Here's the deal, we install a great many32 bit .dll's and Ocx’s with our application.
The files are all part of merge modules. And each files is its own component. All of the components have "COM extract at Build" set to yes.
Most of our application users do not share a pc between people. One person\One pc.
But recently a new client began using our application. The have a number of users that "share" a pc. Each user logs off so the next user can log on with their unique User id.
It seems that when the user is changed and the new users starts our application, a repair procedure is started that ends with a "Configuration completed successfully".
I have been able to isolate the issue to 3 dll's and 1 .ocx.
What seems to fix the issue, but I can't explain why, is if I change the component property "COM extract at build" to "NO" AND enable the "Self Registry" selection on the files property sheet. Then rebuild the merge module. Then rebuild the msi. And then reinstall the product. The issue goes away when users are switched on the pc.
The versions of these files haven't changed for quite some time.
Now here is my question:
What, is the advantage of using "COM extract at Build" vs "Self Registering". ? I’m thinking about changing all my components so they don't use the "COM Extract at build" but use the "Self Registering" property instead.
I'm not too familiar with the differences, but in my experience the extract at build results in a higher success rate.
Is it possible that one of your OCX/DLLs is putting registry entries in the user specific part of the registry? That's where I'd start looking personally.
Edit: I believe that extract at build is the more "correct" way of doing things.
