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KathyBailey
Level 4

Installscript MSI Start Menu Group

I have more than one install that installs applications to the same start menu program group. I'm finding that on uninstall of one of the applications the group is being deleted along with the other applications shortcuts.

How do I get the start menu group to remain?

I've tried marking the component for one of the shortcuts as permanent but it still gets uninstalled during uninstall.

I've tried updating the Direct Editor/ Component/ Attributes for this component to 16 to not remove on uninstall and it still removes the group and all shortcuts.

Can someone tell me how to get a program group to remain during uninstall?
I would have thought that it wouldn't uninstall the group because another application's shortcuts are in there but it just removes them all.

I was thinking of just creating the group in script and then copying the shortcuts over but the target for the shortcuts is dynamic based on user selection of INSTALLDIR..so that won't work.

Can someone help?:confused:
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KathyBailey
Level 4

btw when I set the component to permanent in components view, then look into the direct editor it's set the attribute value to 24 instead of 16.

From what I can tell there is no valid attribute value of 24 and it's meaningless which is probably why it keeps uninstalling it anyway.
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Kelter
Level 10

setting it as permanent just toggles a bit in the attribute column. in other words "16" is "1 0000" whereas "24" is "1 1000". the 4th bit is the "permanent" bit.

you should export the component that contains this program group from one installation into the other. this way, they both have the same component code (important for your problem!!!) and contain the same information (maintenance hazard otherwise). you'll also want to make sure the component is marked as "shared."

I'm not sure why "Permanent" isn't working for you, but it sounds like the intent of the "permanent" bit doesn't exactly match your needs. you still want the start menu items to be removed if neither of the products that use it are installed. your actual intent is that as long as the component is installed by at least one product, it should persist. this should be achievable by literally using the same component in both your projects (and marking it as shared.)
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KathyBailey
Level 4

I'll give it a shot, thanks for the help!
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