I migrated a Visual Studio Setup Project to WiX.
If I upgrade the Software installed by WiX with a WiX Setup (increased Minor Version), it upgrades fine.
But If I try to upgrade the Software installed by VS Setup, with my new WiX Setup, it does not remove the old Installation. And I kept the same Upgrade Id.
Is this not possible?
What does it do? You get two entries in Programs and Features after you try to do the upgrade?
If the upgrade codes are identical, and the product codes are different, and the new one has a higher version, the most common reason is that the older install is per user and the upgrade is per system (or the other way around). In VS setups that's the "Just me" setting, and it might be the default.
But yes, it is possible. It's nothing to do with the tool you use to build the MSI file, it's a feature of MSI files and Windows Installer.
Related
We have developed an application that is distributed through Windows Installer, created with the use of WiX, where our customers can upgrade from any older version to the newest.
Our latest version however, deletes 2 dll's, and this is only rectified through a reinstall.
Details on the NuGet packages
Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocol.Extensions was upgraded from Nuget Version 1.0.2.206221351 and File version 1.0.20622.1351 to Nuget version 1.0.4.403061554 and File version 1.0.4.54.
Similar changes happened to file versioning of System.IdentityModel.Tokens.Jwt from Nuget version 4.0.2.206221351 to Nuget version 4.0.4.403061554.
So by changing how the File version was calculated, MS effectively changed the version to a downgrade of the previous (from 20622 to 4 on the build version).
Why the dll's are removed on upgrade
Some call it a bug, and some call it a feature, but what happens, is that the MSI has a step where it records all the files that needs to be upgraded, it then uninstalls the current version, and then only installs the files that was unchanged or bumped in version - any downgrades are left out.
Question: How do we get around it?
We are shipping this product to a lot of different customers, with very varied technical skills, so an upgrade better work, or we will be flooded with support issues. Are there anything I can change, without actually disabling features like the ability for the MSI to rollback in case of errors, which I have seen as a trade off for others solving the same issue.
You have a few options. One is to change where you schedule RemoveExistingProducts. Another is to use REINSTALLMODE=AMUS instead of the default OMUS. Another is to do version lying on the offending DLLs so that they always get reinstalled. (Author the file element so the version is 65535.0.0.0 or something like that.)
It's an MSI feature... the bug is in Nuget releasing a newer DLL with a lower version #. That breaks MSI's component rules and default file versioning rules.
This might help:
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/astebner/2015/11/16/why-windows-installer-removes-files-during-a-major-upgrade-if-they-go-backwards-in-version-numbers/
and basically Chris is correct, and:
The RemoveExistingProducts placement should be before the costing actions which cause the error.
Another alternative is to open the files with Visual Studio and alter the file versions in the resources so that the rules are followed. File version would not affect assembly version. Just run Visual Studio, then File-Open File, and the Resources section will show where you can change the version.
It's also very likely that a repair will restore the missing files because the missing files "break" the product install. That's easy to test. If that is really the case, then it will repair automatically (and just once) if the app starts with a shortcut, or you can arrange for the shortcut to be advertised. If not, I've seen people use MsiProvideComponent () to make sure the files exist because that will do the repair/install.
I have an old installer that is made with InstallShield 2015, its non-MSI based (I tried opening it with 7zip and could not --> non-MSI based, am I right?).
In general, I need to stop using InstallShield and migrate to Wix.
Is it possible some how to convert InstallShield it to Wix?
Using Wix, I need to detect if a previous version (the InstallShield version) is currently installed and automatically uninstall it and then continue with the normal Wix process. Is such a thing possible?
Thank You :-)
I'll add a quick answer for reference, though the problem appears solved already.
If the old Installshield setup is an MSI, you can use dark.exe from the WiX toolkit to "disassemble" an MSI into WiX source code (dark.exe can also decompile WiX setup.exe bundles - there is a somewhat messy description of this here: How can I compare the content of two (or more) MSI files?).
After some cleanup you can compile the WiX source to a new WiX-built MSI. A bit of knowledge and experience is needed for the cleanup to be successful (eliminating GUI sections, add a WiX GUI, realign source paths, clean up binary stream tables, etc... - not trivial, but not rocket science :-).
If the old setup was a legacy installer (not MSI), you can convert it to MSI by using a repackager tool to capture changes done to the system during installation and convert them to an MSI. A lot of knowledge is required to clean up such a capture. If you know the product it is often better to code a new setup "by hand". Or if you are in a large corporation chances are you will have a "repackaging team" available somewhere who will have the expertise to do this job for you.
Yes, old setups can be uninstalled as part of your new MSI.
As you discovered if the old setup was an MSI you can simply use a major upgrade to remove it during the new WiX install.
If the old version was a legacy setup things can get considerably more involved often requiring you to "record" a dialog response file to feed to the uninstaller function of the old setup.exe file. Not at all trivial, and quite error prone. Incidentally one of the major benefits of MSI is the completely suppressible GUI.
For reference, here is an old answer with information on dealing with the infamous setup.exe files that we frequently have to uninstall and upgrade:
How can I use powershell to run through an installer? The setup.exe can be many different things: Installshield Setup, Advanced Installer Setup, Inno Setup, Self-Extracting Zip-Archive, a proprietary setup format, the list goes on...
I have a custom installer based on WiX technology which is install several .vsix packages into Visual Studio.
If this packages are already installed, the installer offers to remove them. After the removal process is completed, the installer exits.
It's normal behaviour, but I need to offer the user re-install this packages (optionally) before exit. I mean optional mode to uninstall the previous version and install the new one (or the same) with a single run of the installer.
How to implement this in WiX ?
