mng000
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:25 pm

Disabling on-demand install?

Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:30 pm

Our installer copies some files which the user can amend/delete etc into my documents. In XP this is fine, however, under vista, if they are deleted, it calls the on-demand installer if an associated file type is then double clicked to run the software.

I notice that in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\[company].[product].[extension]\shell\&Open\command there is a multi string value called command (containing in this case %d!y+{.p7=XiU_v$&N[N>Q'mAT$?='?i]Hs%HU.z` "%1") which if I delete stops this happening and the program launches correctly.

I assume the different behaviour in Xp/Vista is because of the different versions of windows installer. However, can I stop this behaviour happening altogether?

Thanks!

Mark

Cosmin
Posts: 5797
Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:39 pm
Contact:  Website

Re: Disabling on-demand install?

Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:41 pm

Hi Mark,

Please note that this is the auto repair feature in Windows Installer. Basically, if the application is missing some files, Windows Installer will reinstall them automatically when the application starts. This behavior cannot be stopped or controlled. However, you can try to avoid it by installing resources only in per-machine locations, accessible to all users.

Regards,
Cosmin
Cosmin Pirvu - Advanced Installer Team
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mng000
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:25 pm

Re: Disabling on-demand install?

Mon Oct 13, 2008 5:13 pm

Hi,

I assume deleting those 'special' reg entries is not advised then?? It does seem to stop it!

Mark

Cosmin
Posts: 5797
Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:39 pm
Contact:  Website

Re: Disabling on-demand install?

Tue Oct 14, 2008 11:23 am

Hi,

Yes, manually deleting the registry entries is not recommended because it may corrupt the installation of your product.

Regards,
Cosmin
Cosmin Pirvu - Advanced Installer Team
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mng000
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 4:25 pm

Re: Disabling on-demand install?

Tue Oct 14, 2008 2:23 pm

Hi,

I guess the real question is: can we somehow in the advanced installer software mark the user deletable files as 'not to be watched' by windows installer? I have seen in other software example files which you can modify without triggering the re-install which are copied in by the installer.

Mark

Cosmin
Posts: 5797
Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:39 pm
Contact:  Website

Re: Disabling on-demand install?

Tue Oct 14, 2008 4:36 pm

Hi Mark,

For what you need you can try this approach:
- go to the Organization page
- select the component you want ignored by Windows Installer
- check the "Do not register this component with Windows Installer" option in the Component Properties page

Please note that the components which are not registered with Windows Installer will not be removed during an uninstall. For them you can use custom actions to make sure that they are not left on the machine.

Regards,
Cosmin
Cosmin Pirvu - Advanced Installer Team
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