Rust Axum as a Windows Service

This is a simple example of how to run a Rust Axum web server as a Windows service using windows_service and have an MSI installer created using cargo_wix.

My Setup

• Windows Server 2022
• Rust (Installed by first downloading and installing the Microsoft C++ build tools, then downloading and running RUSTUP-INIT.exe)
• WiX Toolset 3.14.1
• cargo-wix (Installed by running cargo install cargo-wix)

Building the MSI Installer

Run cargo wix or cargo wix --nocapture to build the MSI installer. The installer will be created in the target\wix directory.

The --nocapture flag will show the output of cargo and the WiX compiler and linker.

Please Note:

In the Cargo.toml file, this section is used to create the MSI installer:

[package.metadata.wix]
compiler-args = ["-ext", "WixFirewallExtension"]
linker-args = ["-ext", "WixFirewallExtension"]

This is needed to pass the WixFirewallExtension to the WiX compiler and linker to create the firewall rule.

If this section is not included, to build the MSI installer this is how to pass the WixFirewallExtension to the WiX compiler and linker:

cargo wix  -C -ext -C WixFirewallExtension -L -ext -L WixFirewallExtension

Installing the MSI Installer

Run the MSI installer created in the target\wix directory. The installer will install the service and start it. The service will be set to start automatically on boot.

My Results

First page of the installer:

Service installed and running:

Firewall rule added:

Using curl to test the web server from another machine:

Errata

I created this project out of a quick need to have a web server running as a Windows service. I spend most of my time in Linux, and this got me up and running quickly. If there are any issues or improvements, please let me know. I would be happy to update this project. Meanwhile, I hope this helps others who want to play in the Rust / Windows Service world.