Updater.exe not getting installed

[rick]

I'm using 6.2 and the updater.exe file is not always getting installed. If I look at the MSI in Orca it shows updater.exe file with a FileSize=0 and no version number. This happens after making a change to the project and building the MSI. Not only is the update not installed but it also makes the application uninstallable as the call to updater.exe to cleanup on uninstall fails. If I rebuild the MSI again w/o making any changes (Force Rebuild) then the updater.exe FileSize, Version, etc. appear properly in the MSI File table and the updater is installed. This is a project file that I've been using for about a year or so without problems. This seems to have started happening since installing 6.2.

[Cosmin]

Hi,

I cannot reproduce this behavior on my test machines. Please reinstall Advanced Installer and try this on other machines. Let me know if the problem persists.

Regards,
Cosmin

[rick]

Cosmin,

Thanks for the quick reply. Here's what I did: I repaired Advance Installer 6.2 (I did not uninstall/reinstall) and tried again. The updater.exe still has FileSize=0 the first time MSI is built. However, I did notice during the repair that I had installed Advanced Installer 6.2 into the same directory as 6.1 replacing it. As an experiment I renamed the Advanced Installer 6.1 directory to Advanced Installer 6.2 and restarted AI. I modified my project (to force a rebuild) and build the MSI without a problem (3 times). The updater.exe file now has the expected FileSize, Version, etc. in the file table.

So I guess my next step is to uninstall AI and reinstall in the default directory (i.e. Advanced Installer 6.2).

-Rick

[rick]

Ok, after uninstalling and reinstalling in the default directory I'm still having this problem so I fire up File Monitor and this is what's happening:

Steps to reproduce:
1. Open project in AI and modify the company name to force a rebuild.
2. Start File Monitor and set filter to monitor "updater.exe" only.
3. Start build in AI and build MSI.
4. View results in file monitor output (notice the brackets in the filename):
12:46:50 PM AdvancedInstall:3288 OPEN C:\Program Files\Caphyon\Advanced Installer 6.2\<updater.exe> NAME INVALID Options: Open Access: Read-Attributes

5. Rebuild MSI in AI wiithout changing the project.
6. Click Yes on the Force Rebuild? dialog.
7. View results in file monitor output:
12:48:49 PM AdvancedInstall:3288 OPEN C:\Program Files\Caphyon\Advanced Installer 6.2\updater.exe SUCCESS Options: Open Sequential Access: Read

So it looks like the first time a build a project AI can't find the file becuase the filename is in brackets. Subsequent rebuilds succeed because there are no brackets in the filename.

[Cosmin]

Hi,

Since you overwritten an older installation of Advanced Installer most likely it was corrupted. Also, I'm not sure if uninstalling and reinstalling it completely removed the corrupted data. Please use the Windows Installer Cleanup utility to remove ALL versions of Advanced Installer which are present on your machine:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301/en-us

After this, make sure that the folders which contained the Advanced Installer installation doesn't exist. Finally, perform a clean installation of Advanced Installer.

Regards,
Cosmin

[rick]

That did the trick. Seems to be working OK now. Thanks!