Mongod.exe error reading config file

I'm running Windows server 2008 R2, installing 64 bit mongo as a service.

When I try to run the command:

"C:\MongoDB\bin\mongod.exe" --config="C:\MongoDB\mongod.cfg"

I get an error result:

"Error parsing INI config file: unknown option  ■d"

The black box is some unknown character. The contents of mongod.cfg

dbpath=c:\data\db

logpath=c:\data\log\mongod.log

If I switch the lines, I get the error: ..."unknown option ■l", meaning that some unknown character is getting inserted before the first character read in the config file.

I've recreated this config file multiple times, using different text editors, and using the echo method shown in the MongoDB help.  There is never an unknown character in my config file.

This is preventing me from starting Mongod as a service.  I can start mongod.exe just fine without the --config option.

Any ideas what's going on here?

You say you are trying to install mongod as a service, but running:

"C:\MongoDB\bin\mongod.exe" --config="C:\MongoDB\mongod.cfg" 

does not run it as a service, it runs it as a regular program.   

Can you try running this with higher verbose level - simplest way is to add -vvv (that's level 3) to the command line...