Too late to test all of this, but here goes with some information. I will check back tomorrow. Essentially I think the problem is your custom action sequencing. Try before Costing. Some things to consider: Custom action sequencing: you need to sequence your custom action right and it needs to be present in both silent … Read more
Well, after much searching and trial and error I have solved this. I’m not sure if this is the best way, but it works. Here’s the scenario: I have an application I would like to deploy via a Visual Studio Setup project. In addition to my application files, I would like to create a subdirectory … Read more
Faulty Configuration: This line would never run – regardless of silent or interactive mode: <Custom Action=”SilentExecExample” After=”TheActionYouWantItAfter”/> The After attribute must specify a valid StandardAction or CustomAction name. Silent Mode Failure: The line below will fail in silent mode because you run it after InstallFinalize. In this case it will not run with elevation (unless … Read more
InstallFinalize: Do you write to HKCU or HKLM? Anything sequenced after InstallFinalize will not run elevated in a managed environment and will hence fail during installation if you try to write to HKLM(unless you change the ACL for the key you write to – or you kick the MSI off from a cmd.exe that is … Read more
There are two ways to pass parameters to the custom actions, one will work for the immediate execution CA and the other one will work for the deferred custom actions. Immediate CA (Can’t be rolled back): In order to pass arguments to the immediate CA you can set a property with the required name and … Read more
Quick Link: Managed Code Custom Actions (below is for C++ native custom actions). UPDATE: Some helpful links. Hello WiX (minimal WiX Visual Studio Project). WiX quick start suggestions. Debugging Custom Actions (for native code / C++ just attach debugger to msiexec.exe). Microsoft Debugging Environments. Dynamic Link Libraries. Suspected causes: Listing some suggestions at the top … Read more
Deferred custom actions can not directly access installer properties (reference). In fact, only CustomActionData property session.CustomActionData and other methods and properties listed here are available on the session object. Therefore, for a deferred custom action to retrieve a property such as the INSTALLLOCATION, you have to use a type 51 custom action — i.e. a … Read more
EDIT: Perhaps look at the answer currently immediately below. This topic has been a headache for long time. I finally figured it out. There are some solutions online, but none of them really works. And of course there is no documentation. So in the chart below there are several properties that are suggested to use … Read more
Use RemoveFile element with On=”uninstall“. Here’s an example: <Directory Id=”CommonAppDataFolder” Name=”CommonAppDataFolder”> <Directory Id=”MyAppFolder” Name=”My”> <Component Id=”MyAppFolder” Guid=”*”> <CreateFolder /> <RemoveFile Id=”PurgeAppFolder” Name=”*.*” On=”uninstall” /> </Component> </Directory> </Directory> Update It didn’t work 100%. It removed the files, however none of the additional directories – the ones created after the installation – were removed. Any thoughts on … Read more
This is a common question. I don’t do it with just a custom action. The only way I know, is to modify the .msi after it has been generated. I run a Javascript script as a post-build event to do exactly that. It inserts a new dialog in the installer wizard, with a checkbox that … Read more