Can I somehow backup (completely) win services?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Karl Mondale
  • Start date Start date
K

Karl Mondale

Assume a programs installed previously a window service.

Is there way to backup this service (and all depending DLLs, config files),
then copy it to another computer and re-install it there again?

Of cause without using the original installation software.

Karl
 
Karl Mondale said:
Assume a programs installed previously a window service.

Is there way to backup this service (and all depending DLLs, config
files),
then copy it to another computer and re-install it there again?

Of cause without using the original installation software.

Karl
Click to expand...

Assuming you are not wanting to do something illegal, I guess it could be
done, but it would probably be more trouble than it's worth. Even if you
knew all of the files that were written to your hard drive and were able to
copy them to a new machine, you'd still have to register some of them in
Windows if you could figure out which ones. So for all intents and purposes,
I'd have to say no, you probably couldn't make it work correctly on the new
machine.
 
Laplink's PCMover http://www.laplink.com/pcmover will do it. I used it to
move all of my installed applications from an old XP Pro laptop to a
Netbook, It also enables XP to Windows 7 upgrades.

Assume a programs installed previously a window service.

Is there way to backup this service (and all depending DLLs, config files),
then copy it to another computer and re-install it there again?

Of cause without using the original installation software.

Karl
 
Karl said:
Assume a programs installed previously a window service.

Is there way to backup this service (and all depending DLLs, config
files), then copy it to another computer and re-install it there
again?

Of cause without using the original installation software.
Click to expand...

You should never *need* to do this. You should keep a copy of the
installation software and product key/serial number safe in case anything
ever happens, you can fix it.

You could backup the entire computer with disk imaging. Then you have
everything safe. However - an individual service/application installed on a
Windows system is usually difficult to move (cannot say impossible -
persistence is a very human trait) to move from one system to another
manually. There's no simple way of knowing what all things it needs
(registry, DLLs it may have put there, DLLs it may need a particular version
of that were already there, what all directories it installed itself in, if
there is any profile-specific or even machine specific parts to the
application...

You should have and really need the original software installation media and
product keys/serial numbers to properly install most software again.
 
Karl said:
Assume a programs installed previously a window service.

Is there way to backup this service (and all depending DLLs, config
files),
then copy it to another computer and re-install it there again?

Of cause without using the original installation software.
Click to expand...

Curious.

If you read the responses in order, it's layers of possibility.
http://groups.google.com/group/micr...nd_support/browse_frm/thread/6d5e43b445669066

Start with a flat, 'no'.
Go to a, 'maybe, but difficult if at possible'.
To a, 'sure, use this'.

Truth being - it might work, it might not - but it's dumb to *have* to do
that, IMHO. Keep your installation media safe, barring any sob-stories, I
stick to that. The third answer may/may not work depending on the
application in question. The first and second are the most accurate in most
cases.
 
Assume a programs installed previously a window service.
Is there way to backup this service (and all depending DLLs, config files),
then copy it to another computer and re-install it there again?
Of cause without using the original installation software.
Click to expand...

Hi Karl,

in general: No, you cannot do this. Not easily anyway.

Most software for Windows is installed by running an setup or installer
program. The built-in installer for Windows is msiexec.exe, but there
are other setup programs out there as well.

Typically these installers read their instructions from a data file
(maybe a *.inf text file, or other data file); which describes what
executable files to copy to what locations, what Registry entries to
make, checks for dependencies, what permissions to set, what Performance
counters to configure, etc.

In theory, if you can find and parse the inf file which the service's
setup uses, you could try to repeat all the same steps manually. The
installer doesn't perform operations which can't also be performed
manually by an interactive administrator. Except - the steps may be very
complex, and any slight mistake could cause errors, especially subtle
and hard-to-diagnose ones. That's why it is semi-automated in a setup
program, in the first place.

(there's also the issue that commercial software is usually licensed to
run on a single machine, so copying to another machine may be violating
the licence. But I'm only addressing the technical aspect, for now).

What form the installer's data (eg an inf file or similar) takes, and
how you locate and parse it, will depend on what kind of software was
used to install the service.

Probably not the info you wanted, but I hope it helps. Other folks may
have additional ideas.

Andrew
 
Back
Top