We are releasing a new version of our application and we would like it to be able to uninstall the previous installed version from the client's computer.
How would we be able to do that?
edit: I'm installing this application (and also the previous version) with a deployment project in Visual Studio, so I assume it is a Windows Installer.
Thanks a bunch!
Deployement Project in Visual Studio has a build-in feature to remove previous versions of your application.
Check the "RemovePreviousVersions" property in the Deployement Project Properties.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/y63fxdw6.aspx
Edit:
from MSDN:
The installer checks UpgradeCode and
ProductCode properties to determine
whether the earlier version should be
removed. The UpgradeCode must be the
same for both versions; the
ProductCode must be different.
If your using batch or another automated deployment tool for your releases, you can easily uninstall an MSI product using the following command line:
msiexec [/uninstall | /x] [Product.msi | ProductCode]
The Microsoft Installer (*.msi) format supports what you want do to, unfortunately Visual Studio only offers limited customisation and is designed to be used for basic projects.
There are a lot of resources out there on this topic and many other people asking similar questions. My best advice would be spent some time researching the MSDN documentation.
...
Update
OK. After spending 30 minutes reading a few articles, I think it may be possible using a custom action that you package with your new installer.
Follow this MSDN article on creating a Custom Action. It involves creating a new class library, adding an System.Configuration.Install.Installer class, adding it as an output to the setup project, and then selecting it as a custom action.
To view your custom actions tab, right-click on the setup project and select View > Custom Actions.
From here: you will need to write the code to remove the installation directory and AppData profile. This article on how to set Custom Action Data may be helpful.
Good luck.
HTH,
Dennis
If this you program then that's a simple reverse batch.
Or you could use some installer/uninstaller builder like NSIS
Related
I have an Windows C# application for which I will have to create an installer
which would ask user for custom and complete installation.These custom and complete installation options are same application with different feature.
I know to provide options by using Installer UI radio buttons but how to provide control as it takes specific exe for the custom and complete installation respectively.
Or is there any way to achieve this, appreciate if you would provdie step by step procedure.
I am using Visual studio 2013 premium version, MySQL 5.5.
You have different ways, you can do it by configurate in VS. But on this I can´t say much. I would prefer to use a NSIS-File or MS-Build to create an setup.exe
With NSIS you can say all Options etc. which the installer should include.
Here is an NSIS tutorial. Hope that helps.
There is no support for custom dialogs in Visual Studio setup projects - they are limited feature setup projects that do not supply access to the full functionality of Windows Installer. Any installs you see with those Custom and Complete choices (or choices of which features to install) will not have been built with Visual Studio setup installer projects. That means you'll need to choose another tool that meets those requirements, and any others you might have for the install.
I made a search to find how am I adding an installer to my c# application. In every result I found that I need to add new file from Setup and Deployment templates, but I have no those templates. Even in online search I didn't find so.
what should I do?
The VS setup templates were removed post VS-2010.
Now, you have to use something else. "InstallShield" is still available, and Wix is a very popular install framework. You can, of course, just roll your own installer as well.
Alternatively, just use VS 2010 or earlier to create your setup/deployment projects.
I reckon you should do some research. There are many options out there depending on your type of application. Is it an executable that runs locally? Is it a Web application? Or a mobile application?
Microsoft provides lots of options/guides out of the box. Assuming you use Visual Studio 2013 check this MSDN article which is a good guide to start your research journey: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/wtzawcsz.aspx
I noticed within the past couple of weeks my latest builds of a specific project are not showing up in Add/Remove programs.
I am using Visual Studio 2010, Windows7 64-bit (though I've also tried this over two Windows 32-bit machines). All latest service packs and updates are installed. The solution is made up of several projects with various references. The Setup and Deployment project is not the Install Shield version, but the one built in Microsoft project.
Previous versions of the software install fine, and still do... But if I pull down a tagged earlier version from CVS, and rebuild the installer for those versions, they do not work either.
