How to implement WiX installer upgrade

Question

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 couldn t get it to work  Can anyone please specify the exact steps that I need to take to add uninstall previous version feature to WiX

User · Answer

The Upgrade element inside the Product element, combined with proper scheduling of the action will perform the uninstall you're after. Be sure to list the upgrade codes of all the products you want to remove.

<Property Id="PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED" Secure="yes" />
<Upgrade Id="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000">
  <UpgradeVersion Minimum="1.0.0.0" Maximum="1.0.5.0" Property="PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED" IncludeMinimum="yes" IncludeMaximum="no" />
</Upgrade>

Note that, if you're careful with your builds, you can prevent people from accidentally installing an older version of your product over a newer one. That's what the Maximum field is for. When we build installers, we set UpgradeVersion Maximum to the version being built, but IncludeMaximum="no" to prevent this scenario.

You have choices regarding the scheduling of RemoveExistingProducts. I prefer scheduling it after InstallFinalize (rather than after InstallInitialize as others have recommended):

<InstallExecuteSequence>
  <RemoveExistingProducts After="InstallFinalize"></RemoveExistingProducts>
</InstallExecuteSequence>

This leaves the previous version of the product installed until after the new files and registry keys are copied. This lets me migrate data from the old version to the new (for example, you've switched storage of user preferences from the registry to an XML file, but you want to be polite and migrate their settings). This migration is done in a deferred custom action just before InstallFinalize.

Another benefit is efficiency: if there are unchanged files, Windows Installer doesn't bother copying them again when you schedule after InstallFinalize. If you schedule after InstallInitialize, the previous version is completely removed first, and then the new version is installed. This results in unnecessary deletion and recopying of files.

For other scheduling options, see the RemoveExistingProducts help topic in MSDN. This week, the link is: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa371197.aspx

User · Answer

I would suggest having a look at Alex Shevchuk s tutorial  He explains  major upgrade  through WiX with a good hands-on example at From MSI to WiX  Part 8 - Major Upgrade

User · Answer

In the newest versions  from the 3 5 1315 0 beta   you can use the MajorUpgrade element instead of using your own   For example  we use this code to do automatic upgrades  It prevents downgrades  giving a localised error message  and also prevents upgrading an already existing identical version  i e  only lower versions are upgraded     lt MajorUpgrade     AllowDowngrades  no  DowngradeErrorMessage    loc NewerVersionInstalled       AllowSameVersionUpgrades  no        gt

User · Answer

This is what worked for me  even with major DOWN grade    lt Wix     gt     lt Product     gt       lt Property Id  REINSTALLMODE  Value  amus    gt       lt MajorUpgrade AllowDowngrades  yes    gt

User · Answer

The following is the sort of syntax I use for major upgrades    lt Product Id     UpgradeCode  PUT-GUID-HERE  Version    var ProductVersion   gt    lt Upgrade Id  PUT-GUID-HERE  gt       lt UpgradeVersion OnlyDetect  yes  Minimum    var ProductVersion   Property  NEWERVERSIONDETECTED  IncludeMinimum  no    gt       lt UpgradeVersion OnlyDetect  no  Maximum    var ProductVersion   Property  OLDERVERSIONBEINGUPGRADED  IncludeMaximum  no    gt   lt  Upgrade gt    lt InstallExecuteSequence gt       lt RemoveExistingProducts After  InstallInitialize    gt   lt  InstallExecuteSequence gt    As  Brian Gillespie noted there are other places to schedule the RemoveExistingProducts depending on desired optimizations  Note the PUT-GUID-HERE must be identical

User · Answer

You might be better asking this on the WiX-users mailing list   WiX is best used with a firm understanding of what Windows Installer is doing  You might consider getting  The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer    The action that removes an existing product is the RemoveExistingProducts action  Because the consequences of what it does depends on where it s scheduled - namely  whether a failure causes the old product to be reinstalled  and whether unchanged files are copied again - you have to schedule it yourself   RemoveExistingProducts processes  lt Upgrade gt  elements in the current installation  matching the  Id attribute to the UpgradeCode  specified in the  lt Product gt  element  of all the installed products on the system  The UpgradeCode defines a family of related products  Any products which have this UpgradeCode  whose versions fall into the range specified  and where the UpgradeVersion  OnlyDetect attribute is no  or is omitted   will be removed   The documentation for RemoveExistingProducts mentions setting the UPGRADINGPRODUCTCODE property  It means that the uninstall process for the product being removed receives that property  whose value is the Product  Id for the product being installed   If your original installation did not include an UpgradeCode  you will not be able to use this feature

User · Answer

I read the WiX documentation  downloaded examples  but I still had plenty of problems with upgrades  Minor upgrades don t execute uninstall of the previous products despite of possibility to specify those uninstall  I spent more that a day for investigations and found that WiX 3 5 intoduced a new tag for upgrades  Here is the usage    lt MajorUpgrade Schedule  afterInstallInitialize          DowngradeErrorMessage  A later version of  ProductName  is already installed  Setup will now exit            AllowDowngrades  no    gt    But the main reason of problems was that documentation says to use the  REINSTALL ALL REINSTALLMODE vomus  parameters for minor and small upgrades  but it doesn t say that those parameters are FORBIDDEN for major upgrades - they simply stop working  So you shouldn t use them with major upgrades

