C# Windows Service Error 1053: The service dis not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

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I have write a window service in my Windows Form based application.
The windows form application is used to maintain some events and in same project a windows service has been written to send reminder emails. I have created a setup to install both. My problem is that the service is not started when i install in my machine and having following error

Error 1053: The service dis not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

My Code is below

C#

partial class sendAlerts : ServiceBase
    {
        private Timer Schedular;
        public sendAlerts()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
            this.WriteToFile("Service started {0}");
            this.ScheduleService();
        }

        protected override void OnStop()
        {
            this.WriteToFile("Service stopped {0}");
            this.Schedular.Dispose();
        }
        public void ScheduleService()
        {
            try
            {
                Schedular = new Timer(new TimerCallback(SchedularCallback));
                string mode = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Mode"].ToUpper();
                this.WriteToFile("Service Mode: " + mode + " {0}");

                //Set the Default Time.
                DateTime scheduledTime = DateTime.MinValue;

                if (mode == "DAILY")
                {
                    //Get the Scheduled Time from AppSettings.
                    scheduledTime = DateTime.Parse(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["ScheduledTime"]);
                    if (DateTime.Now > scheduledTime)
                    {
                        //If Scheduled Time is passed set Schedule for the next day.
                        scheduledTime = scheduledTime.AddDays(1);
                    }
                }

                if (mode.ToUpper() == "INTERVAL")
                {
                    //Get the Interval in Minutes from AppSettings.
                    int intervalMinutes = Convert.ToInt32(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["IntervalMinutes"]);

                    //Set the Scheduled Time by adding the Interval to Current Time.
                    scheduledTime = DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(intervalMinutes);
                    if (DateTime.Now > scheduledTime)
                    {
                        //If Scheduled Time is passed set Schedule for the next Interval.
                        scheduledTime = scheduledTime.AddMinutes(intervalMinutes);
                    }
                }

                TimeSpan timeSpan = scheduledTime.Subtract(DateTime.Now);
                string schedule = string.Format("{0} day(s) {1} hour(s) {2} minute(s) {3} seconds(s)", timeSpan.Days, timeSpan.Hours, timeSpan.Minutes, timeSpan.Seconds);

                this.WriteToFile("Simple Service scheduled to run after: " + schedule + " {0}");

                //Get the difference in Minutes between the Scheduled and Current Time.
                int dueTime = Convert.ToInt32(timeSpan.TotalMilliseconds);

                //Change the Timer's Due Time.
                Schedular.Change(dueTime, Timeout.Infinite);
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                WriteToFile("Error found to send reminder on: {0} " + ex.Message + ex.StackTrace);

                //Stop the Windows Service.
                using (System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController serviceController = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController("SimpleService"))
                {
                    serviceController.Stop();
                }
            }
        }

        private void SchedularCallback(object e)
        {
            try
            {
                DataSet ds = new DataSet();
                ds.ReadXml(Environment.CurrentDirectory + @"\App_Data\userCredentials.xml");
                if (ds != null && ds.Tables.Count > 0 && ds.Tables[0].Rows.Count > 0)
                {
                    foreach (DataRow dr in ds.Tables[0].Rows)
                    {
                        string name = Convert.ToString(dr["user"]);
                        string email = Convert.ToString(dr["emailID"]);
                        WriteToFile("Trying to send remainder to: " + name + " " + email);
                        using (MailMessage mm = new MailMessage(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["FromMail"].ToString(), email))
                        {
                            mm.Subject = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["emailSubject"].ToString();
                            mm.Body = string.Format("<b">
                            mm.IsBodyHtml = true;
                            SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient();
                            smtp.Host = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["host"].ToString();
                            smtp.EnableSsl = true;
                            System.Net.NetworkCredential credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential();
                            credentials.UserName = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["FromMail"].ToString();
                            credentials.Password = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["password"].ToString();
                            smtp.UseDefaultCredentials = true;
                            smtp.Credentials = credentials;
                            smtp.Port = 587;
                            smtp.Send(mm);
                            WriteToFile("Email sent successfully to: " + name + " " + email);
                        }
                    }
                }
                this.ScheduleService();
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                WriteToFile("Error found to send reminder on: {0} " + ex.Message + ex.StackTrace);

