My task is to create an update installation pack wich delete some dlls and replace config files of installed program. And I have original installation Wix project source. I've read on several places on the internet about how to build update Wix project and I got some questions.
As I understood I have to use the same Product and UpgradeCode GUIDs in my update Wix project. So I have to delete unnecessary files and to add new. Can anybody tell me what is the preferred way to remove old files?
What information I must use from original installation Wix project? At the beginning I want to create my new one using Product and UpgradeCode GUIDs, but may be it possible to modify oroginal project for update purposes?
The Lesson 4 of WiX Tutorial and Patching and Upgrades chapter of Windows Installer documentation should answer most of your questions. I would also recommend you playing with small test project to understand how the things work before implementing this in live solution.
Related
We use InstallShield InstallScript projects to create our installers and are looking for a good way to migrate to the WiX Toolset. As far as I know there is no UpgradeCode (as for MSI) to update from an Installshield InstallScript project to a WiX project.
The only solution I found so far is:
manually save configurations
uninstall the InstallScript installation completely
install the WiX installation
apply the saved configurations
Is there a better way?
Ok after all those comments I think I understand why this is such an issue. Unfortunately I don't think there is a very simple way to do waht you want to do.
I think your method will be the only real way to migrate from this isntallscript setup based installation. There should be some registry entry in HKLM/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Uninstall that relates to your product. In here there may be a uninstall command which you could read into a Variable from your burn package and pass that value as a property to your msi.
In you MSI you can have 3 custom actions specifically related to upgrading from the installshield product installation. All these tasks should be deferred custom actions so that they can run with administrator elevation. The first task should copy all the configuration settings to a safe place (generally %temp%\ProductConfig\ would be fine). The second part after saving the configuration would run that uninstall command to remove the product, you may need to append /q or something to make it run passively/quietly. Then at the end of the installation you can copy back the configuration files from temp.
Each of the custom actions should run conditionally on whether or not the property you passed in is set to something. I would schedule the copy cofig after InstallInitialize, the uninstall after the copy and the restore before InstallFinalize just to ensure that everything is copied over after the installer puts all the files on the system.
Ideally you would like to get everything to upgrade without the user needing to interact except in a minimal way by clicking next and Install.
I've only dealt with InstallShield enough to know I really don't like it so if someone else knows more and knows of a better way to do it they'll hopefully chime in.
We have a solution, there are about 100 hundred projects in it. And we have around 20 installers which we created with vdproj.
I need to create WiX projects, which would create .msi instead of vdproj. I used dark.exe to generate wxs file out of msi and got binaries out of it.
I successfully created an msi file and everything was good.
But then I started thinking about it. If some of these projects are changed, will those changes be applied to the application after rebuilding of wix project? Or wxs will be referencing the old version and to update it someone will have to rebuild vdproj project to create new msi, then use dark.exe again?
I am sorry for a stupid question, it's my first time using wix and working with installers in general.
Thank you in advance
You've started on the right track. The VDPROJ outputs are .msi files, so using dark to convert those to wxs files is the right thing to do. Now that you have your wxs files (the base source file to build wix deployments), you can do away with the VDPROJ projects in your solution and only update and use the wxs files (I believe WiX has a visual studio project template available as well).
You'll have to update you wxs files with new assemblies or deliverable files as your projects change.
It is better this way then doing a wildcard pickup (something you can't technically do with WiX, anyway) as having explicit control of what goes on the target machine is preferred. I've seen many cases where developers carelessly add a reference as build output that isn't needed, and sometimes that reference cannot be redistributed per the license agreement or other legalities.
Can someone help me understand how WiX works? I have a directory structure which I would like to create an installer for. I have generated the for the directory structure with heat.exe and when I build the setup project it generates an .msi file but I don't think it installs anything.
Maybe someone can walk me through the steps of generating a .msi installer.
Any advise is appreciated,
Thank you
If you're using Visual Studio:
Install the WiX Toolset V3 Visual Studio plugin.
Install the Wax interactive editor.
Build your project if you haven't already.
Add a new project to the solution containing the project you want to create an installer for.
Choose the template Setup Project for WiX v3.
Name the installer. A personal convention is the name of the project plus ".Setup"
A Product.wxs file will open up. Change the Manufacturer="" value to something like your company name or your name. Keep the file open.
Go to Tools -> WiX Setup Editor
On the left under Root Directory choose InstallFolder
Under Projects to install, choose the project you want to install.
In the red area to the right, you'll see a list of files. These are the output results of your build from step 3.
Click the plus sign next to files you want to copy. They should turn white and change to a Resolved state.
This might look daunting, but you're just telling it what to copy--which would be your project's executable, configs, dll libraries, and images it's dependent upon.
You typically want to copy everything. If there are dll's you know you don't need, it's better to remove them as a dependency from the Visual Studio.
Notice the Product.wxs has changed. It now has the files you checked off in the Setup Editor GUI added to the <Wix><Fragment><ComponentGroup> section. Save that file.
