0

I'm using WiX Toolset for installing a program. I have some files in the program I want to install for users and never overwrite or uninstall them. The users may modify these files because they are templates and I don't want them changed. I originally installed them with WiX with the NeverOverwrite setting and then realized they may get uninstalled so I added Permanent to them in a later version. Now the Windows Installer Resiliency check on startup of the program is starting a configuration when users open the program and I think maybe it's because I added that permanent parameter, or some users modified the template, or a combination of the two. Running the repair fixes the issue, but it's happening on a lot of users machines (not all users though, and I can't consistently reproduce the issue on my own computer).

Regardless, I don't really want the installer to track these files. I just want it to not overwrite them if they exist, and not uninstall them. I don't need resiliency for them as it's just complicating things. Is there an easy way to just copy files with WiX Toolset?

Ben Zuill-Smith
  • 3,504
  • 3
  • 25
  • 44

1 Answers1

0

Application Launch: The usual way to deal with this is to install the templates to a read-only location and then have your application copy them to the user profile for each user on first launch. This way the user-specific and changed files are never tracked by Windows Installer.

Previous answers on this topic or related topics:

Stein Åsmul
  • 39,960
  • 25
  • 91
  • 164