How to avoid having two versions of a product installed with Windows Installer / MSI?

Question

I have written and am maintaining a number of Wix installation source files which I use to build MSI files for distribution of my application.

I have not explicitly programmed for any kind of upgrading, updating, reinstallation or anything of the kind -- there is a single feature that consists of a number of components with stable GUIDs and I have observed that at least a clean installation does what I expect it to.

However, I (and anyone in possession of the MSI files I distribute) may seemingly install distinct versions of my application side-by-side using their respective (distinct) MSI files. Which isn't a problem in itself, except that I obviously use the same folder as installation target -- "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Foobar" -- to install the application (version regardless) in. Meaning that in effect there is always ever one version that ends up being installed.

I would argue that Windows Installer behaves correctly in so far that it updates files from whichever MSI package it installed last. One interesting side-effect of this is that if the last MSI was of earlier version, the files in the application folders would be overwritten with the copies from that earlier version.

But none of that seems to be the actual problem to me. I want to fix the disparity between what is actually installed (a single application version) and what Windows tracks as installed -- in my case two records of two distinct application versions.

Since I install the application in a folder that doesn't depend on the version being installed, tracking multiple application versions by Windows is a mistake.

So I guess my question is, how do I fix this so that only one version is shown (reflecting reality) or what's the idiomatic approach in these kind of cases? I deliberately did not overspecify my Wix source code, hoping in return that Windows Installer would use some built-in intelligence to figure everything out on its own. But I may need to add some explicit upgrade or uninstall-previous-version-first instructions, I suppose.

My minified Wix source code (file "foobar.wxs") would look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi" xmlns:util="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/UtilExtension">
    <Product Name="Foobar" Manufacturer="ACME Inc." Id="*" UpgradeCode="ae9a7d6d-6c2d-446a-97d9-9dbe829d2ea8" Language="1033" Codepage="1252" Version="!(wix.PRODUCT_VERSION)">
        <Package Id="*" Languages="1033" SummaryCodepage="1252" Compressed="yes" InstallerVersion="200" />
        <Icon Id="foobar" SourceFile="!(wix.APPPATH)/foobar.ico" />
        <Property Id="ARPPRODUCTICON" Value="foobar" />
        <Property Id="ARPCOMMENTS" Value="Gives you full foobar powers" />
        <MediaTemplate EmbedCab="yes" CompressionLevel="high" />
        <Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
            <Directory Id="DesktopFolder" />
            <Directory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
                <Directory Id="INSTALLDIR" Name="Foobar" FileSource="!(wix.APPPATH)">
                    <Component>
                        <File Id="foobar.exe" Name="foobar.exe" />
                    </Component>
                    <!-- There are other components like above (assets) -->
                </Directory>
            </Directory>
            <Directory Id="ProgramMenuFolder">
                <Directory Id="foobar_menu" Name="Foobar">
                    <Component Id="foobar_shortcut" Guid="e80a6b95-a145-453a-b327-65a977e741fe">
                        <Shortcut Icon="foobar" Id="foobar_shortcut" Name="Foobar" Target="[foobar]foobar.exe" />
                        <Shortcut Directory="DesktopFolder" Icon="foobar" Id="foobar_desktop_shortcut" Name="Foobar" Target="[foobar]foobar.exe" />
                        <RegistryValue KeyPath="yes" Root="HKMU" Key="Software\[Manufacturer]\[ProductName]" Type="string" Value="" /> 
                        <RemoveFolder Id="remove_foobar_menu" On="uninstall" />
                    </Component>
                </Directory>
            </Directory>
            <Directory Id="CommonAppDataFolder">
                <Directory Id="app_data_foobar" Name="foobar">
                    <Component Guid="" Id="app_data_config_folder">
                        <CreateFolder />
                    </Component>
                    <Component Guid="" Id="app_data_config_folder_log_file">
                        <File Name="foobar.log" Source="foobar.log.template">
                            <!-- Add write access permission to the log file to members of "Users" group. -->
                            <!-- PermissionEx Sddl="D:AR(A;;GWGR;;;BU)" / -->
                            <!-- Bug with Windows Installer, can't use PermissionEx/MsiLockPermissionsEx table. See https://stackguides.com/questions/55145282/how-to-include-inherited-permissions-when-specifying-permissions-for-a-file-inst -->
                            <util:PermissionEx Append="yes" GenericWrite="yes" User="Users" />
                        </File>
                    </Component>
                </Directory>
            </Directory>
        </Directory>
        <Feature Id="foobar">
            <ComponentGroupRef Id="foobar" />
            <ComponentRef Id="foobar_shortcut" />
            <ComponentRef Id="app_data_config_folder" />
            <ComponentRef Id="app_data_config_folder_log_file" />
        </Feature>
    </Product>
</Wix>

I am compiling the object file with the following Windows Command Prompt line:

candle.exe -ext WixUtilExtension -out %TEMP% foobar.wxs

And then generating the MSI file with:

light.exe -ext WixUtilExtension -spdb "-dAPPPATH=%apppath%" "-dPRODUCT_VERSION=%version%" -out %TEMP%\foobar-%version%.msi %TEMP%\foobar.wixobj

(using Wix 3.11.1.2318)

Stein Åsmul Stein Åsmul · Accepted Answer · 2019-11-19T13:27:58

Upgrade Code: As long as you have set an upgrade code (which identifies a bunch of related products) you can use a major upgrade element to indicate products that are to be uninstalled as part of a new MSI's installation.

MajorUpgrade Element: Just inject a MajorUpgrade element for default treatment of major upgrades into your existing WiX source. It is a sort of "magic element" doing a lot for you making a number of (usually good) assumptions. There are older and more flexible ways to do it - if you need more detailed control (for legacy purposes usually - auto-magic does not cover all bases):

<MajorUpgrade DowngradeErrorMessage="A newer version of [ProductName] is already installed." />

The above is the standard use for all WiX files created in Visual Studio.

Note: I will try to tune up this answer shortly with more links, but give that a go first?

First link: Using Visual Studio to make WiX files. The Hello WiX and Visual Studio-type of scenario.

Major Upgrade Suggested Reading: A few things to know about major upgrades. All WiX markup essentially revolves around the compiled MSI's Upgrade table. It is there that major upgrade logic is configured. Custom actions could also affect things, and a few other things such as launch conditions perhaps.

WiX Documentation: How To: Implement a Major Upgrade In Your Installer
Major Upgrade - Common Problems: WIX does not uninstall older version
Major Upgrade - Manual Configuration: Adding entries to MSI UpgradeTable to remove related products (using old-style Upgrade elements)

Further:

Major Upgrades - How-To & Concept: Doing Major Upgrade in Wix creates 2 entries in Add/Remove Programs

How to avoid having two versions of a product installed with Windows Installer / MSI?

1 Answers