Windows service problem with network drive access

[ayush patel]

Hi all,

I have created a windows service that has a file watcher and does some operation after it reads that file. i developed it in my local machine and installed the service on server. i have changed the file path and everythng according to server drives.

we all in the office share some network drives in which ppl will keep pasting that file and the service on server has to pick it up. which its not doing. when i paste it in netwrok drive folder it picks up and works properly. but when someone else does that service doesn't work.when i check in the server the service has stopped. i had to start it manually.

i researched alot and found that windows service donot access network drives.i tried setting up installer acount to localservice, localsystem and also network service. nothng works. should i try user? i assumed it wont work since lot of them have to use this service. also all of them have read and write permissions to the network drive.

i dont understand what am i missing here. why does the service stop for other users. it'l be gr8 if someone can throw some light on this.

Thanks
Ayush

[ayush patel]

Ok. I noticed one thing the user for whom this service is not working does not have access to login to the server. he can access the network drive though.

service stops when he tries to put the file in network drive but when i restart it, it works. its not that the service does not work for him. its just that it stops. thats wierd behavior.

[Plater]

Does your service try to do anything like examining the username of the person who put the file in the directory?

[ayush patel]

No it doesn't check any userid and password.

[Plater]

Hmm very strange. And you're saying it never throws an access exception, like maybe when that user creates the file it gets marked with wierd privileges or something.
Could you just create an account for that user?

[ayush patel]

i have try,catch blocks everywhere even at the start and stop of the service. if an exception is caught it writes to an error file. but the problem is service just stops before going to any try catch block. the only thing that i can see in even log is that this service has stopped unexpectedly.

how can i create an account for this user?

[Plater]

how can i create an account for this user?

Well I don't know, but you said it happens when the user with no account on the server accesses the share directory. So I figure if you get them an account so they are like everyone else, you will not see the problem?

[ayush patel]

Oh ok got it. well its a development server and not everyone should have access to it. its companies rule i cant do much about it.
if nothing works out i am planning to install the service in that users machine and change the file paths accordingly. thats my last option.

[ayush patel]

Hi,

I have got it running somehow. this is the work around i used.

if somebody access the shared drive and the service stops then i made it to restart again with in some intervel. Right click on service name and go to recovery tab in that select first failure action as restart the service. and in the service, in start action, i check for files in the the folder. therefore the service which is stopped unexpectedly will restart and if a file exists it will do what ever it has to do.

my service actually moves the file from the folder and copies it to archives after it has used it.so usually the folder is empty. so above procedure worked for me. but i wish i can figure out a better way to do this.

thanks for all you help Plater