How to use installutil to install a WCF service to a virtual account?

Question

I'm trying to install a WCF service using installutil and I want to run it in a virtual account (NT SERVICE\ServiceName). I've done this before with installutil, but cannot figure out how to do it any longer. I have some logs that indicate that this has succeeded in the past. I supply the username of "NT Service\ServiceName" in the "Set Service Dialog". I've tried a variety of passwords (including blank), but everything fails with:

An exception occurred during the Install phase.
System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: The account name is invalid or does not exist, or the password is invalid for the account name specified

Thanks.

Answer 1

If you're referring to the managed service account that can be used then I believe the username syntax is <domain>\<user>$. However the account must already exist. The password should be blank but I don't know if InstallUtil's UI supports that.

Answer 2

I'm talking about a virtual account as described here:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/identity/ad-ds/manage/understand-service-accounts

You may be right. I looked at my logs more closely and found that they were failing to install with that type of account rather than succeeding.