How to allowing an updated product to be reinstalled

[Peterc]

Hi, I have a simple web application where I have created an installation using the IS limited edition.

I had to make a fix in one of the files, so I rebuilt the setup after incrementing my assembly versions, and incrementing the product version in the installs General information section. However, when we run this, I am presented with a dialog that says we need to uninstall an existing version.

I have seen quite a few other posts that talk about the "Upgrade paths" etc, but I am not quite getting it. Surely just updating the product (and assembly) version is enough to tell it that this is a newer installation, and to just overwrite the existing files? We do not have to add a new Upgrade path with every build do we?

I did try and add an Upgrade Path entry (browsing to the older install), and tried changing everything I could find, but nothing would get rid of this message. I even saw some suggestions to change the product code (which really does not seem right, it is the same product!), but I did try this, and now it does allow me to install, but I get 2 entries in the add/remove programs

Any help here would be greatly appreciated... all I want is for the new install to overwrite the older files, as simple as that.

Thanks in advance for any information

[jcoone]

you need to update The product Version and the product code (NOT the upgrade code) in the General tab to be able to install over a previous version. If you want to ensure that you remove the previous version and don't end up with multiple entries in the Add/Remove programs list you will need to add an upgrade path for the previous version of the MSI, if you used a compressed setup.exe you can just hit cancel when adding the upgrade path and then manually set the minimum and maximum version numbers to overwrite. That will create an upgrade path with the same upgrade code as the current installer which should match unless you changed it.

[Peterc]

Hi jcoone, thank you very much for that!
I thought I had tried that, but I tried it again, and this time it did appear to work.

It seems really weird that you have to change the product code, especially since the help section for the Product Code includes the following..

Caution: Because the product code uniquely identifies your product, changing the code after distributing a release of your product is not recommended.

Why would they say this if you do need to change it for an upgrade?

Thanks for the help so far

jcoone wrote:
you need to update The product Version and the product code (NOT the upgrade code) in the General tab to be able to install over a previous version. If you want to ensure that you remove the previous version and don't end up with multiple entries in the Add/Remove programs list you will need to add an upgrade path for the previous version of the MSI, if you used a compressed setup.exe you can just hit cancel when adding the upgrade path and then manually set the minimum and maximum version numbers to overwrite. That will create an upgrade path with the same upgrade code as the current installer which should match unless you changed it.

[jcoone]

Each version of the application is a new "Product", The upgrade codes tie them together to say they are the same application. A new version is a new product in that sense. What it is warning about is changing the product code for a released version and re-releasing the same version with a new product code.

[bioter]

Hi

I am trying to upgrade over an existing installation without removing old files with InstallShield Limited Edition 2015, and I found that the behavior mentioned here does not (no longer?) apply, obviously.

I am doing the following:

- changing product code
- changing product version

If I also set an upgrade path, the old version gets uninstalled, hence deleting the configuration files.
If I don't, it works but I have the application showing up twice in "Programs and Features".

In earlier versions I used to use REINSTALLMODE=vomus REINSTALL=ALL, but this option seems not to be available in the limited edition.

Are there any other options to reinstall over an existing installation so that the previous installation doesn't get uninstalled?

Thank you and Kind Regards

[NameTooShort]

Hi,

Changing Product Code will create a major upgrade, which means uninstalling the previous install.

Limited Edition, by default does not support minor upgrades.
For minor upgrade, only the version number and package code have to change. REINSTALLMODE and REINSTALL will need to be passed in through the command line.

[bioter]

The thing is that I find no way to pass command line parameters to the MSI which gets installed inside MyProjectSetup.exe.

Is there any way to do this with the Limited Edition, maybe any trick inside a configuration file?
Or do I have to buy the Express edition, and would that support it?

Kind Regards - Peter

[bioter]

Hi

I think the point is that the REINSTALLMODE and REINSTALL parameters need to be passed in by the setup.exe.
Because if I set these directly in the MSI properties, the setup will not install anything if the application is not yet installed.

As I read somewhere, it is the setup.exe which determines whether an app is already installed or not and passes in these parameters accordingly.
However, I doubt that the Limited Edition can do this, as I cannot set these properties inside the Limited Edition installer.

That limits me quite a bit as well, as I am obviously not able to build a setup with LE that will install correctly the first time and use REINSTALL for updates, without uninstalling everything first.

Having lost many hours on this, I will now take a look at other manufacturers and maybe buy something there.