Start service on newly created VM from captured image

Question

Hello,

I've created a VM (Windows) and I've registered a Windows Service (dotnet core 3.1) and marked it as Automatic.

After I capture that VM (because I want to create new VMs from that image, e.g. using Azure API) and create a new VM instance, the service I registered is stopped when the VM is booted.

How can I make that service start with the VM?

Thanks!

Answer 1

So, I moved from Image creation to Disk snapshot and create a VM from a copied disk from snapshot.
I've also increased the time for service start timeout (I had a 1 vCPU and 2GB of RAM)
https://www.codetwo.com/kb/how-to-extend-the-timeout-for-services-if-they-do-fail-to-start/#:~:text=Run%20Windows%20Services%20manager%20(launch,)%2C%20as%20shown%20in%20Fig.

Other option: Automatic (Delay start).

Answer 2

This should work, did you make sure the original image kept the service after a reboot? Sometimes dependencies or other factors can prevent the service from starting.

You can also use a custom script extension (easy) or Desired State Configuration (complicated) to configure the service to start on creation.