Can't start worker service as windows service

Question

So. I created a worker service and want to run it as windows service. It works locally. I installed it to windows server via powershell new-service command. When I start it via Services, it attempts to start, waits for 30 seconds (with loading bar progressing) and fails. In event viewer I see generic errors:

1. A timeout was reached (30000 milliseconds) while waiting for the MyService service to connect.
2. The MyService service failed to start due to the following error: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

Now, the weird thing is, I added some logging to service logic, and it actually does needed stuff, windows just fails to start it, i.e. service does not respond to start, but works (for 30 seconds, after that server kills it because it gave no response for start). How do I fix it? My Program.cs:

    public class Program
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        try
        {
            Directory.SetCurrentDirectory(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory);
            CreateHostBuilder(args).Build().Run();
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            File.AppendAllText("templogs.txt", ex.Message + "\r\n");
        }
    }

    public static IHostBuilder CreateHostBuilder(string[] args) =>
        Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
            .UseWindowsService()
            .ConfigureServices((hostContext, services) =>
            {
                IConfiguration configuration = hostContext.Configuration;
                services.AddHostedService<Worker>();
                services.AddScoped<IActionHandler, ActionHandler>();
                services.AddScoped<IHttpHandler, HttpHandler>();
                services.AddDbContext<DbContext>(options =>
                {
                    options.UseSqlServer(configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection"));
                });
                File.AppendAllText("templogs.txt", "context registered\r\n");

            });
}

Worker service:

public class Worker : BackgroundService
{
    private readonly ILogger<Worker> _logger;
    private readonly List<string> _inactiveStatuses;
    private readonly IServiceProvider _services;
    private readonly string _connectionString;


    public Worker(ILogger<Worker> logger, IConfiguration config, IServiceProvider services)
    {
        try
        {
            _logger = logger;
            _inactiveStatuses = config.GetSection("InactiveStatuses").GetChildren().Select(a => a.Value).ToList();
            _services = services;
            _connectionString = config.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection");
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            File.AppendAllText("templogs.txt", ex.Message + "\r\n");
        }
    }
    public override async Task StartAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        await base.StartAsync(cancellationToken);
    }

    public override async Task StopAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
    {
        await base.StopAsync(cancellationToken);
    }

    protected override async Task ExecuteAsync(CancellationToken stoppingToken)
    {
        try
        {
            using (var scope = _services.CreateScope())
            {
                File.AppendAllText("templogs.txt", "scope created\r\n");

                var actionHandler =
               scope.ServiceProvider
                   .GetRequiredService<IActionHandler>();
                var dbContext = scope.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService<DbContext>();
                var activeStatuses = dbContext.Statuses.Where(a => !_inactiveStatuses.Contains(a.Name)).ToDictionary(a => a.Id, a => a.Name);
                List<Guid> activeStatusGuids = activeStatuses.Keys.ToList();
                while (!stoppingToken.IsCancellationRequested)
                {
                    File.AppendAllText("templogs.txt", "while strated\r\n");
                    //some logic
                    File.AppendAllText("templogs.txt", "first cycle\r\n");

                    await Task.Delay(1000, stoppingToken);
                }
            }
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            File.AppendAllText("templogs.txt", ex.Message + "\r\n");
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

Since I dont know the powershell new-service command that you used to create the windows service, I will assume, for the sake of this answer, that the problem is related to one I had.

In my case I used the Windows Command Prompt to create and start a service called Worker.Service.

Here's how I ran into the The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion. error:

sc create Worker.Service binPath="C:\Users\<user.name>\source\repos\<repo>\Worker.Service\bin\Debug\netcoreapp3.1\Worker.Service.dll"

sc start Worker.Service

Here's the correct way to start it:

sc create Worker.Service binPath="C:\Users\<user.name>\source\repos\<repo>\Worker.Service\bin\Debug\netcoreapp3.1\Worker.Service.exe"

sc start Worker.Service

The binPath can be obtained via Visual Studio's build output window. However make sure you use the .exe file and not the .dll file to register the service.