Service runs on XP but not in Windows Server 2003

Question

I have a service that uses a certain port and it is for TCP and runs fine in windows xp but starts and immediately stops in server 2003. when launched in server 2003 i get a dialog box that says

The service started but stopped because it had nothing to do.

This is for an instant messenger program o the service would need to be running all the time. What would allow a service to keep running in xp and stop it on server 2003. i have also added exceptions through the firewall for the program and the port even though the IM is local network only. any ideas?

Answer 1

The service probably stops because of some unhandled exception. Is there a resource the service is trying to use, but can't access because of security limitations?

Some things that come to my mind are:

• denied access to a file and/or folder
• network resource
• the user running the service (System, Network Service Account ...) lacks some permissions
• missing configuration

If you're the author of the service, try to catch the error and write it to the event log.