cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
Newmarket
Level 4

Concurrent Installations and RemoveExistingProducts Action documentation is confusing

The documentation regarding the RemoveExistingProducts Action and Concurrent Installations is confusing.
Concurrent Installations, also called Nested Installations, is a deprecated feature of the Windows Installer. Applications installed with concurrent installations can eventually fail because they are difficult for customers to service correctly. Do not use concurrent installations to install products that are intended to be released to the public.

The RemoveExistingProducts action goes through the product codes listed in the ActionProperty column of the Upgrade table and removes the products in sequence by invoking concurrent installations.

Should the RemoveExistingProducts doc read "...by invoking concurrent UNinstallations"? Meaning concurrent installations is a deprecated feature, but concurrent uninstallations is still fully supported? If that is not the case, and RemoveExistingProducts invokes concurrent installations which is a deprecated feature, then what is the recommended method for uninstalling old products?
Labels (1)
0 Kudos
(3) Replies
RobertDickau
Flexera Alumni

My take on it is that "concurrent installation" correctly describes the general technique, in the pedantic sense that MSI doesn't have separate installation and uninstallation sequences, even though each of those phases is supported. But yes, a nested uninstallation is what's happening during a major upgrade. One tipoff is all those "Property(N)" lines in the log file for a major upgrade.

I haven't heard any claim that major upgrades are dangerous, only that using new, deliberate nested-concurrent installations to chain installations is.
0 Kudos
Newmarket
Level 4

Hello Robert,

Thank you so much for the reply. A previous version of my product installed a couple of third-party products that are no longer used in the current version of my product. The products were installed by launching their installers from our old product installer, so they are visible in Add/Remove Programs. I would like to remove these products with the installation of the latest version of my product. While I'm not upgrading these products, would the proper method still be to add these product's Product Codes to the Upgrade table just to have them removed?

Thank you!
0 Kudos
KathyMorey
Level 10

I did the same thing in a previous project and it worked very well.
0 Kudos