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dracan
Level 5

Reported size in ARP very wrong

(Basic MSI project)

For some reason my installation is stating that it's using 500mb of storage space in ARP. When infact, the installation is more like 4.5gb. All files have been added to the project using the components section of the Installation Designer. Some are dynamically linked - could this be the cause of the problem?

Thanks for any info,
Dan.
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(9) Replies
joshstechnij
Level 10 Flexeran
Level 10 Flexeran

Windows Installer provides this size estimate at the time the package is registered with Add/Remove Programs during installation. The size is stored in the EstimatedSize value in the product's uninstall key. Since this calculation is controlled by Windows Installer, there is not much that can be done to influence the outcome. Please see the following for more information:
http://blogs.msdn.com/astebner/archive/2006/02/07/527261.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/07/09/178342.aspx
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dracan
Level 5

Is the EstimatedSize in kb? If so, then the value in the registry seems to be more or less correct. It seems that the windows control panel is completely ignoring it and coming up with some VERY incorrect value 😞
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Marwan
Level 7

Which version of Windows are you running? Seems to work as expected in Windows 7 even when I change the number manually and then refresh the Add/Remove list...
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dracan
Level 5

Marwan wrote:
Which version of Windows are you running? Seems to work as expected in Windows 7 even when I change the number manually and then refresh the Add/Remove list...


Both WindowsXP and Vista seem to be ignoring that registry value 😞
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joshstechnij
Level 10 Flexeran
Level 10 Flexeran

The EstimatedSize value does not appear to be documented as to the unit size it represents. Changing its value manually may or may not work due to the ARP cache implemented in another undocumented area of the registry.
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dracan
Level 5

joshstechnij wrote:
The EstimatedSize value does not appear to be documented as to the unit size it represents. Changing its value manually may or may not work due to the ARP cache implemented in another undocumented area of the registry.


I tried flushing the ARP cache, but that makes no difference unfortunately.
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dracan
Level 5

Actually, playing with the numbers have started making a difference now - so maybe I wasn't doing the cache properly after all.

So here's the rather confusing and very wrong results!:

Registry value VS Add/Remove programs value
1024 = 1mb
125952 = 123mb
470216 = 459mb
4702165 = 495mb

This suggests I was correct in thinking it was kilobytes (based on the first two). The second two don't make sense to me! It's the latter one that is what my software is experiencing. My software is 4.48gb. Installshield does seem to be entering it correctly. I just don't understand why Windows is reading it as 495mb! 😞
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MisterW
Level 3

Hey dracan,

Were you able to resolve this? I have a similar problem with Windows 7.
There seems to be a limitation on the EstimatedSize value.

And Windows 7 doesn't recognize a QWORD.

-MisterW
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dracan
Level 5

Unfortunately not. We had to ship the game with those incorrect sizes.
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