We are running into a bug with our installer that we can't seem to figure out.
Cliffs Notes description: When a user goes through our "auto upgrade" scenario on a Vista system (launch a previous installation of our app... it checks to see if it is the latest version... it detects a new one... it prompts the user to upgrade... the user agrees to upgrade... we download the installer silently and launch...), an 'Interactive services dialog detection' dialog appears stating that "A program can't display a message on your desktop." The installer does not appear to launch. All the user sees is this dialog.
But if the user does not go through our "auto upgrade" scenario... and simply downloads the installer.exe file from our website to their desktop and double-clicks the file to launch it, the installer works flawlessly. :confused:
The longer description: When the user sees this 'Interactive services dialog detection' dialog appear, they have two options: - Show me the message - Remind me in a few minutes
...and when they click on the [Show me the message], the Vista environment disappears and is replaced by a plain, powder blue colored desktop with the first screen of our InstallShield installer displayed... as well as another dialog that reads:
Interactive services dialog detection
Return to your Windows desktop.
The program will display its own window below if it still needs attention.
When you are done, or if you need to return to your desktop for more information, click Return now.
[--> Return now]
The user then basically can run the installer in this odd non-Vista, powder blue colored world and everything works fine. When it is done, you can return to your Windows desktop by clicking on the [--> Return Now] button.
The problem is that this is a very confusing experience for a customer. And what is confusing for us is that it only happens when our app downloads the installer in the background and silently launches it. If the user manually downloads the install.exe file to their desktop and runs it, the InstallShield installer appears in the main Windows environment just fine.
Does anyone know what we might be doing wrong here? Is there any additional information that I can provide? Any / all assistance is greatly appreciated.
The problem is with how the installer is being launched, and InstallShield can't do anything about that. It sounds like the installer is being launched by a service, in a service context. This causes it to run in a separate session with a secure desktop. Windows Vista detects this scenario and allows you to switch to the powder blue session to interact with it.
If you have a service which is launching the downloaded installation, this is what you'll need to examine. It might be a simple matter of impersonating the user who was trying to run the installation before you launch it, or it might involve writing a low-privilege client side part to your service; I don't know a lot about this.
