Debugging Preparation: Windows Services
Applies to: 
Visual Studio 
Visual Studio for Mac
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
A Windows service is a program that runs in the background under Microsoft Windows. Examples include the Telnet service and the Windows time service, which updates your computer's visible clock. A Windows service cannot be run from within Visual Studio; it must run within the context of the Services Control Manager. For more information, see Creating Windows Services, Debugging Windows Service Applications, and Windows Service Applications.