Having doubts over windows service

Question

Hello everyone, Can any one tell me when we go to develop a windows service what role does the service account play? If i give account of the computer administrator what can be the drawbacks??? What is the difference between Local system account and administartor account(in terms of privileges)??? Thanks in advance,

Hirendra Sisodiya · Answer

Hello Sunil i think you will have been solved your problem.... i have also same problem like you when i use outlook library in wiondows service...do you have any idea about it???? thanks

Sunil Sachdeva · Answer

hey Piotr, I, not only have to send emails but have to read them as well as u can see thru my code that m gaining access to the inbox folder also.:) This is why i have 2 use outlook. Thanks

Piotr Justyna · Answer

Hi again Sunil! To be honest I have no idea what's wrong with your code. I remember that one of your main concerns was to develop a windows service able to send emails. I wonder why do you need Outlook to do that. If I were you I would avoid using Outlook and just send mails using the easiest possible way: one of the .NET framework's SMTP wrapper classes. This is really easy and you can find tons of samples over the Internet (for example here ). I hope this will help you and if it will, please mark my answer as helpful. Cheers!

Sunil Sachdeva · Answer

error does not occur at random places.by saying that error is not fixed what i mean to say is error occurs at different lines of code but i believe its due to same reason. obj2 = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application(); this line of code is the root. 1st of all error will occur at this line and that is error from some com library then if this line gets away then their is a property or component of this application object "obj2" i.e. AnswerWizard(property) . it throws some interop.com exception. nad when this exception occurs it does not stop the execution at obj creation but it does come into play when i try to get the access to inbox folder the outlook i.e this line of code: inboxFolder = ns.GetDefaultFolder(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderInbox); and the exception is: Can not perform operation you are not connected and i'm not having a clue what that error means as i've not found anything about it on google as well

Piotr Justyna · Answer

Hi again Sunil! I found your code at social.msdn.microsoft.com (I believe it's your case :) ). If you have the error appearing in random places, you should first lock your objects to make your debugging easier. I would suggest writing something like this: lock(this) { bool isOutlookRunning = false; Process[] process = null; process = Process.GetProcessesByName("OUTLOOK"); if (process.Length > 0) isOutlookRunning = true; try { obj2 = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application(); } catch { if (isOutlookRunning) { foreach (Process pr in process) { if (pr.ProcessName.Contains("OUTLOOK")) { pr.CloseMainWindow(); } } } else Process.Start("OUTLOOK"); obj2 = new Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Application(); } ns = obj2.GetNamespace("MAPI"); inboxFolder = ns.GetDefaultFolder(Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderInbox); outboxFolder = ns.GetDefaultFolder(Outlook.OlDefaultFolders.olFolderOutbox); process = null; } Or lock whatever you wish following this article . Please debug it carefully and tell me the news :) I'm happy to help and curious about the answer. Cheers!

Sunil Sachdeva · Answer

yes i'm working on outlook 2007 and i've added Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.Object12.dll from com library

Piotr Justyna · Answer

Hi! Have you included proper Office interop library? Cheers!

Sunil Sachdeva · Answer

This exception is from the event log and if i debug the service I get the following exception: Retrieving the COM class factory for component with CLSID {0006F03A-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} failed due to the following error: 80010001 Thanks,

Sunil Sachdeva · Answer

1) Here is the exception that I get when running the service. Service cannot be started. System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80020009): Cannot complete the operation. You are not connected. at Microsoft.Office.Interop.Outlook.NameSpaceClass.GetDefaultFolder(OlDefaultFolders FolderType) at ClassLibrary.BaseService.SortInbox() in C:\Users\Neemus\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\ClassLibrary\ClassLibrary\BaseService.cs:line 48 at ClassLibrary.BaseService.Update() in C:\Users\Neemus\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\ClassLibrary\ClassLibrary\BaseService.cs:line 311 at ServiceAtBase.UpdateService.OnStart(String[] args) in C:\Users\Neemus\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\ServiceAtBase\ServiceAtBase\UpdateService.cs:line 24 at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.ServiceQueuedMainCallback(Object state)

Piotr Justyna · Answer

There is a possibility that the privileges are causing the problem (but it's not the only one possibility :) ). Have you tried to debug your service? What does the exception message say? Cheers!

Sunil Sachdeva · Answer

I've used the same procedure for my application. The problem i'm facing is:I've got my application up and running in a console application i'm able to create an instance of microsoft outlook through console but the main prob arises when i migrate from the console application to windows service.I've tried using the local system in the service but i'm not able to create the instance of outlook.maybe it can be a security concern of the windows. Correct me if i'm wrong. Thanks

Piotr Justyna · Answer

Hi Sunil! Yes, you obviously can open installed software using Windows Services. Please find a similar problem solved here . I believe, that you can use any account with privilege to execute applications. If you like my answer please mark it as helpful :) Cheers!

Sunil Sachdeva · Answer

i've googled a lot but to no avail.Can you tell me if i can open another installed software on the same machine through the service. Which account should i use for the purpose? Thnks

Piotr Justyna · Answer

Hi Sunil! If you're developing the service for yourself and for your own machine, I see no problem using the Admin account. The main concern is always: "does the client want the service to be allowed to do everything on his machine?". And you have to keep that in mind. It's always best to think about possible actions (file access, granting privileges, AD operations) which your service will perform and then create an appropriate account with only that set of privileges. Please find here a discussion concerning your question. I hope this helps, please keep me informed!