Creating a Windows Service that runs a TCP/IP Server

This tutorial is intended for programmers that have a basic understandin of windows programming and some knowledge of C or C++.

It is assumed that the reader will be familiar with the C programming language and syntax but knowledge of complex software patterns or constructs will not be required.

Also, the reader is expected to be somewhat familiar with windows programming. It is not necessary to know the APIs used in this article but an understanding of basic concepts used in C and C++ based winows programming will be advantageous.

The samples are written for, and tested with the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 compiler and IDE although one should be able to compile them with other C++ compilers. Hoewver this tutorial does not provide any directions on how to do so.

Open the Visual Studio IDE, and from the "File" menu slect "New.." (or press Alt-N). This will open the "Select New Project Screen" (see below). From the Projects tab, select Win32 Console Application and give it a name in the "Poject name" text box.

When you click OK you will be prompted to configure your new application. We will be starting our development from scratch so you can select "A simple application" from the options and then click Finish. Visual Studio will create the project files and a source code file for us to start working in. This is useful.

#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN // Exclude rarely-used stuff from Windows headers

#include "windows.h"
#include "process.h"
#include "winsvc.h"
#include "winsock2.h"
#include "time.h"
#include "stdio.h"
#include "malloc.h"