title: Screen capture using windows service
body: <p>Even there are lot of questions regarding this issue i couldn't find proper solution for this. I'm creating windows service to capture screen(windows 7). ( i tried this using windows application and it works properly. )</p>
  
  <p>When I'm going to start the service then it says i cant start the service. When i check the windows log it mentioned following error.</p>
  
  <pre><code>Service cannot be started. System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (0x80004005): The handle is invalid
     at System.Drawing.Graphics.CopyFromScreen(Int32 sourceX, Int32 sourceY, Int32 destinationX, Int32 destinationY, Size blockRegionSize, CopyPixelOperation copyPixelOperation)
     at ScreenCaptureService.ScreenCaptureService.TraceService() in d:\SourceControl\Test\Test\ScreenCapture\ScreenCaptureService\ScreenCaptureService.cs:line 63
     at ScreenCaptureService.ScreenCaptureService.OnStart(String[] args) in d:\SourceControl\Test\Test\ScreenCapture\ScreenCaptureService\ScreenCaptureService.cs:line 32
     at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.ServiceQueuedMainCallback(Object state)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My code as below:</p>
  
  <pre><code>public partial class ScreenCaptureService : ServiceBase
  {
  
      private static Bitmap bmpScreenshot;
      private static Graphics gfxScreenshot;
      System.Timers.Timer timer = new System.Timers.Timer();
      public ScreenCaptureService()
      {
          InitializeComponent();
      }
  
      protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
      {
  
          TraceService();
          timer.Elapsed += new ElapsedEventHandler(OnElapsedTime);
          timer.Interval = 300000;          
          timer.Enabled = true;
      }
  
      protected override void OnStop()
      {
          timer.Enabled = false;
          TraceService();
      }
  
      private void TraceService()
      {
          string fileName = "D:\\Screen\\abc.png";
          bmpScreenshot = new Bitmap(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width, Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height, PixelFormat.Format32bppArgb);
  
  
          gfxScreenshot = Graphics.FromImage(bmpScreenshot);            
          gfxScreenshot.CopyFromScreen(Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.X, Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Y, 0, 0, Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Size, CopyPixelOperation.SourceCopy);
  
          bmpScreenshot.Save(fileName, ImageFormat.Png);
      }
  
      private void OnElapsedTime(object source, ElapsedEventArgs e)
      {
          TraceService();
      }
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What i have missed in here..</p>
  
  <p><strong>EDIT :</strong> when i tick on <code>allow service to interact with desktop</code> then it shows following error in log.</p>
  
  <pre><code>Service cannot be started. System.Runtime.InteropServices.ExternalException (0x80004005): A generic error occurred in GDI+.
     at System.Drawing.Image.Save(String filename, ImageCodecInfo encoder, EncoderParameters encoderParams)
     at ScreenCaptureService.ScreenCaptureService.TraceService() in d:\SourceControl\Test\Test\ScreenCapture\ScreenCaptureService\ScreenCaptureService.cs:line 66
     at ScreenCaptureService.ScreenCaptureService.OnStart(String[] args) in d:\SourceControl\Test\Test\ScreenCapture\ScreenCaptureService\ScreenCaptureService.cs:line 32
     at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.ServiceQueuedMainCallback(Object state)
  </code></pre>