Getting full path for Windows Service

Question

How can I find out the folder where the windows service .exe file is installed dynamically?

Path.GetFullPath(relativePath);

returns a path based on C:\WINDOWS\system32 directory.

However, the XmlDocument.Load(string filename) method appears to be working against relative path inside the directory where the service .exe file is installed to.

Greg Dean · Accepted Answer · 2008-10-14T04:03:58.833

84

Try

System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location

edited Oct 14 '08 at 04:03

answered Oct 14 '08 at 03:57

Greg Dean

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"System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly()" is null for my service. – Curtis Yallop Oct 29 '12 at 20:36
2

Look at Curtis Yallop answser. Much better! – Alfredo Cavalcanti Jul 19 '13 at 22:34
It returns the path with the executable name – bogert May 28 '15 at 21:11
Use AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory - it does not involve reflection. – rickythefox Nov 25 '15 at 18:07

score 70 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

70

Try this:

AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory

(Just like here: How to find windows service exe path)

edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

Community

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answered Oct 29 '12 at 20:48

Curtis Yallop

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Thanks for this. I had an NServiceBus service, and since it gets wrapped up in NServiceBus.Host.exe, the `GetEntryAssembly()` was null in my actual project. This one worked perfectly though. – Matt Feb 21 '14 at 15:37

score 39 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 05 '12 at 14:52

39

Path.GetDirectoryName(System.Reflection.Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location)

edited Jul 05 '12 at 14:52

Tim Cooper

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answered Nov 14 '08 at 14:54

score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 14 '08 at 13:38

This works for our windows service:

//CommandLine without the first and last two characters
//Path.GetDirectory seems to have some difficulties with these (special chars maybe?)
string cmdLine = Environment.CommandLine.Remove(Environment.CommandLine.Length - 2, 2).Remove(0, 1);
string workDir = Path.GetDirectoryName(cmdLine);

This should give you the absolute path of the executable.

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 14 '08 at 14:24

5

Another version of the above:

string path = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
FileInfo fileInfo = new FileInfo(path);
string dir = fileInfo.DirectoryName;

answered Oct 14 '08 at 14:24

Chris S

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score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 11 '10 at 20:57

3

Environment.CurrentDirectory returns current directory where program is running. In case of windows service, returns %WINDIR%/system32 path that is where executable will run rather than where executable deployed.

answered Jun 11 '10 at 20:57

Amzath

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TheSoftwareJedi · Answer 7 · 2008-10-14T05:14:40.187

-4

This should give you the path that the executable resides in:

Environment.CurrentDirectory;

If not, you could try:

Directory.GetParent(Assembly.GetEntryAssembly().Location).FullName

A more hacky, but functional way:

Path.GetFullPath("a").TrimEnd('a')

:)

edited Oct 14 '08 at 05:14

answered Oct 14 '08 at 04:06

TheSoftwareJedi

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-1: Environment.CurrentDirectory and your hacky solution both return the current working directory, which from what the OP says is the system32 directory. – Joe Oct 14 '08 at 09:24

Getting full path for Windows Service

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