                //Stop the Windows Service.
                using (System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController serviceController = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController("SimpleService"))
                {
                    serviceController.Stop();
                }
            }
        }

        private void WriteToFile(string text)
        {
            //AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + @"\App_Data\log.txt";
            string path = Environment.CurrentDirectory + @"\App_Data\serviceLogs.txt";
            using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(path, true))
            {
                writer.WriteLine(string.Format(text, DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt")));
                writer.Close();
            //}
        }
    }

Posted 3-Aug-15 17:02pm

Ajay_Saini

Updated 3-Aug-15 21:17pm

Suvendu Shekhar Giri

v2

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Comments

SundararamanS 4-Aug-15 0:31am

Can you share your log file servicelogs.txt?

Ajay_Saini 4-Aug-15 6:51am

presently it is just a blank .txt file.

SundararamanS 4-Aug-15 7:21am

in your onstart you are logging "Service Started", but if your log file is empty then there is something fishy and is your onstart() is not called ??

SundararamanS 4-Aug-15 7:31am

Please do a unit test of your email sending function and Schedule Service function with your parameters to see if your email sending function is called immediately and if they are working fine...
If the functions are working properly and suppose if the mail sending function is called immediately and if it takes time to do its work try the following
Use P/Invoke to call SetServiceStatus advapi32.dll function and report the status to SCM in OnStart() method
public enum ServiceState
{
SERVICE_STOPPED = 0x00000001,
SERVICE_START_PENDING = 0x00000002,
SERVICE_STOP_PENDING = 0x00000003,
SERVICE_RUNNING = 0x00000004,
SERVICE_CONTINUE_PENDING = 0x00000005,
SERVICE_PAUSE_PENDING = 0x00000006,
SERVICE_PAUSED = 0x00000007,
}

[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
public struct ServiceStatus
{
public long dwServiceType;
public ServiceState dwCurrentState;
public long dwControlsAccepted;
public long dwWin32ExitCode;
public long dwServiceSpecificExitCode;
public long dwCheckPoint;
public long dwWaitHint;
};

// Update the service state to Start Pending.
ServiceStatus serviceStatus = new ServiceStatus();
serviceStatus.dwCurrentState = ServiceState.SERVICE_START_PENDING;
serviceStatus.dwWaitHint = 100000;
SetServiceStatus(this.ServiceHandle, ref serviceStatus);
// Update the service state to Running.
serviceStatus.dwCurrentState = ServiceState.SERVICE_RUNNING;
SetServiceStatus(this.ServiceHandle, ref serviceStatus);

SundararamanS 4-Aug-15 8:27am

Please note that your onstart method should return within 30 seconds otherwise you will get the same error message!!

Sinisa Hajnal 4-Aug-15 4:41am

You are not checking if your config read (ScheduledTime) really is a date before trying to parse it. It may throw an exception. Check your logs and find the exact error.

Ajay_Saini 4-Aug-15 7:00am

I am sharing the keys which i was used... I have checked and seems successfully parse ScheduledTime
<add key="Mode" value="DAILY">
<add key="IntervalMinutes" value="1">
<add key="ScheduledTime" value="8:21:00">

Tomas Takac 4-Aug-15 6:41am

Why are you trying to stop your service from within OnStart? This is weird as the service is not started yet. I guess the serviceController.Stop() is what causing the timeout. This is basically a deadlock because the service controller is waiting for the start command to finish before stop can be executed. Rethrow the exception after logging it and you should be ok.

Ajay_Saini 4-Aug-15 7:05am

I have removed serviceController.Stop() as per your comment, but still facing same issue.

