How to add a WiX custom action that happens only on uninstall via MSI

Question

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 content created after the installation   I noticed the similar Stack Overflow question Removing files when uninstalling WiX  but I was wondering if this could be done more simply using a call to a batch script to delete the folder   This is my first time using WiX  and I m still getting the hang of custom actions  What would be a basic example of a custom action that will run a batch script on uninstall

User · Answer

The biggest problem with a batch script is handling rollback when the user clicks cancel (or something goes wrong during your install). The correct way to handle this scenario is to create a CustomAction that adds temporary rows to the RemoveFiles table. That way the Windows Installer handles the rollback cases for you. It is insanely simpler when you see the solution.

Anyway, to have an action only execute during uninstall add a Condition element with:

REMOVE ~= "ALL"

the ~= says compare case insensitive (even though I think ALL is always uppercaesd). See the MSI SDK documentation about Conditions Syntax for more information.

PS: There has never been a case where I sat down and thought, "Oh, batch file would be a good solution in an installation package." Actually, finding an installation package that has a batch file in it would only encourage me to return the product for a refund.

User · Answer

Here s a set of properties i made that feel more intuitive to use than the built in stuff   The conditions are based off of the truth table supplied above by ahmd0    lt  -- truth table for installer varables  install vs uninstall vs repair vs upgrade  https   stackoverflow com a 17608049 1721136 -- gt    lt SetProperty Id   INSTALL    After  FindRelatedProducts  Value  1  gt  lt   CDATA Installed    AND PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED      gt  lt  SetProperty gt    lt SetProperty Id   UNINSTALL  After  FindRelatedProducts  Value  1  gt  lt   CDATA PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED    AND REMOVE  ALL    gt  lt  SetProperty gt    lt SetProperty Id   CHANGE     After  FindRelatedProducts  Value  1  gt  lt   CDATA Installed lt  gt    AND REINSTALL    AND PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED lt  gt    AND REMOVE      gt  lt  SetProperty gt    lt SetProperty Id   REPAIR     After  FindRelatedProducts  Value  1  gt  lt   CDATA REINSTALL lt  gt      gt  lt  SetProperty gt    lt SetProperty Id   UPGRADE    After  FindRelatedProducts  Value  1  gt  lt   CDATA PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED lt  gt       gt  lt  SetProperty gt    Here s some sample usage      lt Custom Action  CaptureExistingLocalSettingsValues  After  InstallInitialize  gt NOT  UNINSTALL lt  Custom gt     lt Custom Action  GetConfigXmlToPersistFromCmdLineArgs  After  InstallInitialize  gt  INSTALL OR  UPGRADE lt  Custom gt     lt Custom Action  ForgetProperties  Before  InstallFinalize  gt  UNINSTALL OR  UPGRADE lt  Custom gt     lt Custom Action  SetInstallCustomConfigSettingsArgs  Before  InstallCustomConfigSettings  gt NOT  UNINSTALL lt  Custom gt     lt Custom Action  InstallCustomConfigSettings  Before  InstallFinalize  gt NOT  UNINSTALL lt  Custom gt    Issues    UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE is set during the RemoveExistingProducts action  so any custom actions that you run prior will not know it s an upgrade https   docs microsoft com en-us windows desktop Msi upgradingproductcode

User · Answer

I used Custom Action separately coded in C   DLL and used the DLL to call appropriate function on Uninstalling using this syntax     lt CustomAction Id  Uninstall  BinaryKey  Dll Name                 DllEntry  Function Name  Execute  deferred    gt    Using the above code block  I was able to run any function defined in C   DLL on uninstall  FYI  my uninstall function had code regarding Clearing current user data and registry entries

User · Answer

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 and the values they have for various installation scenarios     So in my case I wanted a CA that will run only on uninstalls - not upgrades  not repairs or modifies  According to the table above I had to use    lt Custom Action  CA ID  Before  other CA ID  gt           NOT UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE  AND  REMOVE  ALL   lt  Custom gt    And it worked

User · Answer

I used Custom Action separately coded in C   DLL and used the DLL to call appropriate function on Uninstalling using this syntax     lt CustomAction Id  Uninstall  BinaryKey  Dll Name                 DllEntry  Function Name  Execute  deferred    gt    Using the above code block  I was able to run any function defined in C   DLL on uninstall  FYI  my uninstall function had code regarding Clearing current user data and registry entries

User · Answer

The biggest problem with a batch script is handling rollback when the user clicks cancel (or something goes wrong during your install). The correct way to handle this scenario is to create a CustomAction that adds temporary rows to the RemoveFiles table. That way the Windows Installer handles the rollback cases for you. It is insanely simpler when you see the solution.

Anyway, to have an action only execute during uninstall add a Condition element with:

REMOVE ~= "ALL"

the ~= says compare case insensitive (even though I think ALL is always uppercaesd). See the MSI SDK documentation about Conditions Syntax for more information.

