InstrallShield Major Upgrade not completely uninstalling previous version

Question

I have an InstallShield 2016 InstallScript MSI project.

I used the Major Upgrade option but with that approach what I see is that files of previous version gets removed, registry entries get deleted, etc. However, the uninstallation logic that is in the InstallScript (*.rul) files does not seem to get executed and hence the uninstall of previous version is not complete.

Basically, it seems Major Upgrade does not execute InstallScript code? Please advise.

thanks,

Alaniz

thanks for your input Stein. We have a lot of InstallScript code (.rul files) that we have in place in our 'InstallScript MSI' project. Correct me if I am wrong but 'Basic MSI' projects use windows installer technology and do not use InstallScript. Plus InstallScript allows you to create more complex projects to meet complex requirements. I see there is an 'InstallScript' project type as well. What do you think of that? – Alaniz

Basic MSI projects can use Installscript custom actions without any problems. The main difference is that Basic MSI uses real, native MSI dialogs, as opposed to the complex Win32 dialogs of Installscript MSI installers. Personally I see only drawbacks from using Installscript MSI projects. Basic MSI projects are vastly superior for corporate deployment and will be welcomed for large scale deployment, whereas my experience is that Installscript MSI setups are frowned upon due to their sometimes clunky silent running capabilities and the need to "tweak them" to avoid the setup.exe launcher. – Tripp

Answer 1

Many years ago I had to convert an Installscript MSI project to Basic MSI because of a bug that caused all changes performed by Installscript custom actions to be rolled back on major upgrade. Could that bug still be in there?

I do not know. If I were you, I would immediately convert my setup to Basic MSI to avoid the very problematic Installscript MSI setup type.

To convert the project, you can create a new Basic MSI project file, close it, open the Installscript MSI project file and then export all components by right clicking the components (in the component view) and go "Export Into..." (or something like that) and then browse to your new Basic MSI project file. This way you can migrate all components, but the custom actions and dialog changes you have to migrate yourself - as far as I know.

I would contact Installshield support and ask for their help. Who knows, maybe they have tools to help you with such a conversion. They will certainly have more information on the problem you are experiencing. However, my 2 cents still stand on converting to Basic MSI. It is the right format to use. Installscript MSI is not popular with corporations for corporate deployment.

Batt