The first step is to create a new Windows Service project through the Visual Studio IDE. When creating the project, we simply choose the Windows Service project type. The following screenshot shows how we can select the Windows Service project type in the Visual Studio New Project wizard.

As a WCF service hosting application, we certainly need to have a WCF service defined here. The steps for creating a WCF service are the same as what we've discussed in the Hosting a service in console application recipe.

As for the service-hosting code in the Windows Service, we need to put it in the correct place, since the .NET-based Windows Service type doesn't directly expose the Main function. The following code shows how the WCF service startup and shutdown code is defined:

public partial class Service1 : ServiceBase
{
   ServiceHost _svcHost = null;

   protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
   {
      // Start the service host here
      _svcHost = new ServiceHost(typeof(TestService));
      _svcHost.Open();
   }

   protected override void OnStop()
   {
      // Close the service host
      _svcHost.Close();
   }
}

Now the Windows Service class and WCF service types have been defined. However, we still need to add another component—the installer class for deploying the Windows Service into the Windows Service collection on the target operating system. In the Visual Studio IDE, we can simply add an installer type for the Windows Service by the context menu on the component designer. The following screenshot shows the context menu item for creating the installer class for the Windows Service.

The IDE will help create two helper classes—one is of ServiceProcessInstaller type and another of ServiceInstaller type. We can specify many deployment parameters for the Windows Service in the Property panel of the two classes. The following screenshot shows the properties of the sample serviceProcessInstaller1 class.

The next screenshot shows the properties of the sample serviceInstaller1 class.

As with the screenshots displayed, Visual Studio will use standard Properties windows for displaying and configuring the individual properties of the Windows Service classes.

The last step is to install the Windows Service we have created (after building the project) into the operating system. This can be done by using the Installutil.exe tool provided by the .NET framework. You can directly execute the Installutil.exe command within the Visual Studio command-line prompt window or you can choose to launch the tool through its absolute path in the .NET framework folder such as C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319.

 InstallUtil.exe WCFNTService.exe

 Install Util.exe /u WCFNTService.exe