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Questions tagged [windows-installer]

Windows Installer is the installation service provided with Windows, based on the creation and installation of MSI files. In practice there will be a tool you're using to generate the MSI files, and you should tag your question with Windows Installer and that tool (WiX, Visual Studio Setup Project, InstallShield, Advanced Installer etc). Your issue may be with building, designing, or installing MSI files.

From the MSDN documentation:

Microsoft Windows Installer is an installation and configuration service provided with Windows. The installer service enables customers to provide better corporate deployment and provides a standard format for component management. The installer also enables the advertisement of applications and features according to the operating system.

Installer also handles registry related changes.

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How to implement WiX installer upgrade?

At work we use WiX for building installation packages. We want that installation of product X would result in uninstall of the previous version of that product on that machine. I've read on several places on the Internet about a major upgrade but…
Dror Helper
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What are the specific differences between .msi and setup.exe file?

I searched a lot, but all are guessed answers. Help me to find the exact answer.
Babu
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How to add a WiX custom action that happens only on uninstall (via MSI)?

I would like to modify an MSI installer (created through WiX) to delete an entire directory on uninstall. I understand the RemoveFile and RemoveFolder options in WiX, but these are not robust enough to recursively delete an entire folder that has…
Zack
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4 answers

Wix: single MSI instead of msi + cab

My Wix project creates install.msi and cab1.cab. How can I have it bundle everything into the msi? I will likely use 7-zip SFX to work around this but I have seen other apps with only a single msi.
wtjones
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How to create an installer for a .net Windows Service using Visual Studio

How do I create an installer for a Windows Service that I have created using Visual Studio?
Kelsey
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How can I uninstall an application using PowerShell?

Is there a simple way to hook into the standard 'Add or Remove Programs' functionality using PowerShell to uninstall an existing application? Or to check if the application is installed?
Rob Paterson
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What is the WiX 'KeyPath' attribute?

What is the WiX 'KeyPath' attribute? In particular, how does it apply to the following:
Seth
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Create MSI or setup project with Visual Studio 2012

I create a small application and I would like to create one MSI file. In Visual Studio 2010 you have this project type under: Other Project Types -> Setup and Deployment -> Visual studio Installer -> Setup Project But the only thing you got in…
Kris Nobels
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How to avoid the "Windows Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting warning"

My company distributes an installer to customers via our website. Recently when I download via the website and try to run the installer I get the warning message: Windows protected your PC Windows Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app…
Andy
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An error occurred while validating. HRESULT = '8000000A'

I have been receiving this error for a while when using devenv on an automatic build. I have gone through every website I can find, and the usual answers mention refreshing dependencies (Which I believe fixes it for manual deployment, but not for…
Chris C.
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Silent installation of a MSI package

I have a MSI package that I need to install if the package is not already installed. Also I need to install it silently. The package prompts user for: Installation location (C:\Program Files\Foobar) Install type: minimal and full (minimal) I need…
Salman A
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Installing multiple instances of the same windows service on a server

So we've produced a windows service to feed data to our client application and everything is going great. The client has come up with a fun configuration request that requires two instances of this service running on the same server and configured…
Switters
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How can I find the product GUID of an installed MSI setup?

I need to find the product GUID for an installed MSI file in order to perform maintenance such as patching, uninstall (how-to uninstall) and also for auditing purposes.
Stein Åsmul
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Removing files when uninstalling WiX

When uninstalling my application, I'd like to configure the Wix setup to remove all the files that were added after the original installation. It seems like the uninstaller removes only the directories and files that were originally installed from…
pribeiro
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Create an application setup in visual studio 2013

I already have a project which is ready to build. Currently, I am using visual studio 2013. But, I don't know how to create an MSI setup in visual studio 2013, but for visual studio 2010 there are plenty of tutorials out there discussing how to…
Kaoru
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