Auto-generated Registry Entry

[Landale]

Hi,

I'm having a problem with InstallShield 2009. It is always creating a registry entry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\\\

I don't want it to do that, and I cannot find the option to turn it off. Can anyone help me? 😃

Thanks!

[Landale]

I should have clarified in my post here that it is automatically creating the registry entry without me explicitly telling it to. If anyone knows how to turn off this particular feature, even if it requires editing the XML of the project file, it would be great to know.

Thanks! 😃

[Sairen]

Hi, Landale.

If you haven't already, you should be able to look at the Registry view in the Installation Designer. Find that key, and just delete it.

If it doesn't show up there, try going to the Direct Editor view, Registry table and delete it from there.

If you've already tried these, or that still doesn't do it, let us know. Good luck!

[Landale]

Thanks for your reply! 😃

The registry view does not have any registry entries under it. I do a merge with a .reg file that is kept in the Support Files directory during installation (which does not have the same format as the auto-generated registry keys). Also, there does not appear to be any property in the Direct Editor that corresponds to what I'm referring to. Of course, I am a novice at InstallShield, so rooting around in the Direct Editor might be a little advanced for me at this time without knowing what all of those properties are for.

The help file for InstallShield briefly mentions the "feature" I am talking about, but does not describe how to turn it off.

You can find the description in the InstallShield Help Library Contents on the entry:
Creating Installations -> Configuring the Target System -> Editing the Registry

The note for it is at the bottom of the "Editing the Registry" book:

Project

For installation projects: The installer automatically creates certain registry entries based on values that you provide for your project and product properties.

For merge module projects: The installer automatically creates certain registry entries based on values that you provide for your merge module properties.

Note: "project" and "product" are links.

Any insight into how to make this go away would be greatly appreciated. 😃

Thanks!

[joshstechnij]

What project type are you working with?

[Landale]

My apologies. I am working with a common InstallScript Project.

[joshstechnij]

To try and isolate where the registry key is coming from, can you open the InstallScript CAB viewer (Tools->InstallScript->Cabinet File Viewer) when your project is open? Then, click the Registry button on the toolbar in the CAB viewer. Is the key present in the list of registry data?

If the registry key is not present in the CAB file viewer, are there any calls to InstallationInfo, CreateInstallationInfo, or RegDBSetAppInfo in your script?

[joshstechnij]

As a follow up to this, this information will always be created for InstallScript driven projects. CreateInstallationInfo is called by the OnMoveData event. You could override the OnMoveData event in your script and comment out the call to CreateInstallationInfo. I don't believe this should have any negative side-effects based on what the code does, but you may want to test the project (especially maintenance mode) without the call to CreateInstallationInfo to be sure everything in your setup is working as expected.

[Landale]

The Cabinet file viewer yields no registry entries. It's the same as the Registry View in the System Configuration. I will try overriding the OnMoveData event and will follow up as soon as I've determined if it's successful.

Thanks!

[Landale]

Hi Josh,

Thank you for your help until now.

Edit: Overriding OnMoveData() prevented the registry entry from being generated, but now I have a different problem.

So, I've overridden OnMoveData() using the following code:
function OnMoveData()
begin
//MessageBox("OnMoveData", INFORMATION);

FeatureTransferData(MEDIA);
end;

Now, I'm missing the progress bar dialog during installation. I'm not sure how to show that, but it's needed. Could you help with how to do that?

Thanks! 😃

[joshstechnij]

The default code for OnMoveData calls Enable to display the STATUSEX dialog. When modifying an event, typically you will want to add the event from the event dropdowns in the InstallScript view (OnMoveData is available from the list of "Move Data" events). Then, the following code can be commented out while preserving the other functionality provided by OnMoveData:

	// Create the uninstall infomation (after displaying the progress dialog)
	// Don't create uninstall information if MAINT_OPTION_NONE was specified.
	if( MAINT_OPTION != MAINT_OPTION_NONE ) then
	     CreateInstallationInfo();
	endif;

[Landale]

Thank you, Josh. That seems to have solved the problem.

I very much appreciate your help with this! 😃