.NET Core 6 Console App hosted service not starting as Windows Service?

Question

I got a .NET 6.0 Core Console Application that starts a service and log some data with Serilog which works good. But after installing it as a Windows Service and hitting start the services seems to start but I get no log data anymore? What am I missing?

Start up :

public static async Task Main(string[] args)
        {
            Log.Logger = new LoggerConfiguration().DefaultLoggerSetup<Program>();
            var microsoftLogger = new SerilogLoggerFactory(Log.Logger).CreateLogger<IProgram>();
            var serviceName = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Name;
           
            Log.Information("Starting {serviceName} version {version}.", serviceName, System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().GetName().Version?.ToString());
            Log.Information("{@serviceName} microservice loading MySettings.json.", serviceName);
            var configurationBuilder = new ConfigurationBuilder().AddJsonFile("MySettings.json").Build();
            var MySettings = configurationBuilder.Get<MySettings>();

            Log.Information("{@serviceName} microservice loading appsettings.json.", serviceName);
            configurationBuilder = new ConfigurationBuilder().AddJsonFile("appSettings.json").Build();
            var appSettings = configurationBuilder.Get<AppSettings>();
            var sqlConnectionString = appSettings.ConnectionString;
            Log.Information("{@serviceName} building and starting.", serviceName);
            CreateHostBuilder(args, configurationBuilder, appSettings, MySettings, sqlConnectionString).Build().Run();
            Log.Information("{@serviceName} microservice Built and stated.", serviceName);
        }

Method to build the host :

public static IHostBuilder CreateHostBuilder(string[] args,
                                            IConfiguration configurationBuilder,
                                            AppSettings appSettings,
                                            MySettings mySettings,
                                            string sqlConnectionString) =>

            Host.CreateDefaultBuilder(args)
                    .UseCloudMQ(context => context.UseSettings(appSettings.MQSettings))
                    .UseSerilog((context, services, configuration) => configuration
                                                                       .ReadFrom.Configuration(context.Configuration)
                                                                       .ReadFrom.Services(services)
                                                                       .Enrich.FromLogContext())
                    .UseWindowsService()
                    .ConfigureServices((hostContext, services) =>
                    {

                        services
                           .AddTransient<ConnectorConfig>(s => appSettings.ConnectorConfig)
                           .AddTransient<IMyService, MyService>()
                           .AddTransient<IMyController, MyController>()
                           .AddTransient<IMySettings>(s => MySettings)
                           .AddTransient<IMyService, MyService>()
                           .AddSingleton<IInputOuputLogger>(new InputOuputLogger(configurationBuilder))
                           .AddDbContext<AppDbContext>(options => options.UseSqlServer(sqlConnectionString, opt => opt.UseQuerySplittingBehavior(QuerySplittingBehavior.SingleQuery)))
                           .AddHostedService<MyService>();
                    });

Simple hosted service :

public class MyService : IHostedService, IMyAnestesiService
    {
        private readonly ILogger<MyService> _logger;
        public MyService(ILogger<MyService> logger)
        {
            _logger = logger;
            _logger.LogInformation("{@serviceName} microservice started.", GetType().Name);
        }

        public Task StartAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
        {
            return Task.FromResult(true);
        }

        public Task StopAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
        {
            return Task.FromResult(true);
        }

        public void Run()
        {
            _logger.LogInformation("MyService started.");
        }
    }

Edit : When running the service in CMD the log in displayed in the CMD but its also saved to file with this :

  "serilog": {
    "Using": [
      "Serilog",
      "Serilog.Sinks.File",
      "Serilog.Sinks.Console"
    ],
    "MinimumLevel": {
      "Default": "Verbose",
      "Override": {
        "Microsoft": "Warning",
        "System": "Warning"
      }
    },
    "Enrich": [ "FromLogContext", "WithMachineName", "WithProcessId" ],
    "WriteTo": [
      {
        "Name": "Console",
        "Args": {
          "outputTemplate": "[{Timestamp:HH:mm:ss.fff} [{Level}] {SourceContext} {Message}{NewLine}{Exception}",
          "theme": "Serilog.Sinks.SystemConsole.Themes.AnsiConsoleTheme::Code, Serilog.Sinks.Console"
        }
      },
      {
        "Name": "File",
        "Args": {
          "path": "C:\\DEVSTUFF\\log.txt",
          "outputTemplate": "{Timestamp:G} {SourceContext} [{Level}] {Message}{NewLine:1}{Exception:1}",
          "formatter": "Serilog.Formatting.Json.JsonFormatter, Serilog",
          "fileSizeLimitBytes": 1000000,
          "rollOnFileSizeLimit": "true",
          "shared": "true",
          "flushToDiskInterval": 3
        }
      }
    ]
  }

So even if I can´t see the log in the CMD while running it as a Windows Services I should at least get log rows in file like before.

Answer 1

Where are you writing logs in the Windows Service scenario? For the console application, it can write logs to the Terminal which is not possible for the windows service scenarios. You need to write somewhere like a file, or database.

You can have a look at this link