Add nginx.exe as Windows system service (like Apache)?

nginx, service, windows, windows-services

Solution

How to do it with Windows Service Wrapper

(Note: There are easier alternatives by now - see also solutions described here below using chocolatey package manager by suneg and using NSSM directly from Adamy)

- Download the latest version of Windows Service Wrapper via github or nuget.

- Current version as of this writing is v2.2.0

- Since v2.x executables for .NET2.0 and .NET4.0 are available - others only on demand.

- Rename `winsw-*.exe` to something like `nginxservice.exe`.

- This is the name that will show up for the process that owns your nginx process.

Place an XML file next to the exe with the same base name, e.g. `nginxservice.xml`. The contents should be like below (verify your nginx location).

<service>
  <id>nginx</id>
  <name>nginx</name>
  <description>nginx</description>
  <executable>c:\nginx\nginx.exe</executable>
  <logpath>c:\nginx\</logpath>
  <logmode>roll</logmode>
  <depend></depend>
  <startargument>-p</startargument>
  <startargument>c:\nginx</startargument>
  <stopexecutable>c:\nginx\nginx.exe</stopexecutable>
  <stopargument>-p</stopargument>
  <stopargument>c:\nginx</stopargument>
  <stopargument>-s</stopargument>
  <stopargument>stop</stopargument>
</service>

- You can find up to date details about the configuration on the config github page, a generic example showing all possible options here and an installation guide.

- Run the command `nginxservice.exe install` as administrator.

You will now have an `nginx` service in your Services! (It is set to start automatically on boot; if you want to start your server, you must manually start the service (`net start nginx`).)

Detailed description of correctly setting up nginx as a Windows Service: http://web.archive.org/web/20150819035021/http://misterdai.yougeezer.co.uk/posts/2009/10/16/nginx-windows-service/

Additional info not contained in above blog post:

You can find the latest version of the Windows Service Wrapper also via this Maven Repository: http://repo.jenkins-ci.org

Examples for Maven + Gradle:

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.sun.winsw</groupId>
    <artifactId>winsw</artifactId>
    <version>2.2.0</version>
    <classifier>bin</classifier>
    <packaging>exe</packaging>
</dependency>

<repository>
    <id>jenkinsci</id>
    <name>jenkinsci-releases</name>
    <url>http://repo.jenkins-ci.org/releases</url>
</repository>

compile "com.sun.winsw:winsw:2.2.0"

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
    maven { url http://repo.jenkins-ci.org/releases }
}

Problem

Original source

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• run nginx as windows service