Your program needs a suitable entry point. Are you writing in C# or VB.NET

If you look at what Visual Studio 2005 gives you when you create a new C# Windows Service application, you'll see some code like this:

static void Main()

{

ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;

// More than one user Service may run within the same process. To add

// another service to this process, change the following line to

// create a second service object. For example,

//

// ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[] {new Service1(), new MySecondUserService()};

//

ServicesToRun = new ServiceBase[] { new Service1() };

ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);

}

This is the critical code that enables your application to run correctly as a service. If you look at the equivalent entry point for a Windows Application you'll see it looks quite different.

If you're using VB.NET it's the same problem, only the VB.NET IDE hides it from you, making it harder to diagnose...

Create a new Windows Service project. In Solution Explorer, click the 'Show All Files' button at the top. (It has a picture of some files and folders.) Expand Service1.vb to reveal Service1.Designer.vb. Open that file. Notice that it contains this:

' The main entry point for the process

<MTAThread()> _

<System.Diagnostics.De****NonUserCode()> _

Shared Sub Main()

Dim ServicesToRun() As System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase

' More than one NT Service may run within the same process. To add

' another service to this process, change the following line to

' create a second service object. For example,

'

' ServicesToRun = New System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase () {New Service1, New MySecondUserService}

'

ServicesToRun = New System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase() {New Service1}

System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun)

End Sub

This is the VB.NET equivalent of the C# code shown above.

Now do the same thing in the app you converted from a Windows Application into a Windows Service. Notice that the Service1.Designer.vb file does not contain this code.

That's why your service is not appearing in the Startup Object list - its missing that Sub Main entry point. If you copy that code over into either Service1.vb or Service1.Designer.vb, you should find that your service appears in your Startup Object list.