Overwrite pre-msi files in WiX

1
votes

I have a WiX project making msi which replaces much older installation which was made by a set of scripts which unpacked zip files.

I'd like to specify that certain files in msi must force overwrite already existing non-versioned files from the old installation. Later it wouldn't be a pb as msi to msi update would be an upgrade.

Is it possible to specify on a per-file basis that msi must overwrite old non-msi installed files?

1
wixwindows-installer
It would be easier to just install to a new installation folder? – Stein Åsmul
@SteinÅsmul No. It is already being installer in many folders, some of which contain legacy components for which changing a folder is not an option. The whole idea is to (partially) replace a very complex and error-prone old procedure for something more controllable. And it is a success already. The most often changed component is now msi which drastically reduced the time to prepare an update and the number of installation errors. – ElDog

1 Answers

1
votes

I will add some links for you and a summary.

Yes, you can overwrite single files by various means and you can even force downgrade files setup-wide, but the latter is terribly dangerous to do (information on dangers in section 4 here).

Ensure Overwrite: This answer describes various measures to always-overwrite files: Ensure file overwriting - with a WiX example. Here is an alternative answer.

  • The use of companion files is what I would recommend.
  • Hacking file versions I do myself sometimes - just to make things work.
  • I prefer to move or rename files to "remove the problem".

See the above links for more on the above "options".

Further information: