I can launch a slave using web-start and then install it as a windows service. After some manual configuration this service reliably starts up & connects to the master node.

For various reasons some of our more powerful servers are shared between teams which have their own jenkins master nodes. Previously (with Hudson) we ran multiple web-start clients (not as a service) which allowed for any number of slaves to run on one computer (providing they were configured with unique directories)

Recently we were forced to switch to using a service - as a consequence we have noticed that it is no longer possible to install more than one Jenkins slave service on any single box.

Steps to re-create:

• Ensure that your slave hosting PC does NOT have any Jenkins slave services configured (use sc command to delete if needed)
• Set up 2 nodes on Jenkins master, give each different directories
• Launch the first node & configure to run as a service. Verify that slave is running.
• Launch the 2nd node & configure to run as a service

Result:

• First slave installs OK, second slave will crash on service installation
• The 2nd windows service will not be created

Conclusion:

• The existance of a previously installed Jenkins service will always cause any subsequent jenkins service installations to fail.

How are we running Jenkins?

• Tomcat 7 on a Windows 64bit host
• Slaves are launched via Web-start & then installed as a service.

With which Java VM (Oracle, IBM etc.)?

• Oracle, latest in 1.6 series, 64bit

On which operating system? 32- or 64-bit?

• Windows 2003 Server R2 64bit for server
• Windows XP 32bit for slaves

Did this error start occurring after an upgrade?

• No