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- Shortcut shell properties may cause installer to freeze at "Creating Shortcuts" step
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‎Oct 23, 2013
07:27 PM
Shortcut shell properties may cause installer to freeze at "Creating Shortcuts" step
We've seen this occur on Windows 8 (and now Windows 8.1) test VMs. If shell properties are set for some start menu shortcuts (or use of "Pin to Windows 8 Start Screen" in IS 2013), the install will hang during shortcut creation (perhaps on about 5% of installs). This is with an Installscript-MSI project. I haven't seen much chatter on this topic online ... just wondering if anyone else has experienced this, and if you have any advice on addressing the issue (while still providing the necessary shortcuts to Windows 8.0 users in their All Apps screen). At least with Windows 8.1 the icons no longer install by default on the main screen, so the shell properties can be removed (using another set of components) based on OS check.
Since this is likely the fault of Windows Installer and not Installshield, i'll include the msiexec version from the Win 8.1 VM I've most recently seen the issue on: V 5.0.9600.16384.
Since this is likely the fault of Windows Installer and not Installshield, i'll include the msiexec version from the Win 8.1 VM I've most recently seen the issue on: V 5.0.9600.16384.
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‎Oct 24, 2013
09:48 AM
Unfortunately I have to agree with your assessment. For this case, InstallShield is only populating the MsiShortcutProperty table, and I agree that the Windows Installer implementation for this table has shown symptoms I dislike.
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‎Jul 03, 2014
01:10 AM
Hello,
Our windows 8 vms also froze at "creating shortcuts" stage when we tried to upgrade with a wix-based installer which contains a setting of System.AppUserModel.ID in msishortcutproperty page.
At that moment, the shortcut and its temporary file was locked by msiexec.exe, and blocked "explorer.exe" from accessing the files.
Since it can be reproduced with both wix and InstallShield, it's more like a windows installer's bug rather than wix's or InstallShield's.
msiexec version: 5.0.9200.16384.
==UPDATE==
I tried the tool provided in this page, which enables shortcut property editing in explorer.
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-show-more-details-for-shortcuts-in-windows-8-1-windows-8-and-windows-7/
I noticed that not edit operation will succeed. In my environment, it becomes stuck at approximately 30% chance.
Once it happens, it keeps stuck unless we press cancel.
I believe that's the root cause of the freeze, which is a bug of shortcut property editing function.
So I'll try to do the editing in application instead of installer to avoid the freeze problem.
Hopefully this helps any people. 🙂
Our windows 8 vms also froze at "creating shortcuts" stage when we tried to upgrade with a wix-based installer which contains a setting of System.AppUserModel.ID in msishortcutproperty page.
At that moment, the shortcut and its temporary file was locked by msiexec.exe, and blocked "explorer.exe" from accessing the files.
Since it can be reproduced with both wix and InstallShield, it's more like a windows installer's bug rather than wix's or InstallShield's.
msiexec version: 5.0.9200.16384.
==UPDATE==
I tried the tool provided in this page, which enables shortcut property editing in explorer.
http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-show-more-details-for-shortcuts-in-windows-8-1-windows-8-and-windows-7/
I noticed that not edit operation will succeed. In my environment, it becomes stuck at approximately 30% chance.
Once it happens, it keeps stuck unless we press cancel.
I believe that's the root cause of the freeze, which is a bug of shortcut property editing function.
So I'll try to do the editing in application instead of installer to avoid the freeze problem.
Hopefully this helps any people. 🙂
BrHartmann wrote:
We've seen this occur on Windows 8 (and now Windows 8.1) test VMs. If shell properties are set for some start menu shortcuts (or use of "Pin to Windows 8 Start Screen" in IS 2013), the install will hang during shortcut creation (perhaps on about 5% of installs). This is with an Installscript-MSI project. I haven't seen much chatter on this topic online ... just wondering if anyone else has experienced this, and if you have any advice on addressing the issue (while still providing the necessary shortcuts to Windows 8.0 users in their All Apps screen). At least with Windows 8.1 the icons no longer install by default on the main screen, so the shell properties can be removed (using another set of components) based on OS check.
Since this is likely the fault of Windows Installer and not Installshield, i'll include the msiexec version from the Win 8.1 VM I've most recently seen the issue on: V 5.0.9600.16384.