PS: There has never been a case where I sat down and thought, "Oh, batch file would be a good solution in an installation package." Actually, finding an installation package that has a batch file in it would only encourage me to return the product for a refund.

User · Answer

You can do this with a custom action   You can add a refrence to your custom action under  lt InstallExecuteSequence gt     lt InstallExecuteSequence gt         lt Custom Action  FileCleaner  After  InstallFinalize  gt            Installed AND NOT UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE lt  Custom gt    Then you will also have to define your Action under  lt Product gt     lt Product gt          lt CustomAction Id  FileCleaner  BinaryKey  FileCleanerEXE                   ExeCommand    Return  asyncNoWait     gt    Where FileCleanerEXE is a binary  in my case a little c   program that does the custom action  which is also defined under  lt Product gt     lt Product gt          lt Binary Id  FileCleanerEXE  SourceFile  path to fileCleaner exe    gt    The real trick to this is the Installed AND NOT UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE condition on the Custom Action  with out that your action will get run on every upgrade  since an upgrade is really an uninstall then reinstall   Which if you are deleting files is probably not want you want during upgrading   On a side note  I recommend going through the trouble of using something like C   program to do the action  instead of a batch script because of the power and control it provides -- and you can prevent the  cmd prompt  window from flashing while your installer runs

User · Answer

You can do this with a custom action   You can add a refrence to your custom action under  lt InstallExecuteSequence gt     lt InstallExecuteSequence gt         lt Custom Action  FileCleaner  After  InstallFinalize  gt            Installed AND NOT UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE lt  Custom gt    Then you will also have to define your Action under  lt Product gt     lt Product gt          lt CustomAction Id  FileCleaner  BinaryKey  FileCleanerEXE                   ExeCommand    Return  asyncNoWait     gt    Where FileCleanerEXE is a binary  in my case a little c   program that does the custom action  which is also defined under  lt Product gt     lt Product gt          lt Binary Id  FileCleanerEXE  SourceFile  path to fileCleaner exe    gt    The real trick to this is the Installed AND NOT UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE condition on the Custom Action  with out that your action will get run on every upgrade  since an upgrade is really an uninstall then reinstall   Which if you are deleting files is probably not want you want during upgrading   On a side note  I recommend going through the trouble of using something like C   program to do the action  instead of a batch script because of the power and control it provides -- and you can prevent the  cmd prompt  window from flashing while your installer runs

User · Answer

The biggest problem with a batch script is handling rollback when the user clicks cancel (or something goes wrong during your install). The correct way to handle this scenario is to create a CustomAction that adds temporary rows to the RemoveFiles table. That way the Windows Installer handles the rollback cases for you. It is insanely simpler when you see the solution.

Anyway, to have an action only execute during uninstall add a Condition element with:

REMOVE ~= "ALL"

the ~= says compare case insensitive (even though I think ALL is always uppercaesd). See the MSI SDK documentation about Conditions Syntax for more information.

PS: There has never been a case where I sat down and thought, "Oh, batch file would be a good solution in an installation package." Actually, finding an installation package that has a batch file in it would only encourage me to return the product for a refund.

User · Answer

There are multiple problems with yaluna s answer  also property names are case sensitive  Installed is the correct spelling  INSTALLED will not work    The table above should ve been this     Also assuming a full repair  amp  uninstall the actual values of properties could be     The WiX Expression Syntax documentation says      In these expressions  you can use property names  remember that they are case sensitive     The properties are documented at the Windows Installer Guide  e g  Installed   EDIT  Small correction to the first table  evidently  Uninstall  can also happen with just REMOVE being True

User · Answer

You can do this with a custom action   You can add a refrence to your custom action under  lt InstallExecuteSequence gt     lt InstallExecuteSequence gt         lt Custom Action  FileCleaner  After  InstallFinalize  gt            Installed AND NOT UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE lt  Custom gt    Then you will also have to define your Action under  lt Product gt     lt Product gt          lt CustomAction Id  FileCleaner  BinaryKey  FileCleanerEXE                   ExeCommand    Return  asyncNoWait     gt    Where FileCleanerEXE is a binary  in my case a little c   program that does the custom action  which is also defined under  lt Product gt     lt Product gt          lt Binary Id  FileCleanerEXE  SourceFile  path to fileCleaner exe    gt    The real trick to this is the Installed AND NOT UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE condition on the Custom Action  with out that your action will get run on every upgrade  since an upgrade is really an uninstall then reinstall   Which if you are deleting files is probably not want you want during upgrading   On a side note  I recommend going through the trouble of using something like C   program to do the action  instead of a batch script because of the power and control it provides -- and you can prevent the  cmd prompt  window from flashing while your installer runs

