Debugging “service failed to start” Windows Installer error

Question

I have a simple msi written in WiX that installs a native NT service. After I have made some changes in the msi it fails at StartServices standard action with the error "service failed to start, verify you have sufficient privileges". If I press Ignore and start the service manually then it start successfully. The problem is definitely not in insufficient privileges. How can I diagnose/debug such issues? The verbose logs of the Windows Installer seem to not contain any helpful information.

Answer 1

The installer won't have any useful information because the error is only surfaced by the installer. Here's how I approach this.

Comment out the ServiceControl element so the installer doesn't try to start the service. Run installer and all it to finish. Manually start the service.

If the service starts, this indicates some type of race condition. One common scenario is the service has a dependency on a file being installed to the GAC or WinSXS. The installer puts these files there using the PublishAssemblies standard action. However since the GAC and WinSXS APIs don't support transational installation, PublishAssemblies waits until the commit phase to perform the work. This is after the installer attempts to start the service. Another common scenario would be if you had some custom action that was installing or configuring something that the service needed and you were doing it to late in the installation.

If the service still won't start, this generally rules out race conditions. You have to profile the service itself. Use tools such as depends, ildasm (if .net) and processexplorer (filemon / regmon ) to try to discover what the missing dependencies are. Update the installer then rinse and repeat.

Answer 2

As you've found, the Windows Installer does not provide useful information when it fails to start a service. However, when the dialog is displayed the machine is in the perfect state to determine what is going wrong. So, rather than cancel the install, start debugging. Try to start the service and see if that gives you more information. If not, break out the debugger and go to town.

I basically follow the process described in this FireGiant KB Article . This is the most direct approach to figuring out why the service fails to start. It's too bad the Windows Installer just couldn't provide better messages itself.