I suspect your custom installer could be made a little smarter. There are plenty of APIs (such as MsiQueryProductState) that will tell you if that exact ProductCode is installed, and ways to get the version (MsiGetProductInfo). My guess is that your custom installer is just firing off all the MSI installs without checking if they are already installed, hence the Remove prompts.
Your general plan should be to have some data available to your custom installer that it can use to find out what's already installed and what the versions are, and then compare these with what you are about to install. Use those APIs. If the product is already installed then skip the install. If you have a newer version (that you built with the WiX MajorUpgrade element) then just install it because it will replace the existing older one.
There's nothing I can think of in WiX that would automatically reinstall a product that your custom installer caused removal of by re-installing it and prompting the user to remove it, if that's what's going on.
Since I wasn't a part of my company when our build process was designed and implemented (and has been successful for quite a few years now), I found out that there were things that were being done that may be looked at as 'hacks' to MSI 'purists'. However, in order to get a workable installer with Visual Studio 2012, I've been doing the best I can to mimic what was being done with the .vdproj files in Visual Studio 2010. Of the many snags I've hit, this one seems to be the last one that I can't resolve.
As part of our build process with Visual Studio 2010, we built our code and created a Framework MSI on one VM. Then we took that Framework MSI and installed it on a different VM. After the framework had been installed, we built our product code and created a Product MSI off of it. This created a Product dependence on our Framework. What this meant was that when installing on a client machine, the bootstrapper needed to install the Framework first followed by the Product. On uninstall our documentation stated to either have it handled through ARP or by command line 'msiexec /x {Product.msi/#ProductCode}' and then the 'msiexec /x {Framework.msi/#ProductCode}'.
At the time, management determined that the ProductCode would be the easiest way for other product teams to determine if our product had been installed on a machine. This lead them to the decision that they needed to keep a static ProductCode for both the Framework and the Product.
In order to handle upgrades, they had to create a ProductTool.exe that was nothing more than the msiexec wrapped in an executable that took a /ProductCode={#ProductCode} argument.
As part of our bootstrapper, they called:
Install prerequisites (Windows Installer 4.5, .NET 3.5 SP1, SQL Server 2008 R2 Express, Sync 2.1)
ProductTool.exe (Product.msi -- to uninstall the Product.msi)
ProductTool.exe (Framework.msi -- to uninstall the Framework.msi)
Install Framework.msi
Install Product.msi
However, I didn't discover until just recently that the Burn bootstrapper does not allow REINSTALLMODE=amus. In the install logs, it says that it changes it to REINSTALLMODE=vomus. Apparently in order to get that aforementioned process to work on upgrades, they had to set REINSTALLMODE=amus.
UPDATE: I finally got to talk to the original developer of the installer and found out that REINSTALLMODE=amus was used intentionally to revert all of the versioned files (assemblies, DLL files, etc.) and non-versioned files (.config, SQL script, etc.) as a risk minimization and robustness/"self-healing" strategy.
Having said all of that, is it even possible with a standard burn bootstrap application (BA) to set REINSTALLMODE=amus so that I can get the upgrades working? The MSI files have the Property's set, but Burn seems to override it.
No, this is not supported by the Burn engine today. Burn controls the REINSTALLMODE very carefully to correctly handle upgrades and repairs. Using a in REINSTALLMODE is far from a best practice and thus is not supported. Also, it isn't clear why a is necessary in the scenario you described.
Are there are any templates or guidelines for creating a Windows Installer XML (WiX) project for deploying a Petrel plugin?
Are there any reasons for WiX not having been selected as the natural successor to the old *.vdproj/MSI recommendation?
Has anyone tried WiX for Petrel plugins? I'm interested in exchanging ideas and experiences. I'm new to WiX, and find it difficult to get started.
(Off topic: the "new" PIP paradigm is lean and simple, but is a bad fit for enterprise use, where clients expect to be able to repackage an MSI in order to facilitate mass deployment through e.g. group policies. I'll post another question on this.)
MSI deployment is still supported in Ocean/Petrel regardless of the way of MSIs generation (and WiX is just another way to generate them).
In Ocean/Petrel 2012.1 you need to define custom action calling command-line tool PluginManager.exe with /install and /uninstall switch during the installation and uninstallation steps respectively. Custom actions are defined using <CustomAction> tags in WiX. There are two tricks you need to keep in mind when calling PluginManager.exe from MSI custom actions:
you need to supply your MSI installer ID (usually GUID) in /installerId:your_installer_id command-line switch during the installation. This will enable automatic MSI uninstallation of your plug-ins when Petrel is uninstalled
you need to run PluginManager.exe with /runFromInstaller switch during the uninstallation. By doing this you let PluginManager know that you run it from MSI installer, and so there is no need to run MSI uninstallation once more
You can find these and other tips and tricks, with full PluginManager.exe command line speicifications in the Plug-in Identity and Deployment White Paper in Ocean.chm (section "How to use PluginManager.exe in MSI installer").
Important information with Petrel 2013:
We have plugins that can be installed or uninstalled using MSI, created with Wix. When installing a PIP with PluginManager.exe without using the argument /installerId:<msi_installer_id> uninstalling the plugin using the Petrel physically deletes all your files, but create an inconsistency in windows uninstaller plugin. If we use the argument /installerId:<msi_installer_id> uninstalling the plugin using the Petrel occurs only logical deleting the plugin, keeping it physically in their original directory. This allows it to be installed subsequently also by Petrel. In the latter case, there is no inconsistency, because the windows uninstall the plugin and be able to delete all your files.
The problem is that uninstalling the plugin using the Petrel 2013 is not calling its MSI uninstaller. It should not be? This looks like a bug.