I have a windows setup project in VB.Net (in VS 2010). The ProductVersion is set to default(1.0.0.0) when I build the MSI.
Now I want to set the ProductVersion dynamically while installation (with the help of a custom action or something like that) reading from a database table, so that after installation of the msi, the Version of the product shown in windows control panel or installed exe file properties, is the updated one.
Thanks in advance.
You can't do that - the ProductVersion is something that Windows uses before it even starts the install. That's why you sometimes see "another version of this product is already installed". The easiest way for someone else to change the ProductVersion after your build and before the install is to use a script to update ProductVersion in the Property table of the MSI. If you look at WiRunSQL.vbs in the Windows kit SDK and know the SQL to use that'll do it. You'd need to update Property.ProductVersion. Docs here with a link to examples:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa372021(v=vs.85).aspx
Related
Suppose that you have an installer (not a wix installer) that you downloaded from somewhere. How can you know UpgradeCode of that installer so that you can fill it in in the UpgradeCode section in the new installer that you prepare?
Can I learn it from registry somehow? So the question is basically, how to know the UpgradeCode of a program that is installed in the computer.
Actually my problem is that my product has been installed with another installer and I am now trying to move it to wix installer. However, I can't find upgrade code in previous installer and I want to find it from installed software.
Thanks.
As I posted to WiX users:
I've seen this done by having the upgrade get the uninstall string from the registry, where there should be a command you can use since it's not MSI-based. Whether you should call it in the UI sequence or the execute sequence or both depends on your requirements for silent installs, meaning that you'd need to do it silently in the execute sequence, and perhaps need to alter the uninstall command to make it silent.
The same general idea should work if that install has a standard uninstall shortcut you could get the command from. Either way, you're just using a CA to run an external program, or maybe a Util
CAQuietExec kind of thing.
Assuming it's a Windows Installer based installer ( WiX, InstallShield, et al ) you can edit it with ORCA and look at the Property table to see it's UpgradeCode. You may have to first extract it if it was packaged as a self extracting installer.
You can also query the MSI API or look in the registry (HKCR\Installer) for this information. If you go the registry route it's probably easiest to look at the Products/GUID/Sourcelist key and trace it back to a cached MSI and look at it in ORCA. Otherwise you have to learn how to join different datasets and convert Darwin transformed GUIDS back to their original GUID format.
Fire up PowerShell (run as admin) and run this command to get a list of installed products with product code:
Get-WmiObject Win32_Product | Format-Table Name, LocalPackage
You will get a list of all installed MSI products, and a weird looking path to the local cached MSI database. It normally looks something like this:
C:\Windows\Installer\235bbf8.msi
The 235bbf8.msi file name is random, and will be different for each installed product. It is a cached copy of the MSI file that you originally installed. It does not contain cab files (or at least it didn't in older versions of Windows).
You can open that file with the random name from Orca by chosing File -> Open and then pasting in the full path to the file open dialog, and then pressing open. Don't make any changes but check the upgrade code in the Property table. You can also use other MSI tools such as Installshield.
Note that the path C:\Windows\Installer is "super protected" and is not even visible in Windows Explorer before you enable the show hidden folders AND you disable the protect operating system files option. I still believe you can open the file directly if you paste the whole path into Orca - no need to go via Windows Explorer.
I've packaged my vb.net project with an installer project and installed it on my pc. Now, how can I make an update patch if I want to update my installed program? I'm using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010. I've tried to Google on this issue but instructions are unclear to me.
One way to do it is as follows:
If the installer package installs your application into the fixed location, i.e. when user can't select where to install, you can always have your update package go to that same location and replace your assemblies.
If the location is dynamic, your initial installation needs to leave some registry keys/values related to the location. Then your update package can get the location from the registry and replace the assemblies based on that data.
I have created a wix installer project which is working fine. It installs my application on system easily. whenever if there is any change in any file or service, i uninstall msi from controk panel and installs new msi on system.
But whenever i install new msi, application's all setting change after new installation, that doesn't sound good. For sort out this, i am using Upgrade code in Product.wxs file. But when i install new msi after build, but is shows given error:
Another version of this product is already installed. Installation of this version cannot continue. To configure or remove the existing version of this product, use Add/Remove Programs on the Control Panel
So, i want to update windows application package whenever there is any change in files and with same Product id. I just want to update installed msi, dont want to remove that.
You cannot use the same ProductId to do upgrades, you need to change it. The best way is to set ProductId="*" and this will change it for every build. You will also need to increase the version number and this best done by using the main exe assembly version number. See http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix3/major_upgrade.htm for more info.
You can use the same ProductCode to update an installed MSI. Basically you increment the ProductVersion, rebuild the MSI (with new PackageCode) and do a minor update with a command line such as:
msiexec /i <path to new msi> REINSTALL=ALL REINSTALLMODE=vomus.
In my experience this not commonly used because if you're going to rebuild the MSI you may as well upgrade with a major upgrade.
If all you want are updates to a few files and you're not ready to ship a complete MSI file, then that's what patches are for. Rebuild the MSI as above, then build a patch - the patch is the delta between the two MSI files, see docs for MsiMsp.exe.
I would like to create a installer (like BootStarper) to achieve following steps using WiX.
There will be a setup.exe file.
Upon Runnig this file it has to open a UI and show the list of softwares (MSI) available for installation.
The software products are grouped into two Group A or Group B.
Each group may contain Two or more MSI files (Both internal and third party files)
Allow user to Choose a group and one or more products to be installed.
Based on the selection, the products should be silently installed on the local system.
Shall I create a WiX project and display given products(MSI) as its features and can start a deffered custom action to install the seleted ones?
How to author my WiX project to choose the groups and then selected features?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Upgrade to WiX 3.6 (Beta) and take a look at the new "Burn" functionality.
You cannot use a deferred custom action to install another MSI because there is a mutex that enforces one running execute sequence per machine.
There is functionality in MSI 4.5 called multi-package transactions however MSI 4.5 may not be already installed on a 2003/XP/Vista Machine so you'd need setup.exe to boostrap it anyways.
Also "concurrent" installs are deprecated and should not be used to do servicing issues.
This is not something you can solve either with the stable WiX release, or Windows Installer.
You will need a separate bootstrapper to launch your MSI files. as the WiX bootstrapper, Burn is only in the WiX 3.6 beta release and not yet properly documented I would suggest trying something like dotNetInstaller.
I have created an MSI installer for a .NET 3.5 application written in Visual Studio Express 2008. The installer UI is localized (to danish) and looks fine. My problem is that errors, say a previous version is installed and needs to be removed first, the error dialog is in english. How do I localize error-dialogs too?
I'm not familiar with Visual Studio, but have you checked out http://www.tramontana.co.hu/wix/lesson2.php#2.3 - you need to ensure you specify the correct language and codepages in the Product and Package tags. You might need to edit the source wxs file if VS doesn't provide a GUI for this.