3 replies to this topic

[bobhickey]

This is an issue impacting the Windows installer that I need to resolve. I used IS 6.31 to write the installer for my Version 6 product. I am now using InstallShield 11.5 to write Version 7 of my product.

Version 6 of my product installs the registry key of

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\COMPANY\PRODUCT\6.0

I did not turn off the logging of this key in the installation, so the end result of the uninstall log file, with respect to Created Key/Remote/Shared is this:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\COMPANY\PRODUCT\6.0 True/False/False
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\COMPANY\PRODUCT True/False/False
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\COMPANY False/False/False
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software False/False/False

When my user installs version 7 of the product, everything is OK. They can run Version 7 and version 6 without issues.

When they uninstall Version 6, the uninstall wipes out ALL registry entries in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\COMPANY\PRODUCT path, including entries I need for Version 7.

I am struggling with how to remedy this.

I have looked at the notes from this web site at: IS5/6 Samples -> Uninstallation -> Modify Uninstall Log File but cannot understand what it is doing and if it can help me.

Looking at the setup.ilg file in the InstallShield folder, I want to change a value of a registry key from TRUE to FALSE. Can I do this?

if not, I need some strategy to dis-allow the user from running the uninstaller for version 6.

One option would involve modifying the version 7 installer to first check for version 6, and if found, the version 7 installer would need to delete certain files from the C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information folder.

Another option would be to have the version 7 installer remove the version 6 entry from the add/remove programs listing by deleting a registry key.

Another option would be to replace the UninstallString key in the registry. Instead of running the log file, I could display a text file explaining the issue and tell them to manually uninstall.

Your thoughts?

[Taco Bell]

I understand your problem, but I've not had any experience with modifying an uninstall log.

Therefore, my recommendation is to the v7 installer require that v6 before uninstalled beforehand. It could even do this on-the-fly before displaying the v7 setup wizard as running it at that point wouldn't cause any problems.

Another alternative is to create a new IS project that would take the place of the current v6 uninstaller and user having to do it manually. This "setup" would of course delete only the appropriate registry entries along with the associated files. You would then deploy this new v6 uninstaller upon installing v7 and change the v6 uninstall string to make use of it.

Hope it helps and good luck.

[bobhickey]

Thanks for the response. Based on our product requirements, I can't uninstall version 6 when version 7 installs. I need to leave 6 on the machine so the user can validate their scripts with the new release before they uninstall the old one.

I like the idea of creating a different uninstaller, then modifying the uninstaller registry settings to have this new program run at uninstall time. But, how would I know what exactly was installed so I can uninstall? The user may have added their own files, which I don't want to remove.

[Taco Bell]

Okay, I can certainly understand leaving it intact as being a requirement then.

As for the different uninstaller, since it's your setup, you should have enough knowledge about the contents of the v6 installer to safely remove that data and not affect any of the possible user content. Just remove a hard-coded set of files based on the expected installation directories.