I created a patch (MSP package) that mainly updates the executable of the application. As a test I tried running the patch when the executable is running. Strangely, enough the executable was replaced. I.e. windows normally doesn't allow to modify the EXE file that has an open handle to it. How does Windows Installer handle it? I know about the trick with renaming the executable and placing another one instead but how does msiexec handle this and is it described anywhere (I looked through the docs but can't find it)? I'd appreciate any replies as I'm mainly interested how reliable this behavior is.
Thanks!