Software Deployment

Well.....if the reason is because you are delivering user data files that will change......then remove the component ID from the table so that self repair doesnt overwrite them.

If it is because the files you are delivering will be changed by the user or updated by a later version then remove the component ID so that they wont be uninstalled by a newer version.

If you will need to remove the whole app and replace it with a new version but dont want to overwriite the files already installed then you have to do 2 things.

Deploy it without a component ID
Then deploy the3 new app and select "dont overwrite if keypath exists" on the new version.

That about covers it.

I do not want to trigger self repair on some components because my customer my change or remove files but I want the files to be removed if the MSI-package is uninstalled. Is that possible?

MSIMaker, I notice that you did not comment on Sartos suggestion to leave key path with no value (<none>). I seems to be a solution, but it is not nice to have a red component, is something wrong? When I read the Windows Installer Help it says "If the value is not NULL, then KeyPath is either a primary key into the Registry, ODBCDataSource, or File tables depending upon the Attribute value. If KeyPath is null, then the folder of the Directory_ column is used as the key path."

yvonne I don't normally leave keypaths blank so I don't know the behaviour

Thank you. I suppose empty key paths are not a good way to go. So now I have removed the component ids to prevent self repair. I have also created new components for each folder to remove all files in the folders during ininstall so it seems that I have solved my problem.

I just wonder, is it possible to add a component that removes all folders, subfolders and files in a tree. My customer may create new folders and want then removed as well if he unistall. I do not know how to get rid of them.

I know of a site where they can't have MSIs repair due to a bug with ZENWorks and locked down user environments. What they do is remove all the Windows Installer specific keys for the MSI after the MSI has been installed. So you have a MSI perform the installation but then throw Windows Installer away after the initial install. You loose the ability to have the MSI uninstall but then again it wont be able to repair itself either.

MSIZAP might be a better option than to try an find all the registry entries for a MSI.