diff --git a/src/Core/WinSWCore/ServiceDescriptor.cs b/src/Core/WinSWCore/ServiceDescriptor.cs
index c21865c..e39193f 100755
--- a/src/Core/WinSWCore/ServiceDescriptor.cs
+++ b/src/Core/WinSWCore/ServiceDescriptor.cs
@@ -71,8 +71,7 @@ namespace winsw
             {
                 using(var reader = new StreamReader(BasePath + ".xml"))
                 {
-                    string xml = reader.ReadToEnd();
-                    dom = ServiceDescriptor.XmlValidation(xml);
+                    dom = ServiceDescriptor.XmlValidation(reader);
                 }
             }
             catch (XmlException e)
@@ -110,11 +109,11 @@ namespace winsw
         // ReSharper disable once InconsistentNaming
         public static ServiceDescriptor FromXML(string xml)
         {
-            return new ServiceDescriptor(XmlValidation(xml));
+            return new ServiceDescriptor(XmlValidation(new StringReader(xml)));
         }
 
 
-        public static XmlDocument XmlValidation(string xml)
+        public static XmlDocument XmlValidation(TextReader textReader)
         {
             XmlReaderSettings settings = new XmlReaderSettings();
             Assembly a = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
@@ -135,7 +134,7 @@ namespace winsw
                 }
             }
 
-            var reader = XmlReader.Create(new StringReader(xml), settings);
+            var reader = XmlReader.Create(textReader, settings);
 
             var xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
             xmlDoc.Load(reader);
diff --git a/src/Test/winswTests/ServiceDescriptorTests.cs b/src/Test/winswTests/ServiceDescriptorTests.cs
index ef2dc24..6b88c7d 100644
--- a/src/Test/winswTests/ServiceDescriptorTests.cs
+++ b/src/Test/winswTests/ServiceDescriptorTests.cs
@@ -456,7 +456,7 @@ $@"<service>
 </id>
 ";
 
-            Assert.That(() => ServiceDescriptor.XmlValidation(seedXml), Throws.Exception.TypeOf<XmlException>());
+            Assert.That(() => ServiceDescriptor.XmlValidation(new StringReader(seedXml)), Throws.Exception.TypeOf<XmlException>());
         }
     }
 }