Troubleshooting Minor Upgrades or Patches

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Summary

In some cases, files are not updated when a Minor Upgrade, Minor Upgrade Patch, or Small Update Patch is installed. This document discusses the overall approach to determining the source of this problem.

Synopsis

In some cases, files are not updated when a Minor Upgrade, Minor Upgrade Patch, or Small Update Patch is installed. This article discusses the overall approach to determining the source of this problem and how it can be resolved.

Discussion

1. Create an installation logfile.

In Related KB Articles section, please see article Logging an MSI Installation.

2. Search for messages from Windows Installer that indicate that a particular component isn't going to be installed:

Disallowing installation of component: {84EEAB1C-2BBE-4208-87CE-14E76A56BA11} since the same component with higher versioned keyfile exists

Disallowing installation of component: {015A812C-9214-47A2-A742-FF594F9466A4} since the keyfile exists and the component is marked to never overwrite existing installations

These messages are accurate in the regard that they follow the Microsoft File Versioning Rules as defined here: Default File Versioning

3. Check for Component Breakage. If you are using Windows Installer 3.1 or newer, you may see an explicit entry:

MSI (s) <process info>: SELMGR: ComponentId '{470D6551-91D3-478E-AA51-49B6CF1772FE}' is registered to feature 'AdminTools', but is not present in the Component table. Removal of components from a feature is not supported! MSI (s) <process info>: SELMGR: Removal of a component from a feature is not supported

As well, you should see that the features that aren't getting upgraded are marked as 'Advertise':

MSI (s) <process info>: Feature: MyFeature; Installed: Advertise; Request: Reinstall; Action: Reinstall

The removal of a component causes msiexec.exe to believe that the feature is in an Advertised state, which is not one in which files are installed locally. Thus, no updates are performed under the feature.

This behavior might occur if the user:

Removed, renamed, recreated or changed the component code of a component between releases.
Moved a component to a different feature
Is using Dynamic File Linking with subfolders included, and are not using best practice components in IS2009. This can dynamically create components that differ with each build.
Is using .Net Dependency Scanning at build. This also can dynamically create components that differ with each build.

To resolve this particular issue:

Specify the 'Previous Package' in your release properties.
Use one dynamic file link per folder.
Disable .Net dependency scanning. Instead statically include all .Net dependencies.
Switch to a Major Upgrade.
In the case of file linking or dependency scanning, the above approaches have to be implemented from the first release onward.

To account for a release that was pushed out with this issue, you may need to convert the built *.msi (if it is a Basic MSI) to a project file using File -> Open -> Open As -> Wizard.

4. Check for file versioning conflicts. If this is the case, operations like this might be seen:


MSI (s): Executing op: FileCopy (SourceName=versions.exe, DestName=versions.exe, 
               Version=1.0.0.1, ...)

      MSI (s): File: C:\Program Files\Versions\versions.exe; Won't Overwrite; Won't patch;
               Existing file is of an equal version

The resolution for this would either be to mark the file as 'Always Overwrite', or to manually change the version of the file, in the case that it is versioned.

Additional Information

The following Windows Installer Blog entry has some more information that may help.
InstallValidate Nulled Out My Request (Part III)

Troubleshooting Minor Upgrades or Patches