F-ES Sitecore 4-Aug-15 7:33am

Services are supposed to run all the time. When writing a "scheduling service" you don't stop and start the service on a schedule - the service runs all the time, going to sleep and waiting up, or using some other timing mechanism to periodically see if there is work to do. You probably need to re-architect what your service is doing. At a bare minimum use debugging to see why the service is not starting\stopping in a timely manner.

Tomas Takac 4-Aug-15 7:52am

Did you debug it? You need to find out what's taking so long that the timeout expires.

ZurdoDev 4-Aug-15 7:29am

If ScheduleService() takes a long time you can get that error but it means nothing, the service is still running.

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Suvendu Shekhar Giri · Answer 1 · 2015-08-04T03:28:00

Solution 4

It is not recomended to write any business logic inside the service OnStart() event. Let the service start smoothly with minimum required time. It gives better user experience. If you write any logic inside OnStart() then the service will be in "Starting" state untill the execution finished.
What you can do is move all of your logic into a separate method. Then create a Thread by passing a ThreadStart object created with the newly created method.

C#

//include namespace
using System.Threading;

//extract business logic to a new method
private void ExecuteMyBusiness()
{
   this.WriteToFile("Service started {0}");
   this.ScheduleService();
}

//your changed OnStart() event
protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{
   Thread myBusinessThread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(ExecuteMyBusiness));
   myBusinessThread.Start();
}

You can give this a try and if it works fine then well and good.
But, this is not all. You need to check in OnStop() for if the thread has not finished the execution of the task assigned to it then it should wait for it to complete.
For that purpose, you need to incorporate following changes-

C#

//declare a global variable to keep track of thead execution status
private bool isThreadRunning= false;

//change the flag as per execution status
private void ExecuteMyBusiness()
{
   isThreadRunning=true;
   this.WriteToFile("Service started {0}");
   this.ScheduleService();
   isThreadRunning=false;
}

//change your OnStop() accordingly
protected override void OnStop()
{
   while(isThreadRunning)
   {
      Thread.Sleep(1000); //wait for 1 second and then try again
   }
   this.WriteToFile("Service stopped {0}");
   this.Schedular.Dispose();
}

Ok. Is that all?
No, but it should resolve your current problem. You need to do various validation but this should be a good approach to start with.

Hopefully, it helps :)
Please let me know, if you have questions or problem in implementing this design.

Posted 4-Aug-15 3:28am

Suvendu Shekhar Giri

Updated 4-Aug-15 3:32am

v5

Comments

Ajay_Saini 4-Aug-15 12:11pm

Thanks for educating me.
I have included all your suggestion and successfully installed the Service with Automatic mode. Still my purpose was not accomplish as emails are not sending by the code. I have Debug but not sure what is the issue. I have shared my complete code, can you please have a look on it...

using System;
using System.Data;
using System.ServiceProcess;
using System.IO;
using System.Threading;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Net.Mail;

namespace WindowsServiceCS
{
public partial class Service1 : ServiceBase
{
private Timer Schedular;
//declare a global variable to keep track of thead execution status
private bool isThreadRunning = false;
public Service1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}

protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{
Thread myBusinessThread = new Thread(new ThreadStart(ExecuteMyBusiness));
myBusinessThread.Start();
}

protected override void OnStop()
{
while (isThreadRunning)
{
Thread.Sleep(1000); //wait for 1 second and then try again
}
this.WriteToFile("Service stopped {0}");
this.Schedular.Dispose();
}

public void ScheduleService()
{
try
{
Schedular = new Timer(new TimerCallback(SchedularCallback));
string mode = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["Mode"].ToUpper();
this.WriteToFile("Simple Service Mode: " + mode + " {0}");

