Application Verifier keep hanging on windows service   

All,

   I tried to run Application Verifier (version 3.4.0158) against a custom 
Windows service but it kept failing when starting the service from Service 
Management Console. Every time the error is the same as:

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

   I tried other services including Windows built-in service such as 
Performance Logs and Alerts, same error. Tried on different servers, same 
error.

   In the end I built a skeleton Windows service myself using VS2003, and 
run it under Local System acount with "allow interaction with desktop" 
checked or run as a different user account. No difference, it always failed 
with the same error 1053 - cannot start.

   All servers are Windows 2003 Server Std Ed., and in the App Verifier I 
just checked the "Basics", under which only "Locks" is selected.  If "Locks" 
is *NOT* selected, then all services are able to start just fine.

   Can anyone advise how and what would be the work around?  TIA!

date: Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:55:01 -0800   author:   AppVerifier Not Working AppVerifier Not

RE: Application Verifier keep hanging on windows service   

It looks like the service is timing out. Please follow the steps below to 
increase the timeout and debug your service:

1. Increase the timeout of the system service using the registry key at

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control

"ServicesPipeTimeout"=DWORD:3600000

This sets the service start timeout to 1 hour (3.6M miliseconds)

2.  Reboot.  The ServicesPipeTimeout doesn't take effect until you reboot.

**** Follow the steps below if you want to debug your service at startup, 
otherwise just attach a debugger when it starts*****

3.  Edit the name of the binary in the Service key to launch NTSD with a 
named-pipe server:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControSet\Services\YourService 

"ImagePath" = REG_EXPAND_SZ:"c:\debuggers\ntsd -server tcp:port=<portnumber> 
c:\yourpath\yourservice.exe"

*****Note:  Don't leave this set this way during a reboot.  On Windows XP It 
will hang at "applying computer settings" until it times out.  You can reboot 
into safe-mode and edit the registry if this happens.

4. Connect remotely to the service with WINDBG.  With the settings above it 
will be broken into at the initial breakpoint. 

windbg -remote tcp:server=<machinename>,port=<portnumber>. You may need to 
open the port on the firewall on <machinename> to enable debugging. 


Thanks,
Prasad

"AppVerifier Not Working" wrote:

> All,
> 
>    I tried to run Application Verifier (version 3.4.0158) against a custom 
> Windows service but it kept failing when starting the service from Service 
> Management Console. Every time the error is the same as:
> 
>     "Error 1053: the service did not respond to the start or control request 
> in a timely fashion."
> 
>    I tried other services including Windows built-in service such as 
> Performance Logs and Alerts, same error. Tried on different servers, same 
> error.
> 
>    In the end I built a skeleton Windows service myself using VS2003, and 
> run it under Local System acount with "allow interaction with desktop" 
> checked or run as a different user account. No difference, it always failed 
> with the same error 1053 - cannot start.
> 
>    All servers are Windows 2003 Server Std Ed., and in the App Verifier I 
> just checked the "Basics", under which only "Locks" is selected.  If "Locks" 
> is *NOT* selected, then all services are able to start just fine.
> 
>    Can anyone advise how and what would be the work around?  TIA!
>

date: Thu, 6 Mar 2008 09:51:01 -0800   author:   Prasad Kakulamarri [MSFT]