Close the Setup Editor.
Build the setup project you just configured.
Open Windows explorer and go to that project's bin/Debug or bin/Release folder, depending on what mode you built in. There you'll see the .msi that you can copy to where you need.
To make an update, make the necessary changes and then change the version number in that project's Properties -> Application -> Assembly Information. Then also change it in Product.wxs <Wix><Product.Version>. Then just build your setup project again.
Good tutorial here:
http://wix.tramontana.co.hu/
http://www.codeproject.com/Tips/105638/A-quick-introduction-Create-an-MSI-installer-with
They should get you started.
If you learn something about the MSI log that will also help - install the MSI with a command line that includes /L*vx
And "doesn't install anything" should be easy to check - are there are any files installed, or did it create an entry in Programs&Features?
WiX is a language (XML/XSD) that serves as a way of authoring (compiling) Windows Installer (.MSI) databases. WiX doesn't install anything, MSI does.
I maintain an open source project called IsWiX. The concept is simple. IsWiX provides additional WiX project templates (scaffolding) and graphical designers to assist you in creating installer. Then as you gain knowledge of WiX and MSI you can make additional tweaks of the WiX XML by hand and go beyond what IsWiX currently knows how to author.
Here's a video showing how to author, build and test an MSI to deploy an IIS website in a mere 3 minutes.
Update: IsWiX has tutorials now.
After a few 'false starts' trying to learn WiX from online tutorials I noticed that on http://wixtoolset.org/ there is a link to the book "WiX 3.6: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML". You can buy it pretty inexpensively in E-book form from Packt, or also Amazon if you like the easy interface with Kindle.
I found this book to be VERY helpful with every little step regarding the .msi creation process. The book will guide you to create your first .msi in the very 1st chapter! Granted, you have to continue a little more to have a fully functioning .msi, but given the complexity of Wix, this book is terrific. It may not be for the gurus among us, but for those of us who need a little more help to understand the material it's wonderful. I've seen many posts speak to the 'steep learning curve' regarding WiX and it is a complicated process to create a valid .msi, but this book goes a long way toward making that learning curve very bearable.
If you are using the build system 'cmake', then you can use cpack to generate .msi file by setting the cpack generator to wix.
What worked for me best, was this fantastic tutorial video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yf-eDsRrnM
Its best selling points for me was
independent of visual studio version
it describes deploying a .NET (Core) app also
it focuses on what an average app's installer should be capable of (including heat, icon, background image and banner)
you don't have to learn another layer on wix
it gives you good practices on easy package generation and future maintenance
it gives an installer project template which you can reuse: https://github.com/angelsix/youtube/tree/cecd38ea3d5eea11cc75fc0123297ffc3b5e662b/C%23%20General/Windows%20Installer%20Wix%20DotNet%20Core/ConsoleApp1.Installer
i have already an installer for our application. but it is exe-file. it was created many years ago.. application of course was updated. we used a bat-file to register new dll-files and to install our service(windows). but we want to do all this by installer not a bat-file. we chosen a wix techology. i read about <Patch> node, but to use it i need an msi from previous version.. i think to do a simple installer, that will stop service,copy and register dll in the installed application's directory, install service. but i don't know will it overwrite the files without any problems?
You can only create an MSP (Patch) for an MSI (Installer). Also, you're going to run into component ref counting problems if you install your components into the same directory as the original install. The problem is MSI will go to see a file is already there, make it as a shared resource and increment the usage counters. Then on uninstall it will decrement, see that it's not 0 and remove to uninstall the files.
I'd suggest installing to a new directory and then using the RemoveFile table to get rid of the old files. Also I'd suggest following good CM / Versioning practices so that you don't have to worry about hacks such as Version Lying.
If all your application just needs to xcopy files, setup a directory and maybe even a ShortCut, it should be a piece of cake.
Versioned files like executables will automatically be overwritten if the version of the file number is lower.
See also Copy if not exist in WiX.
I have to write an installer and want to use Wix. The documentation on the website is not working and I like learning by example. Does someone know an open source project with good WiX source files, preferable for Wix version 3.0 or 3.5.
SharpDevelop is one of the bigger ones that I know that uses WiX. I also have a project called IsWiX that sits on top of WiX to author Merge Modules. IsWiX uses WiX/IsWiX itself to do it's own installer so there are some examples there. Finally there is a new WiX book out that you might want to purchase and read through.
WiX: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML
TortoiseSVN uses WiX and there is a blog outlining some issue they had.
Edit: TortoiseSVN Blog: On Major Upgrade Problems with WiX
A few Codeplex projects that use Wix:
Wix, of course
SytleCop
TortoiseHg
VisualHg
There's a open source WIX Sample projects available here, which were very helpful in getting me started.
And don't forget to check out the Powerpoint slide(s) in the slides folder.
I found it really valuable in getting me started with WiX compared to the Wix Tutorial on the Wix website or the Packtpub books.
https://github.com/rstropek/Samples/tree/master/WiXSamples