6 replies to this topic

[usman]

Hi

I created an installer about a year back and it was deployed. Few of the clients were having uninstallation problems (getting catastrophic faliure error). Also there were many changes made over the year making the installer quite messy. I decided to re-write the Installer with the same Project GUID. The main difference between the two (old and new) installers is the set of components. Each has different components in it. Now the new installer is running correctly as long as I install a fresh copy, or modify the installation (installed with old installer), but it gives problem on uninstalling an installation of old installer. On debugging I found out that the OnMaintUIBefore function ends and without a delay, it takes me to the OnMoved event handler. The files that were installed by old installer are not removed from the system at all. Can you please assist me, what should I do to make it right.

Regards

Usman

[Taco Bell]

Well, given the fact you kept the same project GUID, those problems are to be expected and you really should change the GUID to avoid those kinds of issues.

[usman]

Thanx for your reply Taco. The idea behind giving the same project GUID was that this new installer could replace the installation of old installer on any machine. A new GUID will certainly install a fresh copy, no matter old installer has already been run on the system or not. So what I wanted to do was to create a new installer but also allowing old installer users to be able to modify thier installations with this new installer. This could only be done if both projects have same GUID. Hope I've cleared why I can't keep different GUIDs.

Regards

Usman

[Taco Bell]

Yes, I understand the need for keeping the same project GUID now.

Personally, I go about things a different way to carry over components between installations, but given that you can't change the behavior of the old installer, that's not really an option in your case.

Therefore, I'm not sure exactly how to go about resolving this issue. However, it would seem that you would need to somehow enforce that the installation to be modified with the new installer before one could do an uninstallation.

[usman]

Yes I guess so too. One will definitely have to run an update before uninstall. Anyhow Thanx for your help. I really appreciate it.

Regards

Usman

[samsquared]

Are you calling ComponentRemoveAll from OnMaintUIBefore for an uninstall?

[usman]

Yes. That is what the wizard generated code is. On an uninstall ComponentRemoveAll is called.