Installshield: uninstall does not work

Question

I created an installer using Installshield 2011. I can install the software with it and am able to uninstall too from the "Programs and Features" interface.

But if the application is already installed and I click on the installer again, it brings up screens stating it will uninstall and uninstall done. But the uninstall does not actually happen.

I have Remove ALL event for the Remove dialog and in the Remove table, I have all the files that need to be uninstalled listed with install mode 2.

Not sure what the issue is...esp since I can properly uninstall when done from "Programs and Features".

Any suggestions/tips?

Answer 1

It is useful to make a proper, verbose log file before trying to theorize too much about this. Replace the paths to match your requirements:

   msiexec.exe /x "C:\Test.msi" /L*V! "C:\msilog.log"

Explanation of the command line parameters:

/x = run uninstallation sequence
/L*V! "C:\Temp\msilog.log"= verbose logging, flush directly to log file without buffer

Did you actually make any modifications to that remove dialog or is it standard? And why have you added the files to the RemoveFile table? Or did that happen automagically? It is generally not necessary to add files to RemoveFile table unless they are generated by your application and you want them removed on uninstall (typically in the user profile).

That being said, I just answered a question a few days ago relating to the difference in running an uninstall in silent mode versus interactive mode. Please read the following answer (and its associated question): Uninstall from Control Panel is different from Remove from .msi

UPDATES:

• An uninstall reference of the different ways an MSI file can be uninstalled: Uninstalling an MSI file from the command line without using msiexec

• If you are dealing with an Installscript MSI file try to read this reference of its setup.exe parameters:

Answer 2

A couple of debugging suggestions off the top of my head:

1. Try creating a new Basic MSI project and compare the details in the dialogs manually in Installshield. Add some test files for your new project and make sure it uninstalls in all ways (especially the way that is not working for your main setup).

2. If nothing obvious is seen or you want a more effective comparison use Wix's dark.exe file to decompile your compiled MSI to Wix XML format for both your origiproject and a fresh one. Then locate the Wix XML for the dialogs and check the settings.

Version control your install source! When problems like this surface you have much better debugging opportunity - including just reverting the whole setup a couple of revisions and re-doing just what is missing in the old source.

If you can get the new setup working and the old one isn't cooperating, it is not that complicated to migrate all components from the old setup to the new one. I did this to migrate from Installscript MSI to basic MSI using an "Export into project" option available by right clicking each component (I believe that's where the option was). It took me just a couple of hours for a large setup. Then it tool a few further hours to verify all custom actions properly.

For the record: using Wix with text based source files makes debugging a whole lot easier and is highly recommended: Windows Installer and the creation of WiX. Once you get used to it you can match the speed of creating an installer with commerical tools.

Details on Wix, including quick start suggestions: MSI vs nuget packages: which are is better for continuous delivery?

For more help on installers check out: http://www.installsite.org/