Batch files to install Windows Service as Administrator

Question

I'm trying to automate the install of a Windows Service for when I'm testing it locally. It is built in .NET... I'd usually open the Visual Studio Command Prompt as Administrator and then type the installutil command, I'm wanting to turn it into an "one-click" install.

So I've created the following batch script to make sure the most recent version is built, then elevate myself to do the actual service install (UserAdmin is my administrator account).

cd C:\Path\To\Solution
echo Building Service
msbuild WinService.sln /noconlog /nologo

cd C:\Path\To\Solution\bin\Debug
runas /user:UserAdmin "cmd /k C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\installutil     C:\Path\To\Solution\bin\Debug\WinService.exe"

However, installutil always gives me the following error:

An exception occurred during the Install phase.
System.Security.SecurityException: The source was not found, but some 
or all event logs could not be searched.  Inaccessible logs: Security.

I'm not sure if this is configuration issue, or if my batch script is wrong. But since I can't create a directory in the C:\Windows\System32\ folder that the runas command prompt is started in, I suspect I'm not getting the permissions I was expecting. Is there a way I can check what user/permissions level I'm running at in the command prompt?

Note: I want to make this script as generic as possible. In the environment I'm working in everyone's administrator account is guaranteed to be 'UserAdmin'. The path to the solution will also be the same. This script will be added to SVN, so something like adding my particular password for the UserAdmin account would not be acceptable.

Answer 1

you could use sc.exe to create the service instead of installutil...

example:

sc [Servername] create Servicename [Optionname= Optionvalue...

here is one I create often:

sc create syscmd binpath= "%COMSPEC% /c start" type= own type= interact

this opens a command prompt (with system privs)

Answer 2

Here is a solution that might be useful to somebody:

%WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\installutil.exe /username=domain\YourUserName /password=YourPassword YourApplication.exe