Forum Discussion
Support for Windows services?
Will MSIX support installation of Windows services? We have a scenario in which customers have unattended computers that need to continue working across power failure/restoration, and Windows services provide our best solution.
- Support for Windows Services is an item in our backlog. The scenario will be able for enterprises and apps in the Microsoft Store for Business.
26 Replies
sw-services null - Its been a couple years, did you ever figure this out?
I need a Windows Store app to both install a UI and a Windows Service to manage background updates.
Thanks
JeremyTellier Yes. MSIX apps may now contain services. Known caveats I am aware of:
- The service is deployed natively with the package, so unlike normal MSIX package install this requires administrative rights. But this is the same as an MSI would need.
- The service is running outside of the container. So far simple services seem OK, but I'm sure that we will see some services that really need to be in the container with the other components. So test.
- The deployment requires a 20.04 Operating System.
- I should mention I have a package I need in the Windows Store that has a UI Application and a Background Windows Service. I don't see how to do both in one anywhere, documentation is so light.
The same way MSIX brings all the packaging features to any app that were originally only available to UWP/Store apps, giving regular apps a bit of a boost in terms of lifecycle and rights management, it would be nice to have MSIX for Windows Services with support for traditional Windows Services use-case scenarios but also "UWP Background Task"-like features with stricter resource management, system triggers, etc.
Also, with the "sandboxing" features of MSIX, it could be a very interesting alternative to Containers on servers to achieve even higher deployment density, pretty much the same as hosting services as processes, but still with an extra layer of protection around it.
- Support for Windows Services is an item in our backlog. The scenario will be able for enterprises and apps in the Microsoft Store for Business.
