No endpoint listening at net.pipe

Question

I am getting the following error:

There was no endpoint listening at net.pipe://localhost/ServiceModelSamples/service that could accept the message. This is often caused by an incorrect address or SOAP action. See InnerException, if present, for more details.

I am calling WCF self hosted service inside windows service from another WCF call as follows.

                   _host = new ServiceHost(typeof(CalculatorService),
            new Uri[] { new Uri("net.pipe://localhost/PINSenderService") });

        _host.AddServiceEndpoint(typeof(ICalculator),
                new NetNamedPipeBinding(),
                "");

        _host.Open();

        ChannelFactory<ICalculator> factory = new ChannelFactory<ICalculator>(
            new NetNamedPipeBinding(NetNamedPipeSecurityMode.None),
            new EndpointAddress("net.pipe://localhost/PINSenderService"));
        ICalculator proxy = factory.CreateChannel();
        proxy.SendPin(pin);
        ((IClientChannel)proxy).Close();
        factory.Close();

Self-Hosted WCF Service

 namespace PINSender
 {

    // Define a service contract.    

    public interface ICalculator
    {
        [OperationContract]
        void SendPin(string pin);
    }

    // Implement the ICalculator service contract in a service class.
    public class CalculatorService : ICalculator
    {
        // Implement the ICalculator methods.
        public void  SendPin(string pin)
        {
        }
    }

    public class CalculatorWindowsService : ServiceBase
    {
        public ServiceHost serviceHost = null;
        public CalculatorWindowsService()
        {
            // Name the Windows Service
            ServiceName = "PINSenderService";
        }

        public static void Main()
        {
            ServiceBase.Run(new CalculatorWindowsService());
        }

        // Start the Windows service.
        protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
        {
            if (serviceHost != null)
            {
                serviceHost.Close();
            }

            // Create a ServiceHost for the CalculatorService type and 
            // provide the base address.
            serviceHost = new ServiceHost(typeof(CalculatorService));

            // Open the ServiceHostBase to create listeners and start 
            // listening for messages.
            serviceHost.Open();
        }

        protected override void OnStop()
        {
            if (serviceHost != null)
            {
                serviceHost.Close();
                serviceHost = null;
            }
        }
    }

    // Provide the ProjectInstaller class which allows 
    // the service to be installed by the Installutil.exe tool
    [RunInstaller(true)]
    public class ProjectInstaller : Installer
    {
        private ServiceProcessInstaller process;
        private ServiceInstaller service;

        public ProjectInstaller()
        {
            process = new ServiceProcessInstaller();
            process.Account = ServiceAccount.LocalSystem;
            service = new ServiceInstaller();
            service.ServiceName = "PINSenderService";
            Installers.Add(process);
            Installers.Add(service);
        }
     }

}

App.Config

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
<system.serviceModel>
<services>
  <service name="PINSender.CalculatorService"
           behaviorConfiguration="CalculatorServiceBehavior">
    <host>
      <baseAddresses>            
        <add baseAddress="net.pipe://localhost/PINSenderService"/>
      </baseAddresses>
    </host>

    <endpoint address=""
              binding="netNamedPipeBinding"
              contract="PINSender.ICalculator" />        
    <endpoint address="mex"
              binding="mexNamedPipeBinding"
              contract="IMetadataExchange" />                
  </service>
</services>
<behaviors>
  <serviceBehaviors>
    <behavior name="CalculatorServiceBehavior">
      <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="False"  />
      <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="False"/>
    </behavior>
  </serviceBehaviors>
  </behaviors>
 </system.serviceModel>
</configuration>

Answer 1

• Make sure IIS is configured to use Windows Process Activation Service(WAS):

  2. From the Start menu, choose Control Panel.
  3. Select Programs, then Programs and Features, or in Classic view, select Programs and Features.
  4. Click Turn Windows Features on or off.
  5. Under Features Summary, click Add Features.
  6. Expand the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0(or 3.5) node and check the Windows Communication Foundation Non-HTTP Activation feature.

• Make sure Net.Pipe Listener Adapter service is running:

  8. Got to run & open Services.msc
  9. Make sure Net.Pipe Listener Adapter service is running.

In your App.config, you have used baseAddress with http, try changing that to net.pipe:

  <baseAddresses>
    <add baseAddress="net.pipe://localhost/ServiceModelSamples/service"/>
  </baseAddresses>

see NetNamedPipeBinding for more details.

Update:

You need to add bindingConfiguration in endpoint like :

<endpoint address=""
              binding="netNamedPipeBinding"
              contract="Microsoft.ServiceModel.Samples.ICalculator" 
              bindingConfiguration="Binding1" /> 

and add actual bindingConfiguration like:

    <bindings>
  <!-- 
        Following is the expanded configuration section for a NetNamedPipeBinding.
        Each property is configured with the default value.
     -->
  <netNamedPipeBinding>
    <binding name="Binding1" 
             closeTimeout="00:01:00"
             openTimeout="00:01:00" 
             receiveTimeout="00:10:00" 
             sendTimeout="00:01:00"
             transactionFlow="false" 
             transferMode="Buffered" 
             transactionProtocol="OleTransactions"
             hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard" 
             maxBufferPoolSize="524288"
             maxBufferSize="65536" 
             maxConnections="10" 
             maxReceivedMessageSize="65536">
      <security mode="Transport">
        <transport protectionLevel="EncryptAndSign" />
      </security>
    </binding>
  </netNamedPipeBinding>
</bindings>

Answer 2

I had the same error pop up. I was running from Visual Studio 2013, on windows 8.1. The solution for me was to run Visual Studio as an Administrator.

Answer 3

I also run Visual Studio 2013 on windows Server 2012 which is basically the same as 8.1, restarting it as admin also fixed the problem for me.

Hope it helps!

Answer 4

I had this issue because I was using an older tutorial, and trying to configure programatically.

The part I was missing was to supply the metadata endpoint (thank you, this post!).

ServiceMetadataBehavior serviceMetadataBehavior = 
    host.Description.Behaviors.Find<ServiceMetadataBehavior>();

if (serviceMetadataBehavior == null)
{
    serviceMetadataBehavior = new ServiceMetadataBehavior();
    host.Description.Behaviors.Add(serviceMetadataBehavior);
}

host.AddServiceEndpoint(
    typeof(IMetadataExchange), 
    MetadataExchangeBindings.CreateMexNamedPipeBinding(), 
    "net.pipe://localhost/PipeReverse/mex"
);