Error 1730 (needs admin rights) when uninstalling chained msi on Vista/Win 7

[ChrSchmidt]

I have created an installation using basic MSI in Installshield 2012.

I am using the chained MSI technology (supported in Windows installer 4.5 and onwards).

My installation is structured with a Main-MSI (in a Setup.exe), and several smaller MSI-packages, which are chained onto the main MSI.

On XP it works like a charm. I can install it just fine, and when I want to uninstall it, I just choose to uninstall the Main-MSI, and it will automatically remove all the chained MSI's.

However, on Vista and Windows 7, I am having a user-rights problem when uninstalling.

When I am choosing to uninstall the Main MSI, it just shots down without further notice. Examining the MSI log file, I can see the following when it tries to uninstall the first of my chained MSI's:

Error 1730.You must be an Administrator to remove this application. To remove this application, you can log on as an administrator, or contact your technical support group for assistance.

I guess that since it is the Main-MSI who are calling the uninstall strings on the chained MSI's, it doesn't happen with elevated rights (Even tho I have set my Setup.exe to require admin rights - which is also a requirement).

I have added the MSIDEPLOYMENTCOMPLIANT property in the property manager and set it to 1 - however it doesn't solve the problem.

So my question is now - is there any way to get around this - is there some flag in the hidden corners of InstallShield that I need to set in order for this to work?

The temporary workaround now is to uninstall every chained MSI-package manually, and then finally uninstall the main-MSI, but this is not a solid solution. Disabling UAC is not an option either.

I hope you are able to help out, since I am totally lost on this issue, and my googling haven yielded anything useful.

[ChrSchmidt]

I have found a half solution to the problem - however a new problem have arrived.

I got the 1730 error, because the chaned packages was running without UI, and therefore UAC dialogs weren't displayed when uninstalling them, preventing them from aquireing admin rights => error 1730.
Giving the chained packages a basic UI, I am now able to see the UAC dialog, and I am now able to elevate the rights for all my chained packages.

And herein lies the new problem...

When uninstalling my application, I am getting an UAC dialog for every single one of the installed packages. This can potentially be a lot of dialogs, and if the user fails to answer a single one, the whole uninstallation will fail.

The scenario that I want, is to get only a single UAC dialog when I initiate the uninstall, and in some way pass the elevated rights on to my chained packages.
I only see one UAC dialog when installing. Can it in any way count for uninstallation as well?

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[ChrSchmidt]

I would still like to get this issue solved, so therefore I am bumping my plead of help.

I hope there is anyone out there, who knows a fix to this problem!

[MichaelU]

When Windows Installer prompts is typically up to its rules. However you might find that a suite project allows you to perform the uninstallation while accepting only a single UAC prompt. As of InstallShield 2012, suite projects are only available in the premier edition; in IS 2012 Spring the Advanced UI project was made available in the professional edition, but it will probably not handle the level of customization you would need here.

[ChrSchmidt]

Thank you, Michael, for your reply. I am glad that it wasn't me who just had overlooked something obvious 🙂

I will look into what the Suite installation can offer 🙂