When creating a service with sc.exe how to pass in context parameters?

I’ve spent the last 2 hours trying every conceivable way to create a service using sc.exe and pass arguments but I can’t seem to get it right.

I’ve read this SO question and all the answers about 5 times and it’s been no help!

From what I read there it seems I should construct the command like this:

sc create MyService binPath= "C:\path\to\myservice.exe --param1=TestString"

My Service OnStart method looks like this:

Protected Overrides Sub OnStart(ByVal args() As String)
    If Not IsNothing(args) Then
        Library.WriteLog("Number of args = " & args.Count)
        If args.Count > 0 Then
            For i = 0 To args.Count - 1
                Library.WriteLog("Arg" & i & ": " & args(i))
            Next
        End If
    End If
End Sub

But everything I’ve tried yields “Number of Args = 0” in the log

sc create MyService binPath= "C:\path\to\myservice.exe --param1=TestString"
sc create MyService binPath= "C:\path\to\myservice.exe --TestString"
sc create MyService binPath= "C:\path\to\myservice.exe --param1=\"TestString\""
sc create MyService binPath= "C:\path\to\myservice.exe -param1=TestString"
sc create MyService binPath= "C:\path\to\myservice.exe -TestString"
sc create MyService binPath= "C:\path\to\myservice.exe -param1=\"TestString\""

I must be missing something really silly here but I’m banging my head off a wall with it!

type=
<serviceType>

own

sc create

own

start=
<startType>

• auto – A
  service that automatically starts each time the computer is restarted.
• demand – A
  service that must be manually started. This is the default value if
  start= is not specified.
  demand maps to
  Manual in the Services Control Manager.
• delayed-auto –
  The SCM supports delayed auto-start services to improve system performance at
  boot time without affecting the user experience. The SCM makes a list of
  delayed auto-start services during boot and starts them one at a time after the
  delay has passed, honoring dependencies. There is no specific time guarantee as
  to when the service will be started.
• disabled – A
  service that cannot be started. To start a disabled service, change the start
  type to another start value.

error=
<errorSeverity>

• normal – The
  error is logged and a message box is displayed informing the user that a
  service has failed to start. System startup will continue. This is the default
  setting.
• severe – The
  error is logged (if possible). The computer attempts to restart with the
  last-known-good configuration. This could result in the computer being able to
  restart, but the service may still be unable to run.
• critical – The
  error is logged (if possible). The computer attempts to restart with the
  last-known-good configuration. If the last-known-good configuration fails,
  system startup also fails, and the boot process halts with a Stop error.
• ignore – The
  error is logged and startup continues. No notification is given to the user
  beyond recording the error in the Event Log.

group= <loadOrderGroup>

tag= yes|no

depend=
<dependencies>

obj=
<accountName>

LocalSystem

password=
<password>

obj

LocalSystem

displayname=
<displayName>

ESService

Oracle Endeca Server

sc.exe [<servername>] create [<servicename>] [type= {own | share | kernel | filesys | rec | interact type= {own | share}}] [start= {boot | system | auto | demand | disabled | delayed-auto}] [error= {normal | severe | critical | ignore}] [binpath= <binarypathname>] [group= <loadordergroup>] [tag= {yes | no}] [depend= <dependencies>] [obj= {<accountname> | <objectname>}] [displayname= <displayname>] [password= <password>]

sc.exe \\myserver create NewService binpath= c:\windows\system32\NewServ.exe

sc.exe create NewService binpath= c:\windows\system32\NewServ.exe type= share start= auto depend= +TDI NetBIOS