Installshield not updating related DLLs on minor upgrade

Question

I'm currently working with InstallShield to deploy a .NET Winforms app. I am new to InstallShield and have not enjoyed the learning curve. The Winforms app has three related DLL's which are not getting updated during a minor upgrade. For a minor upgrade I am changing the version from 1.0.001 to 1.0.002 for example. The package code is being changed for each build automatically.

I have tried adding the dll's to the [INSTALLDIR] and setting the property to "always overwrite". For some reason this causes the upgrade to also not update the main exe.

Tried changing the product code to force a major upgrade. This installed a new version alongside the old version, but the new version still had the old dll's.

Tried changing ReinstallMode from "omus" to "vomus". This had no effect at all.

Tried using REINSTALL=ALL, REINSTALLMODE=vomus. This did not update the dll's and also caused new installs to fail with message that application "is not marked for installation".

Tried changing the version from 1.0.00x to 1.1.00x. dll's still not updated.

I notice that when I view properties of these dll files, they have File Version = 1.0.0.0 and Product Version 1.0.0.0. Do I need to manually increase these versions in order for InstallShield to recognize that they have been updated?

Answer 1

1. Use one component per file and set each file to be keyfile in its own component. This avoid all sorts of component referencing and file replacement issues. Be aware that multi-file assemblies must share the same component as they are intended as one "atomic" file system unit.
2. In addition you must also increment the version number for each build or set REINSTALLMODE to emus instead of the default omus. Never use amus.
3. My advice: go with the file version updates - it is much more reliable. Like you state the File Version is used, it must be incremented. I like to auto increment the build version number (last digit). It has been a while, but I think you just replace the number with * and it auto increments. I think you can do this from the Visual Studio project property view.
4. Maybe read up on the file versioning rules as well. Essentially versioned files are version compared, and for unversioned files the create and modify date stamps are compared and the file is replaced if it is unchanged on disk. More sample info.
5. Remove the "always overwrite" flag you enabled for all the files you enabled it for. This flag may work poorly with patches if you ever need them and also with other features.
6. When a major upgrade creates two side-by-side installations it hasn't worked. What you are left with are two different products installed at the same time. There is good inline help in Installshield itself with regards to how a major upgrade is set up. Which version of Installshield are you using? The version bundled with Visual Studio may not feature this help material.

A note on major upgrades and "reverted files":

A warning on a classic major upgrade issue: be aware that changed, unversioned files not set to be permanent on original install may be uninstalled during a major upgrade and then reinstalled yielding the impression that they have been replaced, but they are actually deleted and recreated. These are typically important settings files like XML files or similar - and people struggle with this issue a lot. Major upgrades are essentially a sequence. The old product is uninstalled, and then the new one is installed or vice versa. In the former case the files may be uninstalled first and then recreated. This does not happen in the latter case if component referencing is done right because the files that are matching between products are not uninstalled, but retained and then overwritten if need be (according to the file replacement / versioning rules).