The Windows Service Create Action registers a Windows NT service with the Service Control Manager. Windows NT services are native executables that adhere to the Windows SDK rules and guidelines for a service. The executable must already exist on the machine at the time this bean is executed.

A typical scenario is to install the service executable within a Files bean in your product tree, then include this bean in the "Installer" wizard tree after the Install Action bean.

NOTE: The service is not automatically uninstalled - A separate WindowsServiceDeleteAction would be required in the "Uninstaller" wizard tree to handle that.

This bean provides comprehensive access to the parameters available within the Win32 API for configuring a service without having to write any custom code, including setting the dependencies, failure actions, the description of the service, startup arguments, and many more. Please refer to the Bean Help for the individual properties and the MultiPlatform User's Guide Chapters 2.2 Product Actions, and 3.2 Wizard Actions for more information.

This documentation is not a tutorial that describes NT services - It assumes that the developer understands the process of creating an NT service. References to the Microsoft documentation for related Win32 API's and parameters are included in both the Bean Help and MultiPlatform User's Guide for obtaining more detailed information.