I've opened the MSI in Orca, and I can see that the ARPNOREMOVE, ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT are both set to 1. When the project gets installed, a registry entry SystemComponent Dword value is created. If I remove that registry entry, the application shows up. Based on everything I've read and researched I have found people that WANTED this functionality, but were told that Visual Studio can't do this on its own. Their solutions were to use Orca to add the ARPNOREMOVE or ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT. At this point, all of the people who I found had my problem either had a basic default installer and they didn't know what name they were looking for in Add/Remove Programs or some other basic error that doesn't apply in my situation.
I've tried all of the following:
-Previous versions of tagged versions on CVS
-Multiple development machines
-Multiple computers to verify none show up in Add/Remove programs
-Resetting all Visual Studio settings
-Building from a clean development environment
-Removing Installer project from the solution and creating a new installer project
The weird part is that if I create a new solution and just create a setup and deployment project within, that installs fine. Can anyone having any idea about this help me out ?
So this is what I found out. We are using National Instruments Measurement Studio for .Net and the legacy controls. When using the legacy controls a certain merge module gets recognized as a dependency. For whatever reason, now this merge module change the behavior of the installer that is compiled. I've contacted National Instruments and am now working with them.
First, yes, you figured out the correct property name. Yes, ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT is it which leads to an "unvisible" install under Add/Remove programs (ARP for insiders, although the name has changed post XP).
And it is possible to set/change the resulting "SystemComponent" entry in registry later which is not the case for all properties.
ARPNOREMOVE just controls if the uninstall in ARP is really possible to perform.
I have looked into Visual Installer before really, because it is so limited for MSI experts, but after taking a quick look there is a .vdproj (project file) created with VS 2010, and not very surprisingly, all the MSI information is coded there. The visual setup editors you can see in the solution explorer are only a subset.
Just look for "ARP" and you will find some properties set. The meanings of the values are maybe not so easy to guess, but from a rational point of view:
Either there is some setting inside there or a custom action (listed there too) which sets that property!
In my minimal test with the wizard only the ARPCONTACT property was set in the resulting msi file.
At least you could take the .vdproj file cor diffs with other checkedin versions..
I've a c# project, and I would like to know if the default free installer, provided with visual studio 2010 allows us to prompt some information to configure the application.
if yes, how?
if no, what can you advice me?
Thank you very much
There are several links you should probably explore thoroughly:
User Interface Management in Deployment
The User Interface Editor can be used to specify and set properties for predefined dialog boxes that are displayed during installation on the target computer.
Visual Studio Setup project FAQ
Setup and Deployment Projects
These will give you a pretty good overview on how to create setup projects, which ones to use, and how to customize your User Interface, once you have a setup project.
This article from Rob Aquila's Blog recently helped me out with this exact question. It runs you through the steps required to make your deployment package prompt the user for input, and then modify your app.config with those values during installation.
One pitfall from my experience came in attempting to configure custom sections in the app.config. Turns out I couldn't use the ConfigurationSection implementation that was already created for the application, due to assembly binding issues that I couldn't resolve. I ended up doing that using LINQ to XML in a custom Installer class.
However, modifying the <appSettings> settings is fairly straightforward.
I am working on a project, where I need to give a repair/remove option to my installer [which will be shown at installation time] if the program previously installed. And I need to do it with VS 2008. Please help me on that.
EDIT: Actually for some security reason I removing registry entry for previous installation. So that I can uninstall it from my application only, which is password protected. So thats why I need to customize that repair/remove option. So that it will appear by seeing some specific registry value. How can I do that ?
Thanks.
Just add a Setup project to your current solution. A setup project uses the Windows Installer technology which gives you the repair and remove option for free. Use this type of project when you have a "simple" installation. If you want more control (custom dialogs) you should install Wix. It plugs into VS and you can define an installation file in XML which is then compiled to a Windows Installer package.
I believe WIX is more suitable for your requirements where you have more control over your installer.
If you only want your application to be uninstalled only from your application, you can probably add a custom action (or Condition) in your installer which validates if the installer action (Repair/Remove) was launched from your application and not from ARP.
One way would to be pass a Custom Property from your application to the msiexec which is tested in your custom action (or Condition) and doesn't let the installer process proceed if executed without setting this property.