In order to successfully implement a major upgrade, you will also need to create a major upgrade item in the Media - Upgrades view. This along with changing the ProductCode and bumping up the ProductVersion will configure a major upgrade. Creating Major Upgrades http://helpnet.flexerasoftware.com/robo/projects/installshield16helplib/CreatingMajorUpgrades.htm ... View more

The custom action to use will depend on your preferences. It may be easiest to use a vbscript custom action. Or you may want to go with a C++ MSI DLL or a C# DLL. The downsides of vbscript include, rarely, there is an issue with the Windows Scripting Host on a machine that prevents vbscript custom actions from running. Also, infrequently/rarely, there is an issue where an anti-virus software prevents vbscript custom actions from running. The downsides of C++/C# is that it is a bit harder to implement from scratch. ... View more

It certainly is possible to create a Windows Installer package without any executable files. You can just include SQL Scripts or even no files if that is what you want. ... View more

It does not seem like there is an available Windows Installer property to get the processor ID, and I don't believe InstallShield makes one available. This means that you will need to implement a custom action or system search to obtain this information. System Search will only be possible if the information is stored in the registry somewhere. Reference: Hardware Properties http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370905(v=VS.85).aspx#hardware_properties ... View more

Did you by chance move one of your components from one feature to another? I believe that the feature component association should not change during a minor upgrade. If you move a component out of a feature, it may cause the feature's install state to appear as advertised during a minor upgrade. ... View more

I have seen this problem before where the icon of a large executable file like yours does not show up on XP but does show up in Vista and newer. I think this is an operating system issue and unfortunately am not aware of anything that can be done about it. ... View more

Hi, You need to use a file key in [!filekey] to get a short path to the file. File keys can be found in the first column of the File table which you can see in the Direct Editor view. Note that INSTALLDIR is actually a directory key and not a file key. ... View more

It isn't clear why your strategy is not working. You should not need to have the directories and files already created in advanced of InstallInitialize to get MoveFiles action to work. I suggest you create a MSI log file and attach it here with a clear indication of the name of your custom action responsible for unzipping the contents in the SupportFiles view and the contents of your MoveFile table. It may become clearer what the problem is. -Ajay ... View more

Hi, Windows Installer extracts the DLL out to the System folder (next to msiexec.exe) when executing a DLL custom action where the DLL is stored in the binary table. I believe the name of the extracted file is given a newly generated name and may end with .tmp. Instead of using the "stored in binary table" option, you may want to consider using the "installed with the product" option. This option is usually less preferred because the DLL will actually become installed and remain after the install is finished. Also, you would need to condition the custom action so that it would only run if the component containing the DLL was being installed locally or was currently installed. -Ajay ... View more

Take a look at the following Windows Installer documentation: Formatted http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa368609(v=VS.85).aspx You can use [!filekey] syntax with a file key for a file that is set to be installed to INSTALLDIR. This will give you a short path including that file name. If you didn't want the file name as part of it, then you may need to use a custom action of some sort to strip out the file name part from the path. -Ajay ... View more

Hi, Could you provide more information about where the icon is not seen? Is it in the InstallShield Shortcuts view when you are trying to select an icon in an EXE for the icon of a shortcut? Or is it after your product is installed, and you are looking at your application files in Windows Explorer and your EXE icon does not appear? Or when you are looking at your installed shortcuts? Have you checked on Vista or Windows 7 - I only ask because the newer Microsoft OSes seem to handle icons better than XP. -Ajay ... View more

Hi, I assume that the advertised feature was actually installed locally in the original install - is that right? I believe that the feature state can show up as 'Advertised' when minor upgrade component authoring rules have been violated. Basically you may have deleted a component, changed a component GUID, or changed a keyfile of a component. You can use the Upgrade Validation wizard from Build menu - Validate in InstallShield IDE and point it to your original install and your minor upgrade install, and it will verify the component authoring rules for a minor upgrade. Changing the Product Code http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa367850(v=VS.85).aspx -Ajay ... View more

Hi, Please note that files that were not installed with the setup will not be removed during uninstallation. So if these files are created by your application, for example, then they will not be removed by default by the setup. Another common cause of files being left behind during uninstall is if the shared count for the files has become off on the machine so that Windows Installer still thinks that the files are in use by a different install. To see if this is the case, you can install your setup on a clean machine. Then uninstall it immediately to see if the files were removed. If the shared reference count does not seem to be the problem, then you may want to log the uninstallation to see if that yields any clues. How to enable Windows Installer logging http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223300/en-us Note that multiple log files may be created for an InstallScript MSI setup. -Ajay ... View more

The Visual Studio redist setup is a Windows Installer setup. Thus it can't be installed from the Install Execute sequence of a different Windows Installer setup (this is a limitation of Windows Installer). Thus the recommendation is to use the InstallShield Setup Prerequisite functionality to install VS redists. If one does not already exist for the version of the VS redist you want to install, then you can create a new setup prerequisite. Defining InstallShield Prerequisites http://helpnet.flexerasoftware.com/robo/projects/installshield15helplib/IHelpSetPrereqCustom.htm -Ajay ... View more