Cannot Uninstall/Repair

[TobiaszJason]

After updating our application to use Installshield 2011, I am no longer able to uninstall/repair an installation successfully.

A little background... Our build process automatically builds our installations using the Installshield Automation Interface. Then our test process silently installs our application using a namelist as follows:

[{[GUID]}-DlgOrder]
Dlg0={[GUID]}-SdWelcome-0
Count=4
Dlg1={[GUID]}-SdLicense2Rtf-0
Dlg2={[GUID]}-SdAskDestPath-0
Dlg3={[GUID]}-SdFinish-0
[{[GUID]}-SdWelcome-0]
Result=1
[{[GUID]}-SdLicense2Rtf-0]
Result=1
[{[GUID]}-SdAskDestPath-0]
szDir=C:\program files\xyz
Result=1
[{[GUID]}-SdFinish-0]
Result=1
bOpt1=0
bOpt2=0

At the end of the test process, our application is uninstalled using the following command:

msiexec /uninstall {[GUID]} /passive

What I've noticed is that the uninstall leaves an item in the "Add/Remove Programs" menu.

When I run our application installer it appears the system thinks the application is still installed even though none of its files remain on the system. I am only able to Modify/Repair/Uninstall, all of which present the following error message:

"Error: -1605 This action is only valid for products that are currently installed."

All I want to do is re-install the application so I can perform some unit testing. Any ideas on how to clean this situation up?

[TobiaszJason]

I don't know if this issue is related: http://community.flexerasoftware.com/showthread.php?t=196077, but this is becoming a serious issue for my testing environment. I am not able to re-install old builds of our application. This is preventing me from performing any other tests.

[TobiaszJason]

There are two fragments that are left over afte rthe silent uninstall:

(1) A registry key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Management\ARPCache\InstallShield_{GUID}]

I believe this is used for the "Add or Remove Programs" Windows applet. The entry for the application is removed when this registry key is removed.

and

(2) The cached installer:

C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\[GUID]

This determines if an application is installed? I'm not sure how this works, but it seems like it is run when the GUID is encountered.

Whatever is going on here, I am not sure. I am noticing that these two components are not removed when a silent uninstall occurs. Is this a bug? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[manomatt]

can you provide some information regarding the os that you are working on??

[TobiaszJason]

Microsoft Windows XP Professional / Version 2002 / Service Pack 2.

[TobiaszJason]

...anyone? Seems like I've encountered a handful of bugs with the latest version of Installshield. It really is beginning to annoy me.

[RobertDickau]

What command are you using to run the silent installation? I gather you'll want to use msiexec for both installation and uninstallation or use setup.exe for both, rather than mixing them.

To perform a silent uninstallation using setup.exe, you should be able to record a response file (calling it uninstall.iss, say) for the uninstallation dialog boxes, and uninstall silently using that.

[TobiaszJason]

RobertDickau wrote:
What command are you using to run the silent installation? I gather you'll want to use msiexec for both installation and uninstallation or use setup.exe for both, rather than mixing them.

To perform a silent uninstallation using setup.exe, you should be able to record a response file (calling it uninstall.iss, say) for the uninstallation dialog boxes, and uninstall silently using that.

We are using setup.exe for the installation and msiexec for the uninstallation, so you are right, we are mixing them. I will attempt to correct the issue with your suggestion. Thanks a ton. I'm curious why this has become a problem now? We have been mixing the install/uninstall methodologies for the last couple years. The only thing that has changed is that we upgraded to Installshield 2011.

[TobiaszJason]

Thanks, RobertDickau. I was able to fix up my issue by not intermixing setup.exe w/response files installs and msiexec uninstalls. Once again, you have saved me from a great deal of frustration.

[morrischou]

Hi RobertDickau :

I have the same problem, I am using setup.exe for the installation and msiexec for the uninstallationand and also I upgraded to Installshield 2011.

Can you tell me how to fix the issue ?

Thanks

Morris

[rfieldin]

morrischou wrote:
Hi RobertDickau :

I have the same problem, I am using setup.exe for the installation and msiexec for the uninstallationand and also I upgraded to Installshield 2011.

Can you tell me how to fix the issue ?

Thanks

Morris

I was using ISLE2010 in Visual Studio 10 on Win7 and had no uninstall issues, just permission issues.

I upgraded to a full IS2011 and uninstall basically does nothing at all, but it pretends that it did something and it never complains. The previous installation actually prevents new builds of my installer from working. I instruct users to actually go delete the previous installation from program files before beginning now.

But if I do this same thing on a different WindowsXP machine, it isn't quite so bad. A few DLLs are left over in the directory, but the stuff that needs to be updated aren't hanging around making the new installation impossible.

This is a simple project that was mostly created with the project assistant. I haven't messed with the default permissions. Is there something obvious that I am doing wrong?

oh, and that suggestion about using an MSI seems irrelevant because I have setup prerequisites (.NET 4.0 SDK), so I have to use the singleexe method of installation.

if i try to make the permissions looser on the program files stuff, there are two things wrong with this. first all the icons have padlocks on them now to show that the permissions are *looser*, and the second is that it doesn't do anything at all to change the uninstall situation... so probably unrelated to permissions.

[TobiaszJason]

rfieldin wrote:
I upgraded to a full IS2011 and uninstall basically does nothing at all, but it pretends that it did something and it never complains. The previous installation actually prevents new builds of my installer from working. I instruct users to actually go delete the previous installation from program files before beginning now.

We are having the same issue...

I'm running Win7 x64.

I uninstalled a previous version of our application, and then ran a newer version of our installer. It did not allow for a fresh install. I was prompted
with the options of "Modify", "Repair", or "Remove", but when I tried all three of them, I was given the message that the application must be installed to perform the selected option.

We have to delete all of the installation files and program files in order for a new install to work.