How to get wix bootstrapper to start extracting installer immediately - wix

My installer has a license dialog, so I don't see the need to display one in the bootstrapper. This earlier question had an answer which doesn't display the license agreement, but still requires the user to click the install button. I'd like to immediately extract and run .msi without requiring any user input. Is there a way to skip the dialog completely?

There is option called /passive which should do what you want: start installation automatically, showing the user interface.
However, the problem is that it can't be set by default - you'd have to wrap your .msi into some kind of .exe which calls the msi with specific command line.
http://windows-installer-xml-wix-toolset.687559.n2.nabble.com/Burn-Launch-using-passive-option-as-default-td7591613.html

Related

How can I get Explorer to restart when using Burn

In an msi, we use the following to get explorer to restart so that it loads our shell extension.
<util:RestartResource Path="[WindowsFolder]explorer.exe"/>
However, now that I've wrapped this msi up with its dependencies in an installer created with burn, the restart of Explorer no longer occurs.
How can I get the restart to still occur?
Thanks.
The msi normally displays some UI asking the user to reboot. This UI is hidden when wrapped in a burn/bundle exe. I thought perhaps the burn engine would issue callbacks allowing a custom bootstrapper to display the relevant UI. I tried overridding OnExecuteMsiMessage in a custom bootstrapper application, but don't see any message that would appear to give me an opportunity to display the UI that's required for the Explorer.exe restart.

WiX Uninstall cannot stop application unless elevated

I've created an installer using WiX and if the user tries to uninstall my application whilst it is still open, they should get the dialog which gives them the option to have the uninstaller close the application automatically or leave it running but a restart will be required.
It seems though that with User Account Control on, I need to elevate by running the package with msiexec from an elevated command prompt before this will happen. If the user is not elevated, the uninstaller will run, they click the Remove icon (which prompts for elevation), but the setup then simply says:
"The setup must update files or services that cannot be updated while the system is running. If you choose to continue, a reboot will be required to complete the setup."
I'd like them to have the option to close the app even when just uninstalling without having to manually elevate first
My best guess is that your MSI does not have a FilesInUse dialog box nor a MsiRMFilesInUse dialog box. Those are "well-known" dialog boxes that the Windows Installer will populate with information when it detects files in use. The WiX toolset should give you those dialogs automatically if you use one of the standard UIs. Alternatively, you can create your own dialogs.

Launch dialog on uninstall using WiX

I have created a WiX installer and would like to launch a custom action dialog on uninstall. From this dialog I would like to gather information on why the user is uninstalling my application (well, this means just launching the web-browser).
I have seen some people using the On="uninstall" property, but I am not sure if this is the one to use, and how to use it, for the above action.
Windows doesn't show UI when a product is uninstalled from Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features.
JakobJ: I wouldn't mess with this uninstall sequence. Any modal dialog that pops up when the installation is run in silent mode (which it is from add/remove) could cause your entire product to be axed in a corporate environment. If your uninstall is invoked from a management system such as SCCM and the uninstall on a lot of machines fails because the uninstall gets stuck on a dialog, this will not soon be forgotten. Trust me.

Why won't Windows Installer use the UI in the .msi file during removal?

Has anyone been able to get Windows Installer to use the InstallUISequence table during removal?
I started with an MSI file produced by the Visual Studio msi builder, decompiled it into WiX source code and handcrafted it, but I cannot get the installer to use my UI during removal. It insists on using a default UI provided by Windows Installer.
I have also analyzed several MSI files, and I have been unable to find one where Windows Installer will use the provided UI during removal.
I captured the msiexec logs during removal, and sure enough, Windows Installer appears to be ignoring the InstallUISequence table.
It seems that msiexec runs with minimal UI during removal. If I specify the /qf switch (use full UI) during removal, then Windows Installer does take the UI from the .msi file. However, this doesn't help the regular user, because she won't do the removal from msiexec.
Does anyone know of a way to convince Windows Installer to use the UI in the MSI file by default?
When removing an application from Add/Remove Programs, this will always run with "basic" UI.
You can't make uninstall run with full UI, the best you can do is prevent removal and force people to 'modify' (which does run with UI) and remove from there.
Whatever you do, there's still no way to prevent someone right clicking on the original MSI and selecting 'Remove', this will always run with basic UI.
The "Why" is basically because Microsoft says so. :-) Can't say I disagree as I get annoyed when ISV's get all cute when I'm just trying to remove a program.

WIX MSI Package Uninstallation

I am using WIX for an installer package. When I uninstall the package by double clicking the original msi package everything is fine.
When I uninstall from the control panel it gives me a miminal UI uninstallation. I have written into my MSI a custom action which asks the user whether they want to uninstall some databases etc. This does not occur on the minimal UI uninstallation.
How can I make the uinstall from control panel work with a full UI?
A reply by Bob Arnson in this thread:
Yes, that's the behavior of the
Add/Remove Programs applet. It always
uninstalls MSI packages in basic mode
after prompting. The only thing you
can do is set ARPNOREMOVE to force a
user to use maintenance mode -- and
surface a Remove option in your
maintenance UI.
You can't do that natively with MSI. You'd need to refer to a boostrapper/external UI to do the uninstall. The other answers to this question point in the right direction.
Look at the registry key for your product in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall. In there look at the Uninstall value and see if adjusting it does what you want.
I'm pretty sure that there is a property in the MSI for this if that fixes your issue I just can't remember it off the top of my head. Searching the MSI for the string you find in the registry should help you suss it out though.
You can make ARP menu show only Remove/Change button(it opens your maintenance dialog) for your app by deleting 'ModifyPath' registry value under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{YourProductCode}. And place both remove and change options in your maintenance dialog.
PS. For this method to apply make sure that you don't have any of the following registry values set to 1 under the registry key stated above: NoRepair, NoRemove, NoModify, WindowsInstaller.