Specifying location of uninstall .msi in RemoveExistingProducts

Question

I'm writing an installer using WiX 3.5 for the latest version of our software. The installer for previous versions was written using InstallAware 8. During install I want to remove the old versions but InstallAware does some strange stuff so the normal RemoveExistingProducts method doesn't work. Neither does msiexec /x {PRODUCTCODE}.

When RemoveExistingProducts runs it pops up a dialog asking for the location of the .msi file from the old install. I can find the location of it in the registry and if I enter that location in the dialog the uninstall works fine. However I'd like for the dialog to not show, is there some way I can tell RemoveExistingProducts where to find it?

Answer 1

It seems that some rules of avoiding prompts for source are violated. See if these recommendations help.

Answer 2

In addition to this answer, please also check this answer: "different ways to uninstall an MSI".

Check in to see if there is a custom uninstall string defined for your old setup:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\YOUR GUID HERE\UninstallString

This is the most common location used by the Add/Remove applet in Control Panel. If you find the uninstall string here you can run the uninstall via a custom action before running your new install. A bit ugly, I would prefer to run the install process via a setup.exe.

Another location is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products

Here you will find packed GUIDs. Check under each GUID and then under "InstallProperties" for the InstallSource. This path is the search path where the installation engine will look for the MSI file it needs to uninstall the application.

Answer 3

In the HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVerison\Uninstall\<GUID_or_product_name>\WindowsInstaller key is set to 1, then you need to look in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\<mangled_guid>\InstallProperties\InstallSource to see where it thinks the .msi is cached. Basically, make sure you're looking at the right registry location when searching for InstallSource.