How to debug a Windows service using breakpoints?

Question

I have a windows service with a timer. It is very difficult to debug. Because I start the service and set breakpoints in different parts of the code. When I attach this process, I expect the service to start from the very beginning, and not in some random place in the middle code where I have breakpoints. It is difficult to debug like a regular application, where you know the starting point. It seems that the processes in the background are not yet complete. Therefore, every time I start debugging, instead of starting from the very first breakpoint, it starts with some random breakpoint in the middle of the application.

I want to know how the Windows service works in terms of processes, threads, etc ... and how can I start debugging from the very beginning?

Answer 1

I assume you say .Net, of course. I have always used the following code to debug my services. I put it where I want to run the debugger. Start the service and it automatically starts Visual Studio. Works well for me.

System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch();

System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Debug();

Answer 2

Just hit F5. You can run Windows services like regular applications.

Since we have no other command line arguments, we simply use the presence of any command line argument as a signal to run as a regular Windows application. You can also require a specific command line argument (i.e. / debug).

If sArgs IsNot Nothing AndAlso sArgs.Length > 0 Then
    ' If there are command-line args then run in non-service mode
    Dim svc As ServiceMain = New ServiceMain(True)
    svc.OnStart(Nothing)
    System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run()
    svc.OnStop()
Else
    ' If no command-line args then run normally
    Dim ServicesToRun() As System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase
    ServicesToRun = New System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase() {New ServiceMain(False)}
    System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun)
End If

Answer 3

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WinDBG Visual Studio.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

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