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ToledoSpeed3
Level 2

Quick Patches and Windows Services

Hi,

When you create a Quick Patch project and replace an EXE that was setup as a Windows Service in the original MSI project, will the Quick Patch be smart enough to stop the service, replace the EXE, and then restart the service if it was already started? I don't see any service control stop/start functionality within the Quick Patch project IDE and I have been looking at the documenation and don't see a clear cut answer anywhere. I am wondering if the Quick Patch may not work for my needs.

Thanks!
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DebbieL
Level 17

QuickPatch projects don't have support for services. You'd need to create your patch through the Patch Design view in order to start and stop services.
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ToledoSpeed3
Level 2

DebbieL wrote:
QuickPatch projects don't have support for services. You'd need to create your patch through the Patch Design view in order to start and stop services.


Thanks Debbie. I contacted support this morning and they gave me the same info. It looks like I will be creating minor upgrades and patches. From what I understand so far, I need to update my project with my updated files, create a minor upgrade that supports first time install or upgrade, and then if desired I can create a patch using the patch view.

One thing I am still not sure about is making sure the services are stopped during the upgrade installation. I am betting that I now need to have my file components that are setup as Windows services to fire the event "Stop service on Install". This would make sense during an upgrade. Does this make sense or is there somewhere else where I need to define stopping the services during the upgrade? If I use my updated full MSI for (say v1.0.0.1) for a first time install instead of an upgrade for my existing v1.0.0.0, I am hoping that the "service stop on install" event won't throw any errors since it won't yet exist.

Thanks again.
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DebbieL
Level 17

I think you should be able to just update the file. Whether or not the service is shut down before the executable file replaced is mostly up to Windows Installer. The StopServices action runs before InstallFiles, so in theory this should be fine. However, StopServices runs after InstallValidate, which is responsible for showing the FilesInUse dialog. Therefore, it is possible that you may see a files-in-use notification, even though the service may be stopped in time to replace it.
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