I have a service that needs user-defined start up arguments. Reading that the registry isn't recommended any longer, I have a xml doc that holds the values.

My problem is, when the machine starts up (my service auto-starts), the values are not read from the properties file correctly. More precisely, values have their defaults (integers are 0, strings are ""). If I stop, then restart the service, the values are read in just fine.

Any idea what's going on, or a better way to accomplish?

TIA,
Mike