Using InstallUtil and silently setting a windows service logon username/password

I need to use InstallUtil to install a C# windows service. I need to set the service logon credentials (username and password). All of this needs to be done silently.

Is there are way to do something like this:

installutil.exe myservice.exe /customarg1=username /customarg2=password

A much easier way than the posts above and with no extra code in your installer is to use the following:

>installUtil.exe /username=domain\username /password=password /unattended C:\My.exe

Just ensure the account you use is valid. If not you will receive a "No mapping between account names and security id's was done" exception

Bravo to my co-worker (Bruce Eddy). He found a way we can make this command-line call:

installutil.exe /user=uname /password=pw myservice.exe

It is done by overriding OnBeforeInstall in the installer class:

namespace Test
{
	[RunInstaller(true)]
	public class TestInstaller : Installer
	{
		private ServiceInstaller serviceInstaller;
		private ServiceProcessInstaller serviceProcessInstaller;

		public OregonDatabaseWinServiceInstaller()
		{
			serviceInstaller = new ServiceInstaller();
			serviceInstaller.StartType = System.ServiceProcess.ServiceStartMode.Automatic;
			serviceInstaller.ServiceName = "Test";
			serviceInstaller.DisplayName = "Test Service";
			serviceInstaller.Description = "Test";
			serviceInstaller.StartType = ServiceStartMode.Automatic;
			Installers.Add(serviceInstaller);

			serviceProcessInstaller = new ServiceProcessInstaller();
			serviceProcessInstaller.Account = ServiceAccount.User; 
			Installers.Add(serviceProcessInstaller);
		}

		public string GetContextParameter(string key)
		{
			string sValue = "";
			try
			{
				sValue = this.Context.Parameters[key].ToString();
			}
			catch
			{
				sValue = "";
			}
			return sValue;
		}


		// Override the 'OnBeforeInstall' method.
		protected override void OnBeforeInstall(IDictionary savedState)
		{
			base.OnBeforeInstall(savedState);

			string username = GetContextParameter("user").Trim();
			string password = GetContextParameter("password").Trim();

			if (username != "")
				serviceProcessInstaller.Username = username;
			if (password != "")
				serviceProcessInstaller.Password = password;
		}
	}
}

InstallUtil.exe sets StartupType=Manual

In case you want to autostart the service, use:

sc config MyServiceName start= auto

(note there there has to be a space after '=')

No, installutil doesn't support that.

Of course if you wrote an installer; with a custom action then you would be able to use that as part of an MSI or via installutil.

You can also force your service to run as User using ServiceProcessInstaller::Account = ServiceAccount.User;

A popup asking "[domain\]user, password" will appear during service installation.

public class MyServiceInstaller : Installer
{
    /// Public Constructor for WindowsServiceInstaller
    public MyServiceInstaller()
    {
        ServiceProcessInstaller serviceProcessInstaller = new ServiceProcessInstaller();
        ServiceInstaller serviceInstaller = new ServiceInstaller();

        //# Service Account Information
        serviceProcessInstaller.Account = ServiceAccount.User; // and not LocalSystem;
     ....