Need a way to check status of Windows service programmatically

Question

Here is the situation:

I have been called upon to work with InstallAnywhere 8, a Java-based installer IDE, of sorts, that allows starting and stopping of windows ser

Answer 1

I have been dealing with installers for years and the trick is to create your own EXE and call it on setup. This offers good flexibility like displaying precise error messages in the event an error occurs, and have success-based return values so your installer knows about what happened.

Here's how to start, stop and query states for windows services (C++): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms684941(VS.85).aspx (VB and C# offers similar functions)