Cmd does not work as installer custom action - wix

Question

I am creating an installer using WiX Toolset. I would like to backup old configuration (files with .config extension) when the checkbox is checked and then install new ones with _new appended to a name.
I have created cmd scripts to achieve that and inserted them in custom actions.
<CustomAction Id="RenameNewConfigs" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER" ExeCommand='for /r %%a in (*.config) do ren "%%~a" "%%~na_new%%~xa"' Impersonate="no" Execute="deferred" Return="ignore" />
<CustomAction Id="MoveOldConfigs" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER" ExeCommand='xcopy /SYI "..\OldConfigs" "."' Impersonate="no" Execute="deferred" Return="ignore" />
<CustomAction Id="RemoveConfigsBackup" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER" ExeCommand='rd ..\OldConfigs /S /Q' Impersonate="no" Execute="deferred" Return="ignore" />
<InstallExecuteSequence>
<Custom Action="RenameNewConfigs" After="InstallFiles">KEEP_OLD_CONFIGURATION</Custom>
<Custom Action="MoveOldConfigs" After="RenameNewConfigs">KEEP_OLD_CONFIGURATION</Custom>
<Custom Action="RemoveConfigsBackup" After="MoveOldConfigs">INSTALLED AND (NOT REMOVE="ALL")</Custom>
</InstallExecuteSequence>
During the execution (according to logs) the first and third commands produce following output:
Info 1721. There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program required for this install to complete could not be run. Contact your support personnel or package vendor. Action: RenameNewConfigs, location: C:\Program Files\correct\path\, command: for /r %%a in (*.config) do ren "%%~a" "%%~na_new%%~xa"
What is wrong? Why cannot execute standard command?

Answer 1

There's an important difference between what can be run at the command prompt and what is actually a command. In this case, for and rd are built-in and only xcopy is it's own command. To determine this, you can run where for, where xcopy and where rd at a command prompt. In addition, Windows Installer often needs you to specify the full path to a command. This may take the form of something like [SystemFolder]xcopy.exe, but is impossible for a built-in. Instead you would need to specify something like [SystemFolder]cmd.exe /c rd ...
Note that this is not a great way to actually accomplish what you want to accomplish. Not only do command prompts popping up during an installation look bad, but the do not integrate well with logging, error reporting, or rollback. If possible, you're best off using true Windows Installer functionality (such as through the DuplicateFile and RemoveFile tables), as they are designed to handle rollback scenarios. If not, you can at least get much better integration if you write a C++ custom action dll and use it instead of exes.

Answer 2

You need to execute your command on executable application, in your case it will be cmd.exe.
ExeCommand='cmd.exe /c "for %a in (*.config) do ren "%~a" "%~na_new%~xa"""'
Change your code into this, and it should work :)