InstallShield Issues

[Bill Thompson]

I am using InstallShield 11

The code I produce is acting very strangely and I need some suggestions on why it is behaving the way it is and what can be done to fix this problem.

The single executable installation code that is produced always says it is doing an "upgrade" even if the previous version has been removed or renamed or deleted.

Another problem is that the uninstall does not remove the program files from the hard drive.

Also, the behavior of the installation itself is unpredictable. Usually what happens is that the installation creates the directory structure where the program is supposed to be put. But these directories remain empty.
Finally, and this is the most telling as to what might be going on, if I give the executable to someone with a fresh/untouched computer, the installation works perfectly.

So there must be some residual registry settings on my computer that needs to be removed or changed.
Any suggestions?

[jnelso99]

Wow. I've been out of the loop. Last time I worked with InstallShield, it was at version 5. Last month I had to load up InstallShield 3 to work with some legacy stuff. Yeesh.

From what I've seen, InstallShield dumps some stuff into C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information. Maybe that needs to be cleaned up? Or preferably renamed (just in case)? I think it dumps stuff into C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data as well. Maybe also into good old %TEMP% too?

Can the other person successfully uninstall and reinstall the program, or will it work just once and then you see the symptoms of your system?

If your installer is doing wierd stuff, I would suggest not running it on a vital system in case the uninstaller gets confused and wipes the hard drive. I seem to remember a relatively high-profile Mac uninstaller incident where a missing "." in the uninstall code caused it to remove stuff starting at the root directory instead of the install directory. Maybe run it in a virtual machine or something like that?

[Bill Thompson]

Tech support for InstallShield gave me a call and told me about http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301 -- Windows Installer CleanUp Utility. The problem was that the uninstall was not working.

I am not done but I think I am getting close to fixing the problem.

Anyway, this might be a good tip for anyone who wants to make sure their program is REALLY uninstalled.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301 -- Windows Installer CleanUp Utility