Debugging Windows Services under Visual Studio .NET

Obviously, it's the Main() above that ends up executing the service, and it's the Main() that this approach manipulates so that the Windows Service can be debugged directly within Visual Studio .NET.

Using the example above (and removing some of the comments), here's how:

// The main entry point for the process

static void Main()

{

#if (!DEBUG)

    System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun;

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

    System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);

#else

    // debug code: allows the process to run as a non-service

    // will kick off the service start point, but never kill it

    // shut down the debugger to exit

    Service1 service = new Service1();

    service.<Your Service's Primary Method Here>();

    System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(System.Threading.Timeout.Infinite);

#endif 

}