How do I get my Installer Application to behave correctly with Windows?

Question

I have made a simple installer application in Delphi, nothing fancy. Basically I include files into the Exe, and then extract them to a user specified path.

I stumbled across a problem however, and I have noticed this works with ANY Windows Executable, it does not matter if it is an installer or not.

If an Exe is named, or contains the following words in the filename, "Setup", "Build", "Install" and maybe others, then.. whenever the Application is run and closed, Windows pops up a Product Compatibility Assistant dialog, saying the Application may not have installed correctly.

This is a problem, as even though the Files from my installer have actually extracted, and in my eyes the installer has done its job, Windows is complaining about it.

The only idea I have regarding this, is that Windows must check the filename of the Applications when executed, and in this case has identified it as an Installer. Windows must of then set a flag or something on the System, my Installer must then update this flag to say that the installation was a success?

Windows does not complain about this when debugging from the IDE, so it cannot be code related, it must be the OS - this only happens when launching the Application from Windows, not Delphi.

You can try this easily, either create an Application or rename one as Setup.exe, Run it and then close it - wait a few seconds and the Product Compatibility Assistant Dialog will show.

I don't know where to start investigating how to stop this dialog, or where a setting may be to tell Windows the Installer was completed correctly.

Appreciate your thoughts and solutions thanks.

Answer 1

If I recall correctly, this happens when your install app does not include an application manifest. When UAC was introduced, MS introduced a heuristic detection for installers and shows the UAC elevation dialog. The heuristic checks for names like setup.exe, install.exe. The simple solution is to include an application manifest. If it is an installer you probably want to use the requireAdministrator setting.

The feature is known as Installer Detection and is discussed here.

For what it is worth, I would always build an installer with a dedicated install tool like InnoSetup for example.

Answer 2

As David pointed out, MS uses some fuzzy logic to try to guess if the program is an installer. I wouldn't rely on this, as this is only for supporting legacy installer applications.

All new applications should have a manifest file, specifying whether it requires elevated privileges.

If an application has a manifest file that includes the requestedExecutionLevel directive, then Windows does not attempt Installer Detection.

Any program that is detected as an installer program but does not add a registry entry to the Add Remove Programs section of the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall) will get the message "This program might not have installed correctly".