftUnblockFile.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Created by: Shawn Brink
; Created on: March 17th 2019
; Tutorial: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/129101-add-unblock-file-context-menu-windows-10-a.html

[HKCR\*\shell\unblock]
"MUIVerb"="Unblock"
"Extended"=""

[HKCR\*\shell\unblock\command]
@="powershell.exe Unblock-File -LiteralPath '%L'"

[HKCR\Directory\shell\unblock]
"MUIVerb"="Unblock"
"Extended"=""
"SubCommands"=""

[HKCR\Directory\shell\unblock\shell\001flyout]
"MUIVerb"="Unblock files only in this folder"

[HKCR\Directory\shell\unblock\shell\001flyout\command]
@="powershell.exe get-childitem -LiteralPath '%L' | Unblock-File"

[HKCR\Directory\shell\unblock\shell\002flyout]
"MUIVerb"="Unblock files in this folder and subfolders"

[HKCR\Directory\shell\unblock\shell\002flyout\command]
@="powershell.exe get-childitem -LiteralPath '%L' -recurse | Unblock-File"

score -3 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 10 '10 at 09:50

-3

You can try to make a Setup Project for your service and run the MSI file on that server.

answered Nov 10 '10 at 09:50

Stefan P.

9,489
6
29
43

12

This is more a workaround than a real solution to the problem – thepirat000 Sep 12 '13 at 23:28
10

see the up-voted answer below which should really be marked as the solution – Andy Sep 03 '14 at 13:41
1

This feature doesn't exist in VS 2013 – cja Oct 09 '14 at 11:53
2

@cja it does work in VS 2013, you'll have to install it from here https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/9abe329c-9bba-44a1-be59-0fbf6151054d – Stefan P. Oct 09 '14 at 12:07
2

@Andy - life saving advice right there and also a reminder to keep scrolling on SO posts :) – Tommy Sep 27 '16 at 11:49
Before creating a setup project, you should consider unblocking the files (as explained in https://stackoverflow.com/a/5245971/597028) – Volkmar Rigo Dec 04 '17 at 09:42
@StefanP. It is *really* troublesome to create a setup project compared to simply unblocking it... – Chromium Jul 03 '18 at 01:03

Cannot install windows service

13 Answers13