diff --git a/src/openvpnserv/CMakeLists.txt b/src/openvpnserv/CMakeLists.txt
index 17cd90c..201350c 100644
--- a/src/openvpnserv/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/openvpnserv/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -6,11 +6,14 @@
 
 add_executable(openvpnserv)
 
+set(MC_GEN_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/mc)
+
 target_include_directories(openvpnserv PRIVATE
     ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/../../
     ../../include/
     ../openvpn/
     ../compat/
+    ${MC_GEN_DIR}
     )
 target_sources(openvpnserv PRIVATE
     common.c
@@ -32,3 +35,34 @@
     target_compile_options(openvpnserv PRIVATE -municode)
     target_link_options(openvpnserv PRIVATE -municode)
 endif ()
+
+# below we generate a DLL which contains an event source for event log messages from eventmsg.mc template
+file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${MC_GEN_DIR})
+set(MC_FILE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/eventmsg.mc)
+
+find_program(MC_COMPILER NAMES mc mc.exe x86_64-w64-mingw32-windmc i686-w64-mingw32-windmc windmc)
+
+if (NOT MC_COMPILER)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "No message compiler found.")
+endif()
+
+add_custom_command(
+    OUTPUT ${MC_GEN_DIR}/eventmsg.rc ${MC_GEN_DIR}/eventmsg.h
+    COMMAND ${MC_COMPILER} -U -h ${MC_GEN_DIR} -r ${MC_GEN_DIR} ${MC_FILE}
+    DEPENDS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/eventmsg.mc
+    VERBATIM
+    )
+
+# generate rc file for DLL and header for the service binary
+add_custom_target(msg_mc_gen ALL DEPENDS ${MC_GEN_DIR}/eventmsg.rc ${MC_GEN_DIR}/eventmsg.h)
+
+add_library(openvpnservmsg SHARED ${MC_GEN_DIR}/eventmsg.rc)
+
+if (MSVC)
+    set_target_properties(openvpnservmsg PROPERTIES LINK_FLAGS "/NOENTRY")
+else()
+    target_link_options(openvpnservmsg PRIVATE "-Wl,--no-entry")
+endif()
+
+add_dependencies(openvpnservmsg msg_mc_gen)
+add_dependencies(openvpnserv msg_mc_gen)
diff --git a/src/openvpnserv/common.c b/src/openvpnserv/common.c
index bd0a484..feaae19 100644
--- a/src/openvpnserv/common.c
+++ b/src/openvpnserv/common.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
 #include "service.h"
 #include "validate.h"
+#include "eventmsg.h"
 
 LPCTSTR service_instance = TEXT("");
 static wchar_t win_sys_path[MAX_PATH];
@@ -219,24 +220,28 @@
     LPTSTR tmp = NULL;
 
     error = GetLastError();
-    len = FormatMessage(FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM | FORMAT_MESSAGE_ARGUMENT_ARRAY,
-                        NULL, error, LANG_NEUTRAL, tmp, 0, NULL);
+    len = FormatMessageW(FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM| FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
+                         NULL, error, MAKELANGID(LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_DEFAULT), (LPTSTR)&tmp, 0, NULL);
 
-    if (len == 0 || (long) _countof(buf) < (long) len + 14)
+    if (!len || !tmp)
     {
-        buf[0] = TEXT('\0');
-    }
-    else
-    {
-        tmp[wcslen(tmp) - 2] = TEXT('\0'); /* remove CR/LF characters */
-        openvpn_swprintf(buf, _countof(buf), TEXT("%ls (0x%x)"), tmp, error);
+        openvpn_swprintf(buf, _countof(buf), TEXT("Unknown error (0x%lx)"), error);
+        if (tmp)
+        {
+            LocalFree(tmp);
+        }
+        return buf;
     }
 
-    if (tmp)
+    /* trim trailing CR / LF / spaces safely */
+    while (len && (tmp[len - 1] == TEXT('\r') || tmp[len - 1] == TEXT('\n') || tmp[len - 1] == TEXT(' ')))
     {
-        LocalFree(tmp);
+        tmp[--len] = TEXT('\0');
     }
 
+    openvpn_swprintf(buf, _countof(buf), TEXT("%ls (0x%lx)"), tmp, error);
+
+    LocalFree(tmp);
     return buf;
 }
 
@@ -268,9 +273,15 @@
         va_end(arglist);
 
         const TCHAR *mesg[] = { msg[0], msg[1] };
-        ReportEvent(hEventSource, flags & MSG_FLAGS_ERROR ?
-                    EVENTLOG_ERROR_TYPE : EVENTLOG_INFORMATION_TYPE,
-                    0, 0, NULL, 2, 0, mesg, NULL);
+        ReportEvent(hEventSource,
+                    flags & MSG_FLAGS_ERROR ? EVENTLOG_ERROR_TYPE : EVENTLOG_INFORMATION_TYPE,
+                    0,
+                    EVT_TEXT_2,
+                    NULL,
+                    2,
+                    0,
+                    mesg,
+                    NULL);
         DeregisterEventSource(hEventSource);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/openvpnserv/eventmsg.mc b/src/openvpnserv/eventmsg.mc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..722a30e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/openvpnserv/eventmsg.mc
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+MessageIdTypedef=DWORD
+
+SeverityNames=(Success=0x0:STATUS_SEVERITY_SUCCESS
+    Informational=0x1:STATUS_SEVERITY_INFORMATIONAL
+    Warning=0x2:STATUS_SEVERITY_WARNING
+    Error=0x3:STATUS_SEVERITY_ERROR
+    )
+
+FacilityNames=(System=0x0:FACILITY_SYSTEM
+    Runtime=0x2:FACILITY_RUNTIME
+    Stubs=0x3:FACILITY_STUBS
+    Io=0x4:FACILITY_IO_ERROR_CODE
+)
+
+LanguageNames=(English=0x409:MSG00409)
+
+MessageId=0x1
+Severity=Error
+Facility=Runtime
+SymbolicName=EVT_TEXT_2
+Language=English
+%1%n%2
+.