WCF Service Hosted in Windows Service Throwing Exception When Deployed On Server - wcf

Question

I have a WCF Service library that I have hosted in a Windows Service. Both projects are using .NET Framework 4.5. I have copied WCF Service configuration into Windows Service “app.config”. For reference the config in windows service project looks:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <configuration> <startup>
<supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.5" /> </startup> <connectionStrings>
<add name="SmartDataExchangerContext" connectionString="Data Source=(local)\SQLExpress; Initial Catalog=SmartDataExchanger; Integrated Security=True;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" /> </connectionStrings> <!-- When deploying the service library project, the content of the config file must be added to the host's app.config file. System.Configuration does not support config files for libraries. --> <system.serviceModel>
<services>
<service name="SmartDataExchangerService.SchoolService">
<host>
<baseAddresses>
<add baseAddress="http://localhost:8733/Design_Time_Addresses/SmartDataExchangerService/SchoolService/" />
</baseAddresses>
</host>
<!-- Service Endpoints -->
<!-- Unless fully qualified, address is relative to base address supplied above -->
<endpoint address="" binding="basicHttpBinding" contract="SmartDataExchangerService.ISchoolService">
<!--
Upon deployment, the following identity element should be removed or replaced to reflect the
identity under which the deployed service runs. If removed, WCF will infer an appropriate identity
automatically.
-->
<identity>
<dns value="127.0.0.1" />
</identity>
</endpoint>
<!-- Metadata Endpoints -->
<!-- The Metadata Exchange endpoint is used by the service to describe itself to clients. -->
<!-- This endpoint does not use a secure binding and should be secured or removed before deployment -->
<endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange" />
</service>
<service name="SmartDataExchangerService.UserService">
<host>
<baseAddresses>
<add baseAddress="http://localhost:8733/Design_Time_Addresses/SmartDataExchangerService/UserService/" />
</baseAddresses>
</host>
<!-- Service Endpoints -->
<!-- Unless fully qualified, address is relative to base address supplied above -->
<endpoint address="" binding="basicHttpBinding" contract="SmartDataExchangerService.IUserService">
<!--
Upon deployment, the following identity element should be removed or replaced to reflect the
identity under which the deployed service runs. If removed, WCF will infer an appropriate identity
automatically.
-->
<identity>
<dns value="localhost" />
</identity>
</endpoint>
<!-- Metadata Endpoints -->
<!-- The Metadata Exchange endpoint is used by the service to describe itself to clients. -->
<!-- This endpoint does not use a secure binding and should be secured or removed before deployment -->
<endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange" />
</service>
</services>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior>
<!-- To avoid disclosing metadata information,
set the values below to false before deployment -->
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="True" httpsGetEnabled="True" />
<!-- To receive exception details in faults for debugging purposes,
set the value below to true. Set to false before deployment
to avoid disclosing exception information -->
<serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="True" />
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors> </system.serviceModel> </configuration>
I am installing the service on development machine using following command:
“InstallUtil.exe” “C:\Test\MyServiceHost.exe”
The service is getting installed successfully. Also I am able to consume the WCF service on development machine. So everything working as expected on development machine.
Now I am trying to install this windows service on Windows Server 2008 R2 machine. I am following these steps:
Copied “Dubug” folder content of Windows Service project from
development machine onto server.
Opened a command prompt in administrator mode.
Run the command:
“InstallUtil.exe” “C:\Test\MyServiceHost.exe”
On execution above command returns following error:
Exception occured while initializing the installation:
System.ArgumentException: Invalid directory on URL..
I have so far made following attempts:
Removed element from config file as suggested in inline
comment.
Change the startup object to ServiceName.Program.
Instead of using localhost, I tried using machine public IP
Address.
Checked my WCF Service is not using any file from local drive
i.e. no use of “C:\” or “D:\”.
Can someone suggest any step I should try to solve this issue.
UPDATE:
The issue is solved. I restarted the PC, performed the steps a fresh and it got solved. I suspect I was not giving correct path while executing the command (silly me).