Thanks Jeff. Actually, I did that in VMWare. But the result was the same - major upgrade was broken.
I then narrowed it down: it seems it only happens to 3 files. So I thought why these 3 files? I then remove them from the package and rebuilt them. This time it seems working. By saying "seems", I mean I'm not 100% sure. But at least that 2 new made builds can upgrade themselves each other. I then thought, hmm, if I re-added them in, things maybe fixed? So I re-added these 3 files in, of course, I changed their GUID and their Component ID. But you know what? It stopped working again. This drives me nuts. I then used Orca to open these msi file to look into the problematic files. I found their file versions are different among the builds. I then thought it might be something about the file version. I contine to search the post in this community and found this: http://n2.nabble.com/Overide-a-file-version-to-force-upgrade-td699008.html#a699008 Mike Dimmick -2 said: I believe InstallShield lies in the Version column of the File table if this option is set (setting it to something huge like 65535.65535.65535.65535, which is the maximum supported value). I don’t think this is a particularly good idea, however. You can’t do it with WiX – the linker takes the information directly from thefile’s resources. I'm glad to find out this "dirty fact". But it's sad to learn that WiX doesn't support it. I've a question to MSI. For "Major Upgrade", if the current build is uninstalled entirely before the new build installing, why bother to "compare" the file version anyways? Should the new file be installed anyways without caring about the file version in the "Major Upgrae" case? Well, I know I probably shouldn't ask this in here. And I know MSI team might even have a reasonable explanation. But the problem is, I do major upgrade, old files gone, new files not installed - I got a broken installation. The whole thing is just because file version. And there is no way to ignore the file version checking in Major Upgrade case. Anyways, I'll make sure all of my file versions are the same to avoid this problem. Thanks. have a nice day, /Brian ________________________________ From: Jeff Reed <ree...@duckcreektech.com> To: General discussion for Windows Installer XML toolset. <wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net> Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 5:25:34 PM Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Major Upgrade: some files are randomly not installed > I appreciate if anyone can tell me why some times some files are not > installed during Major Upgrade. Perhaps you could try isolating the problem, by taking each version of the product that you've released so far and installing, then uninstalling on a "clean" machine? I like to use virtual machines so that when I shut down, I can throw the state away. Maybe you'll find some orphaned files in certain versions, and that would explain the behavior you're experiencing? I'm fairly new to WiX, but if I was in your shoes, that is one technique I would try. -Jeff ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Crystal Reports - New Free Runtime and 30 Day Trial Check out the new simplified licensign option that enables unlimited royalty-free distribution of the report engine for externally facing server and web deployment. http://p.sf.net/sfu/businessobjects _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users __________________________________________________________________ Looking for the perfect gift? Give the gift of Flickr! http://www.flickr.com/gift/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Register Now & Save for Velocity, the Web Performance & Operations Conference from O'Reilly Media. Velocity features a full day of expert-led, hands-on workshops and two days of sessions from industry leaders in dedicated Performance & Operations tracks. Use code vel09scf and Save an extra 15% before 5/3. http://p.sf.net/sfu/velocityconf _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