User · Answer

There are multiple problems with yaluna s answer  also property names are case sensitive  Installed is the correct spelling  INSTALLED will not work    The table above should ve been this     Also assuming a full repair  amp  uninstall the actual values of properties could be     The WiX Expression Syntax documentation says      In these expressions  you can use property names  remember that they are case sensitive     The properties are documented at the Windows Installer Guide  e g  Installed   EDIT  Small correction to the first table  evidently  Uninstall  can also happen with just REMOVE being True

User · Answer

Here s a set of properties i made that feel more intuitive to use than the built in stuff   The conditions are based off of the truth table supplied above by ahmd0    lt  -- truth table for installer varables  install vs uninstall vs repair vs upgrade  https   stackoverflow com a 17608049 1721136 -- gt    lt SetProperty Id   INSTALL    After  FindRelatedProducts  Value  1  gt  lt   CDATA Installed    AND PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED      gt  lt  SetProperty gt    lt SetProperty Id   UNINSTALL  After  FindRelatedProducts  Value  1  gt  lt   CDATA PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED    AND REMOVE  ALL    gt  lt  SetProperty gt    lt SetProperty Id   CHANGE     After  FindRelatedProducts  Value  1  gt  lt   CDATA Installed lt  gt    AND REINSTALL    AND PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED lt  gt    AND REMOVE      gt  lt  SetProperty gt    lt SetProperty Id   REPAIR     After  FindRelatedProducts  Value  1  gt  lt   CDATA REINSTALL lt  gt      gt  lt  SetProperty gt    lt SetProperty Id   UPGRADE    After  FindRelatedProducts  Value  1  gt  lt   CDATA PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED lt  gt       gt  lt  SetProperty gt    Here s some sample usage      lt Custom Action  CaptureExistingLocalSettingsValues  After  InstallInitialize  gt NOT  UNINSTALL lt  Custom gt     lt Custom Action  GetConfigXmlToPersistFromCmdLineArgs  After  InstallInitialize  gt  INSTALL OR  UPGRADE lt  Custom gt     lt Custom Action  ForgetProperties  Before  InstallFinalize  gt  UNINSTALL OR  UPGRADE lt  Custom gt     lt Custom Action  SetInstallCustomConfigSettingsArgs  Before  InstallCustomConfigSettings  gt NOT  UNINSTALL lt  Custom gt     lt Custom Action  InstallCustomConfigSettings  Before  InstallFinalize  gt NOT  UNINSTALL lt  Custom gt    Issues    UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE is set during the RemoveExistingProducts action  so any custom actions that you run prior will not know it s an upgrade https   docs microsoft com en-us windows desktop Msi upgradingproductcode

User · Answer

The biggest problem with a batch script is handling rollback when the user clicks cancel (or something goes wrong during your install). The correct way to handle this scenario is to create a CustomAction that adds temporary rows to the RemoveFiles table. That way the Windows Installer handles the rollback cases for you. It is insanely simpler when you see the solution.

Anyway, to have an action only execute during uninstall add a Condition element with:

REMOVE ~= "ALL"

the ~= says compare case insensitive (even though I think ALL is always uppercaesd). See the MSI SDK documentation about Conditions Syntax for more information.

PS: There has never been a case where I sat down and thought, "Oh, batch file would be a good solution in an installation package." Actually, finding an installation package that has a batch file in it would only encourage me to return the product for a refund.

User · Answer

You can do this with a custom action   You can add a refrence to your custom action under  lt InstallExecuteSequence gt     lt InstallExecuteSequence gt         lt Custom Action  FileCleaner  After  InstallFinalize  gt            Installed AND NOT UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE lt  Custom gt    Then you will also have to define your Action under  lt Product gt     lt Product gt          lt CustomAction Id  FileCleaner  BinaryKey  FileCleanerEXE                   ExeCommand    Return  asyncNoWait     gt    Where FileCleanerEXE is a binary  in my case a little c   program that does the custom action  which is also defined under  lt Product gt     lt Product gt          lt Binary Id  FileCleanerEXE  SourceFile  path to fileCleaner exe    gt    The real trick to this is the Installed AND NOT UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE condition on the Custom Action  with out that your action will get run on every upgrade  since an upgrade is really an uninstall then reinstall   Which if you are deleting files is probably not want you want during upgrading   On a side note  I recommend going through the trouble of using something like C   program to do the action  instead of a batch script because of the power and control it provides -- and you can prevent the  cmd prompt  window from flashing while your installer runs

User · Answer

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 and the values they have for various installation scenarios     So in my case I wanted a CA that will run only on uninstalls - not upgrades  not repairs or modifies  According to the table above I had to use    lt Custom Action  CA ID  Before  other CA ID  gt           NOT UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE  AND  REMOVE  ALL   lt  Custom gt    And it worked

[wix] How to add a WiX custom action that happens only on uninstall (via MSI)?

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