ServiceController tests fail to start test service

[danmoseley]

These tests verify ServiceBase and ServiceController but are rarely run because you need to specify outerloop AND you have to be elevated. They currently are failing for me -- I tried two machines.

C:\git\runtime\src\libraries\System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController\tests>msbuild /t:rebuildandtest /p:outerloop=true
...
...
    Discovering: System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.Tests (method display = ClassAndMethod, method display options
   = None)
    Discovered:  System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.Tests (found 36 of 37 test cases)
    Starting:    System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.Tests (parallel test collections = on, max threads = 4)...

       System.InvalidOperationException : Cannot start service '4cb85dca-edbf-430c-afe2-61f5d782f266.Dependent' on com
  puter '.'.
        ---- System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception : Access is denied.
        Stack Trace:
          C:\git\runtime\src\libraries\System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController\src\System\ServiceProcess\ServiceControl
  ler.cs(844,0): at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.Start(String[] args)
          C:\git\runtime\src\libraries\System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController\src\System\ServiceProcess\ServiceControl
  ler.cs(804,0): at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.Start()
          C:\git\runtime\src\libraries\System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController\tests\System.ServiceProcess.ServiceContr
  oller.TestService\TestServiceInstaller.cs(106,0): at System.ServiceProcess.Tests.TestServiceInstaller.Install()
          C:\git\runtime\src\libraries\System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController\tests\TestServiceProvider.cs(123,0): at
  System.ServiceProcess.Tests.TestServiceProvider.CreateTestServices()
          C:\git\runtime\src\libraries\System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController\tests\TestServiceProvider.cs(77,0): at S
  ystem.ServiceProcess.Tests.TestServiceProvider..ctor(String serviceName, String userName)
          C:\git\runtime\src\libraries\System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController\tests\TestServiceProvider.cs(62,0): at S
  ystem.ServiceProcess.Tests.TestServiceProvider..ctor()
          C:\git\runtime\src\libraries\System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController\tests\ServiceControllerTests.cs(24,0): a
  t System.ServiceProcess.Tests.ServiceControllerTests..ctor()
          ----- Inner Stack Trace -----

This is definitely an elevated prompt. I tried Debugger.Launch() in the TestService constructor, and it does not fire. I looked at the Security event log, and it does not have any "failed" messages. "net start " gives access denied as well. So it's not the test harness.

@Anipik do you repro this?

[ericstj]

Looks like this is similar issue to what @danmosemsft mentioned here: #24571 (comment)

Same thing happening for me. I poked around at it a bit and found I could get past the access denied error by granting LocalService Read permission on my artifacts folder. Once doing that (and disabling the active issue attribute) I can repro the issue #1724. So it seems to be a permissions issue.

Here's the command I used to fix it:

icacls C:\src\dotnet\runtime\artifacts /grant "NT AUTHORITY\LocalService":(OI)(CI)(R)

[ericstj]

An alternative to fixing this would be to run the test services as LocalSystem instead (by passing null for username), which doesn't require special permissions. I'm not fixing this ATM because I haven't looked deeply enough to understand if it's intentional that we test as LocalService.

[danmoseley]

@ericstj re localservice --

runtime/src/libraries/System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController/tests/ServiceBaseTests.cs

Lines 179 to 180 in 1d1a5f2

	// The default username for installing the service is NT AUTHORITY\\LocalService which does not have access to EventLog.
	// If the username is null, then the service is created under LocalSystem Account which have access to EventLog.

[danmoseley]

The event log is only relevant because the tests are trying to verify ServiceBase.AutoLog property.

Perhaps we could use LocalService for all the other tests, and fail gracefully if needed for the AutoLog tests. Or, just stop testing AutoLog.