I've created a installer to publish a web application. That works without any issue. I've created a separate installer to install a windows service. That also works without any issue.
Since they are tightly related from a business perspective, I combined the two install projects into one with two features. The service feature is optional. All files are being moved to the appropriate directories, i.e. the web app files are going to wwwroot and the service app files are going to program files (86)\blah but the service itself is not being created. Even though I've replicated it exactly as the other project and tied it to the correct component.
I've racked my brain and gone through countless times but I can't find any discrepancies between the original service install project and the combined.
What am I missing?
Here's a screen shot showing that the service is indeed set up
The service must have a component that delivers that service's executable. By default (if you have only one feature), you don't have to worry about that. But since you have 2 features now, make sure that component is included in the correct feature. Also, if you installation creates a log file (and if it doesn't, I highly recommend turning that on), search it for the component name that contains the service executable. If the service is not installed, the log file should tell you why the component was skipped.