Visual Studio WiX installer project deleting msi output on Rebuild

Question

I have inherited a WiX project from a contractor that recently left.

When I build the WiX installer project, there is no problem - the .msi is built and output as expected.

But when I "rebuild" the WiX installer project, again the .msi is built just fine by light.exe, but it subsequently gets deleted by a "CoreClean".

Further info: The wix project packages (and references) a single web project.

This is a snippet of the output:

ICE105: ICE105 - Validates the package to make sure that it can be installed in true Per-User mode
        ICE105: Created 05/01/2008. Last Modified 05/21/2008.
        Laying out media.
        Moving file 'C:\Users\codemonkey\AppData\Local\Temp\nxkfdvui\AmazonWebsiteInstaller.msi' to 'C:\web\main\Amazon.Webby.Install\bin\Release\AmazonWebsiteInstaller.msi'.
    Done executing task "Light".
    ...
    ...
Target "CoreClean" in file "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\WiX\v3.x\wix2010.targets" from project "C:\web\main\Amazon.Webby.Install\Amazon.Webby.Install.wixproj" (target "Clean" depends on it):
    Task "ReadLinesFromFile"
    Done executing task "ReadLinesFromFile".
    Task "FindUnderPath"
        Comparison path is "bin\Release\".
    Done executing task "FindUnderPath".
    Task "FindUnderPath"
        Comparison path is "obj\Release\".
    Done executing task "FindUnderPath".
    Task "Delete"
        Deleting file "C:\web\main\Amazon.Webby.Install\bin\Release\AmazonWebsiteInstaller.msi".
        Deleting file "C:\web\main\Amazon.Webby.Install\bin\Release\AmazonWebsiteInstaller.wixpdb".
        Deleting file "obj\Release\MainWixComponents.wixobj".
        Deleting file "obj\Release\UploadContent.wixobj".
        Deleting file "obj\Release\WebSiteContent.wixobj".
        Deleting file "obj\Release\Product.Generated.wixobj".
    Done executing task "Delete".   
    ...
    ...

I can't find any delete task in the installer project file that involve the msi or output folder, so it's a result of visual studio doing a rebuild and thinking it needs to clean out files that it doesn't.

This seems to be the relevant section in "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\WiX\v3.x\wix2010.targets" causing the delete of the newly built msi:

<!--
==================================================================================================
CoreClean

Cleans all of the compile and link outputs as well as any intermediate files generated along
the way.
==================================================================================================
-->
<PropertyGroup>
<CoreCleanDependsOn></CoreCleanDependsOn>
</PropertyGroup>
<Target
Name="CoreClean"
DependsOnTargets="$(CoreCleanDependsOn)">
...
<!-- Delete those files. -->
<Delete Files="@(_CleanPriorFileWritesInOutput);@(_CleanPriorFileWritesInIntermediate)" TreatErrorsAsWarnings="true">
<Output TaskParameter="DeletedFiles" ItemName="_CleanPriorFileWritesDeleted" />
</Delete>
...

Any ideas?

Thanks.

reuben reuben · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-26T15:47:47

I know it's old but this is mentioned as a fixed bug in SourceForge:

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=642714&aid=1719357&group_id=105970

Are you using a version post 3.0.4102.0?

There does seem to be some debate as to whether the bug is really fixed in the comments.

Visual Studio WiX installer project deleting msi output on Rebuild

2 Answers