I have an app that I have created an install package for. Sometimes when we do a bug fix in the exe, we just go to c:\program files\ourprogram and copy the new exe over the old exe.
When we then run the new exe, the installer runs! It does not install the old exe, BUT it does reinstall the old database and some other files over the top of the DB files that were already there. That is a problem because we wanted to keep those old DB files as they have user entered data into them.
I guess the installer sees the new exe as a corrupted file and tries to "fix" things.
What should I do to keep this from happening. I have gone in and found the windows downloaded installations folder corresponding to my project and deleted that to keep the installer from running but that is a pain.
It's not a very happy solution, since it goes against one of the basic benefits of MSI, but not using "key files" will help prevent self-repair. Likewise, advertised shortcuts might trigger this...
I also found that I could create a patch that I guess goes behind the scenes and modifies the settings and other things in the msi files when it does the patching so I guess I can use that too. However for development work I will probably keep using the deletion method as long as I have net dded any more dependencies.
