Windows Service Choose User or System Account on Install

Question

When installing a windows service, is there a way to let the user installing choose between a specific user account and a computer account, such as LocalSystem? I see how to do this at build time through service installer properties, but not during install.

Answer 1

@Doobi, @Eric, in my experience (Win7Home 64-bit, VS2010Express, not on a domain)

 processInstaller.Account = ServiceAccount.LocalService;
 processInstaller.Username = null;
 processInstaller.Password = null;

will install the service as LocalService without a password prompt.

To install the service as a local user account (and provide a password prompt to enable the user to supply the credentials) I had to use:

 this.serviceProcessInstaller.Account =System.ServiceProcess.ServiceAccount.User;
 this.serviceProcessInstaller.Password = null;
 this.serviceProcessInstaller.Username = null;

The important step I had to take to get the service installed is to put the computer name in the credentials dialog box, ie MYPC\dave instead of dave. I was surprised that I'd have to do this as it's not on a domain. I've added this comment as no other posts I've seen about this mention having to prefix the username with the PC name.