1 reply to this topic

[jasonh]

I have put together a VS C++ 6.0 application that has tons of COM files in it, with some directories and what not.
I installed the app on a clean VMWare XP SP2 session - clean - and InstallShield loads just fine - my script works, it all looks beautiful.
I run my program while watching my install directory and after I turn my app off, there are a whole bunch of files - both COM and some other files - that get removed from my install directory. Strangest thing, so I tried it on another VM session and then on another PC - same thing happens. The files that are removed are ones that the app does not use. The problem is, at some point in the future, I will need those COM objects and files there so a user may use them. If they are not there, then the app will likely crash and burn.

So what I did was recompile ALL of my C++, a few old VB programs and made everything fresh. Mind you, I didn't touch the scripts, nor the code within the application, then recompiled the InstallScript MSI project, loaded it, and it worked just fine.

This scares me. This seems to me like a bug in DevStudio 9. I never got this kind of strangeness from the Wise products (mind you, they were not MSI builds).

Has anyone experienced this with DevStudio 9 InstallScript MSI installs?
Do you think it has something to do with my own PC-Development environment? I guess we can only speculate why I would need to recompile a perfectly working program for InstallShield. Don't get it.
I would be thankful for any suggestions or brain dumps you may have on this issue - cheers -

[Stefan Krueger]

Usually your setup should not automatically run after you finished the installation, and thus cannot remove those files. If it does, you should be able to find out if and why the setup runs, by looking into Windows Event Log and/or by globally enabling MSI logging for all MSI activity (by setting the registry key described at http://www.msifaq.com/a/1022.htm). This article may also be helpful:
Windows Installer launches unexpectedly, for no obvious reason (http://www.msifaq.com/a/1037.htm).

However, if the problem goes away after you recompile your application but without changing your install projects, I suspect that the problem is with your application, not in your setup.