[wix-users] Always do major upgrades

Wed Dec 7 07:59:46 PST 2016

Wow this situation is a bummer.
It seems like a very common scenario to me and I can't believe that this is
not supported by MSI.
Maybe I'm just plain wrong and I do things completely wrong.

Anyway, thanks for the awesome clarification.

Best Regards,
Wolfgang

Skildum, Mat <Mathew.Skildum at aspect.com> schrieb am Mi., 7. Dez. 2016 um
16:33 Uhr:

> Generating new component GUIDs will have no bearing on the issue you are
> trying to solve.  MSI will see that the component does not exist, but the
> file that is installed has a higher version than the one you are trying to
> install.  You will still have the same case as you described.
>
> The only way I have found to get around the way MSI updates files, and
> create an always overwrite situation like InstallShield supports, is to set
> a pseudo version.  In fact I took this straight from InstallShield.  If you
> look at an InstallShield generated MSI where always overwrite was being
> used, you will see they set a bogus file version to force the overwrite.
> Of course this is based on older versions of Installshield as I have not
> generated an MSI using InstallShield for many years.
>
> Mat Skildum
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On Behalf
> Of Wolfgang Haupt
> Sent: Wednesday, December 7, 2016 9:04 AM
> To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
> Subject: Re: [wix-users] Always do major upgrades
>
> Thx for your fast answer.
> Would it be an option to always harvest my files with heat in a
> create_setup.bat and generate new GUID's for every component?
> Reading the MSI-Log it seems, the windows installer takes the GUID of my
> component to lookup if it's already installed, or does it take the keypath
> into account and I really have to change the filedate or version, to get
> this right.
> Basically this setup is a migration of a very old InstallShield-Setup that
> uses "always overwrite" utterly often.
>
>
> Skildum, Mat <Mathew.Skildum at aspect.com> schrieb am Mi., 7. Dez. 2016 um
> 15:56 Uhr:
>
> > MSI does not truly support this type of functionality without some
> > hacks to the MSI.  Basically you have create a pseudo "always overwrite"
> > situation by setting false version numbers on the version components.
> > I do this with a post build step where I call a small VBScript that
> > updates the file version in the Files table to 99.99.99 or some other
> > high value you will never reach for a version.  You can do this for
> > all files if you want a global over write, or just for the versioned
> > files if they are all you are worried about.
> >
> > If this has been done, you should be able to upgrade or downgrade if
> > no issue as long as your upgrade table id handled correctly.
> >
> > Mat Skildum
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: wix-users [mailto:wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org] On
> > Behalf Of Wolfgang Haupt
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 7, 2016 8:22 AM
> > To: wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org
> > Subject: [wix-users] Always do major upgrades
> >
> > Hello,
> >
> > I think I stumbled across following problem:
> >
> >
> > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15138731/wix-major-upgrade-not-inst
> > alling-all-files
> >
> >
> > https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/astebner/2015/11/16/why-windows-insta
> > ller-removes-files-during-a-major-upgrade-if-they-go-backwards-in-vers
> > ion-numbers/
> >
> >
> > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4227456/windows-installer-deletes-v
> > ersioned-file-during-product-upgrade-instead-of-down?rq=1
> >
> >
> > I basically want to be able to up and downgrade my application from
> > whatever versions.
> > It's no problem for me that it cannot track files and save some
> > installation time, I just want to remove the existing installation and
> > then install the "new" (or older) version.
> >
> > When I read the docs it seems to me if I can use the MajorUpgrade-Tag
> > with "AllowDowngrades=yes", but still the installer is checking the
> > version of my Components after CostInitialize and keeps saying:
> > MSI (s) (9C:34) [15:02:05:904]: Disallowing installation of component:
> > {GUID} since the same component with higher versioned keyfile exists
> >
> > After that it removes my current version and does not install the
> > mentioned components anymore.
> > This keeps puzzling me since days.
> >
> > Does anyone have an answer/opinion on this topic?
> >
> >
> > Best Regards,
> > Wolfgang
> >
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