Files not installed when executing custom action in WIX

Question

I am writing a WXS file for a package I want to install. For the sake of simplicity, let's say I want to install 1 file and then I want to execute a command against it (in my case, it is a public GPG key and I want to import it after the installation is done). Here are the relevant parts of my WXS file:

<CustomAction Id="ImportKey" Directory="INSTALLDIR"
              ExeCommand="[SystemFolder]cmd.exe /C gpg --import keyfile.key"
              Return="check" />

<!-- Install file keyfile.key into C:\GnuPG -->
<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
    <Directory Id="INSTALLDIR" Name="GnuPG">
        <Component Id="GnuPGConfiguration" Guid="E9469F1C-A875-1014-A3B3-DEF3264B13C4">
            <File Name="keyfile.key" Id="KeyfileKey" />
        </Component>
    </Directory>
</Directory>

<Feature Id="GnuPGConfiguration" Level="1" Title="GnuPG Configuration">
    <ComponentRef Id="GnuPGConfiguration" />
</Feature>

<!-- Run custom action after files are installed -->
<InstallExecuteSequence>
    <Custom Action="ImportKey" After="InstallFiles">NOT Installed AND NOT PATCH</Custom>
</InstallExecuteSequence>

I can successfully build the MSI. When installing, I use msiexec and turn on logging. There it says that installation fails on the custom action and the correct command is found in the log. Running it manually works. If I comment out execution of the command, the file is installed in the correct location (C:\GnuPG\keyfile.key exists after installation).

Instead of running my GPG command, I tried running dir ant redirected its output to a file. Viewing it, I can see that keyfile.key is not among the files in C:\GnuPG. It seems that the command is run before the file is installed.

Any ideas on what I am doing wrong?

Christopher Painter Christopher Painter · Accepted Answer · 2010-09-23T22:11:27

You need to read and understand:

Installation Phases and In-Script Execution Options for Custom Actions in Windows Installer

You will find yourself considering needing

<CustomAction ... Execute="deferred" and Impersonate="no" ... />

Also you are likely to need to qualify the location of the .key file as your current directory isn't going to be what you think it is.

Files not installed when executing custom action in WIX

1 Answers