User · Answer

I m using the latest version of WiX  3 0  and couldn t get the above working  But this did work    lt Product Id     UpgradeCode  PUT-GUID-HERE       gt    lt Upgrade Id  PUT-GUID-HERE  gt     lt UpgradeVersion OnlyDetect  no  Property  PREVIOUSFOUND       Minimum  1 0 0 0   IncludeMinimum  yes       Maximum  99 0 0 0  IncludeMaximum  no    gt   lt  Upgrade gt    Note that PUT-GUID-HERE should be the same as the GUID that you have defined in the UpgradeCode property of the Product

User · Answer

One important thing I missed from the tutorials for a while  stolen from http   www tramontana co hu wix lesson4 php  which resulted in the  Another version of this product is already installed  errors    Small updates mean small changes to one or a few files where the change doesn t warrant changing the product version  major minor build   You don t have to change the Product GUID  either  Note that you always have to change the Package GUID when you create a new  msi file that is different from the previous ones in any respect  The Installer keeps track of your installed programs and finds them when the user wants to change or remove the installation using these GUIDs  Using the same GUID for different packages will confuse the Installer    Minor upgrades denote changes where the product version will already change  Modify the Version attribute of the Product tag  The product will remain the same  so you don t need to change the Product GUID but  of course  get a new Package GUID    Major upgrades denote significant changes like going from one full version to another  Change everything  Version attribute  Product and Package GUIDs

User · Answer

The Upgrade element inside the Product element, combined with proper scheduling of the action will perform the uninstall you're after. Be sure to list the upgrade codes of all the products you want to remove.

<Property Id="PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED" Secure="yes" />
<Upgrade Id="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000">
  <UpgradeVersion Minimum="1.0.0.0" Maximum="1.0.5.0" Property="PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED" IncludeMinimum="yes" IncludeMaximum="no" />
</Upgrade>

Note that, if you're careful with your builds, you can prevent people from accidentally installing an older version of your product over a newer one. That's what the Maximum field is for. When we build installers, we set UpgradeVersion Maximum to the version being built, but IncludeMaximum="no" to prevent this scenario.

You have choices regarding the scheduling of RemoveExistingProducts. I prefer scheduling it after InstallFinalize (rather than after InstallInitialize as others have recommended):

<InstallExecuteSequence>
  <RemoveExistingProducts After="InstallFinalize"></RemoveExistingProducts>
</InstallExecuteSequence>

This leaves the previous version of the product installed until after the new files and registry keys are copied. This lets me migrate data from the old version to the new (for example, you've switched storage of user preferences from the registry to an XML file, but you want to be polite and migrate their settings). This migration is done in a deferred custom action just before InstallFinalize.

Another benefit is efficiency: if there are unchanged files, Windows Installer doesn't bother copying them again when you schedule after InstallFinalize. If you schedule after InstallInitialize, the previous version is completely removed first, and then the new version is installed. This results in unnecessary deletion and recopying of files.

For other scheduling options, see the RemoveExistingProducts help topic in MSDN. This week, the link is: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa371197.aspx

User · Answer

I used this site to help me understand the basics about WiX Upgrade   http   wix tramontana co hu tutorial upgrades-and-modularization  Afterwards I created a sample Installer   installed a test file   then created the Upgrade installer  installed 2 sample test files   This will give you a basic understanding of how the mechanism works   And as Mike said in the book from Apress   The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer   it will help you out to understand  but it is not written using WiX   Another site that was pretty helpful was this one   http   www wixwiki com index php title Main Page

User · Answer

Below worked for me     lt Product Id     Name  XXXInstaller  Language  1033  Version  1 0 0 0       Manufacturer  XXXX  UpgradeCode  YOUR GUID HERE  gt   lt Package InstallerVersion  xxx  Compressed  yes   gt   lt Upgrade Id  YOUR GUID HERE  gt       lt UpgradeVersion Property  REMOVINGTHEOLDVERSION  Minimum  1 0 0 0           RemoveFeatures  ALL    gt   lt  Upgrade gt   lt InstallExecuteSequence gt       lt RemoveExistingProducts After  InstallInitialize    gt   lt  InstallExecuteSequence gt    Please make sure that the UpgradeCode in Product is matching to Id in Upgrade

User · Answer

Finally I found a solution - I m posting it here for other people who might have the same problem  all 5 of you     Change the product ID to   Under product add The following    lt Property Id  PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED  Secure  yes    gt   lt Upgrade Id  YOUR GUID  gt        lt UpgradeVersion       Minimum  1 0 0 0  Maximum  99 0 0 0        Property  PREVIOUSVERSIONSINSTALLED        IncludeMinimum  yes  IncludeMaximum  no    gt   lt  Upgrade gt    Under InstallExecuteSequence add    lt RemoveExistingProducts Before  InstallInitialize    gt      From now on whenever I install the product it removed previous installed versions   Note  replace upgrade Id with your own GUID

[installation] How to implement WiX installer upgrade?

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