//Set the Default Time.
DateTime scheduledTime = DateTime.MinValue;

if (mode == "DAILY")
{
//Get the Scheduled Time from AppSettings.
scheduledTime = DateTime.Parse(System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["ScheduledTime"]);
if (DateTime.Now > scheduledTime)
{
//If Scheduled Time is passed set Schedule for the next day.
scheduledTime = scheduledTime.AddDays(1);
}
}

if (mode.ToUpper() == "INTERVAL")
{
//Get the Interval in Minutes from AppSettings.
int intervalMinutes = Convert.ToInt32(ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["IntervalMinutes"]);

//Set the Scheduled Time by adding the Interval to Current Time.
scheduledTime = DateTime.Now.AddMinutes(intervalMinutes);
if (DateTime.Now > scheduledTime)
{
//If Scheduled Time is passed set Schedule for the next Interval.
scheduledTime = scheduledTime.AddMinutes(intervalMinutes);
}
}

TimeSpan timeSpan = scheduledTime.Subtract(DateTime.Now);
string schedule = string.Format("{0} day(s) {1} hour(s) {2} minute(s) {3} seconds(s)", timeSpan.Days, timeSpan.Hours, timeSpan.Minutes, timeSpan.Seconds);

this.WriteToFile("Simple Service scheduled to run after: " + schedule + " {0}");

//Get the difference in Minutes between the Scheduled and Current Time.
int dueTime = Convert.ToInt32(timeSpan.TotalMilliseconds);

//Change the Timer's Due Time.
Schedular.Change(dueTime, Timeout.Infinite);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
WriteToFile("Simple Service Error on: {0} " + ex.Message + ex.StackTrace);

//Stop the Windows Service.
using (System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController serviceController = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController("SimpleService"))
{
serviceController.Stop();
}
}
}

Ajay_Saini 4-Aug-15 12:12pm

//extract business logic to a new method
private void ExecuteMyBusiness()
{
isThreadRunning = true;
this.WriteToFile("Service started {0}");
this.ScheduleService();
isThreadRunning = false;
}

private void SchedularCallback(object e)
{
try
{
DataTable dt = new DataTable();
dt.Columns.Add("Name", typeof(string));
dt.Columns.Add("Email", typeof(string));
DataRow dr = dt.NewRow();
dr["Name"] = "Ajay";
dr["Email"] = "xyz@gmail.com";
dt.Rows.Add(dr);
foreach (DataRow row in dt.Rows)
{
string name = row["Name"].ToString();
string email = row["Email"].ToString();
WriteToFile("Trying to send email to: " + name + " " + email);

using (MailMessage mm = new MailMessage("abc@gmail.com", email))
{
mm.Subject = "Birthday Greetings";
mm.Body = string.Format("Happy Birthday {0}<br /><br />Many happy returns of the day.", name);

mm.IsBodyHtml = true;
SmtpClient smtp = new SmtpClient();
smtp.Host = "smtp.gmail.com";
smtp.EnableSsl = true;
System.Net.NetworkCredential credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential();
credentials.UserName = "abc@mail.com";
credentials.Password = "********";
smtp.UseDefaultCredentials = true;
smtp.Credentials = credentials;
smtp.Port = 587;
smtp.Send(mm);
WriteToFile("Email sent successfully to: " + name + " " + email);
}
}
//this.ScheduleService();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
WriteToFile("Simple Service Error on: {0} " + ex.Message + ex.StackTrace);

//Stop the Windows Service.
using (System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController serviceController = new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController("SimpleService"))
{
serviceController.Stop();
}
}
}

private void WriteToFile(string text)
{
string path = "D:\\ServiceLog.txt";
using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(path, true))
{
writer.WriteLine(string.Format(text, DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt")));
writer.Close();
}
}
}
}

Here are the keys in app.config
<add key="Mode" value="INTERVAL">
<add key="IntervalMinutes" value="1">
<add key="ScheduledTime" value="20:24:00">

SundararamanS 5-Aug-15 0:08am

As already mentioned it looks like your email sending function is failing ... It's due to that your service could not start earlier is my guess... Please check your block of code for email and may be you need to set 2 step authentication to authorize your application to use your gmail account. Please check how to authorize your app to be able to automate this..