What is the proper way to have a Windows service stop and start gracefully when suspending/resuming a PC?

Question

I need to stop our Windows service when a PC is powered down into Suspend mode and restart it when the PC is resumed again. What is the proper way to do this?

Answer 1

You should override the ServiceBase.OnPowerEvent Method.

protected override bool OnPowerEvent(PowerBroadcastStatus powerStatus)
{
    if (powerStatus.HasFlag(PowerBroadcastStatus.QuerySuspend))
    { 

    }

    if (powerStatus.HasFlag(PowerBroadcastStatus.ResumeSuspend))
    {

    }
    return base.OnPowerEvent(powerStatus);
}

The PowerBroadcastStatus Enumeration explains the power statuses. Also, you'll need to set the ServiceBase.CanHandlePowerEvent Property to true.

protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{
    this.CanHandlePowerEvent = true;
}

Answer 2

Comment on Alex Filipovici Answer edited May 16 '13 at 17:05:

CanHandlePowerEvent = true; 

must be set in the constructor

Setting it in OnStart() is too late and causes this Exception:

Service cannot be started. System.InvalidOperationException: Cannot change CanStop, CanPauseAndContinue,     CanShutdown, CanHandlePowerEvent, or CanHandleSessionChangeEvent property values after the service has been started.
   at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.set_CanHandlePowerEvent(Boolean value)
   at foo.bar.OnStart(String[] args)
   at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.ServiceQueuedMainCallback(Object state)