Can't uninstall - missing source

[Activeplan]

I've been repeatedly installing & uninstalling our app onto our test machine no problem for some months now.
But today I'm suddenly unable to uninstall it.
Going to uninstall from control panel I get an error from Advanced Installer saying:
"The installation source for this product is not available. Verify that the source exists and that you can access it."

Also the desktop shortcut icon is now missing but the application still runs ok.
All I have done is installed (no problem), ran the app (no problem) and left it. When I came back half hour later it was broken. I've been doing repeated installs/uninstalls all day with no problem. I've not made any installer changes - only application code changes.
If I use the original Setup.exe I get this error:
"Error applying transforms. Verify that the specified transform paths are valid".

Not the best timing for it to suddenly go wrong as I'm trying to get a release out today!
I've done nothing out the ordinary today to cause it so very confused. Rebooting the machine does not help.
Any ideas?

[Bogdan]

Hi.

Please note that repetitive installations of the same package on test machine could corrupt it. It is recommended you restore the machine to previous states
before installing the application again. The testing scenario must resemble as much as possible with the one performed by the users, i.e. simple installation, upgrade, etc...

I am not sure what is happening with this machine. Have you tried installing the same package on a clean machine?

Regards,
Bogdan

[Activeplan]

Yes the install is working fine on a different machine.
It does seem repeated installs/uninstall has caused a problem.
I've performed a system restore and it's ok now.
Does worry me though that this issue might pop up on a client's machine in the future...

[Activeplan]

Going to raise this issue again as it's now affected 3 different PCs.

The problem is detailed here (although we've not used any patches):
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/smondal/archive ... ss-it.aspx

This was never a problem until this past few weeks and is now occurring every 2-3 installs. Repeated install/uninstall doesn't seem like a good enough reason - surely the installer should undo everything it installs during uninstall. Also, one of the machines affected has only performed the install/uninstall 4 times. I might expect this problem after 20+ installs but not after 4.
The problem always manifests itself after attempting uninstallation. I note the directory under c:\Windows\Installer\<product code> is missing on the affected machines.

Any further information on this problem appreciated as we're getting close to client release now and I'm expecting our clients may perform more than one install and thus perhaps encounter this problem at some point. Asking them to perform a windows restore won't be an option.

[Bogdan]

Hi,

Windows Installer Cache is automatically handled by the OS, not by the packages. When packages are installed, however, cabinet streams are stripped from
the .msi file and the .msi file is copied to %WINDIR%\Installer. Windows Installer will clean-out the installer cache if ever the owner on the %WINDIR%\Installer
directory changes from SYSTEM or Administrators, so that could be a cause, not sure if you situation.

The following two articles explain more about Windows Installer Cache:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/heaths/archive/ ... 98018.aspx
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/heaths/archive/ ... cache.aspx

Regards,
Bogdan

[Activeplan]

OK going to have to raise this one again.
Our app is being installed in more & more places and this problem is occurring on many of these machines. Probably 15 pcs (out of 30ish) have been affected so far.

I'm still in the dark as to the cause. All I know is that at some point the installation source disappears. The user then notices this when they run a newer version of our install which then fails as per the attached log file (from a user who installed a version of the app a few weeks ago and is now upgrading to the latest one). The other clue being that the desktop shortcut looses its icon (becomes windows default icon).

Repeated uninstalls/reinstalls is not the answer as these users have only done this a couple of times.
Ownership of folders is unlikely to be changing on all these different pcs in the same way so I doubt that is the answer.

I have now checked 'Do not delete extracted MSI and CAB files' option under Media/Bootstrapper in the hope this might fix it. However I won't know until this version starts being installed and updated from a few times. Our test pc is not showing the problem yet but since this problem is so sporadic (but very common) is hard to know if it is solved.

If there is any further information you can provide I would appreciate it. Will the above option fix my problem?
If we still continue with these problems I will have to look for a different installation solution. We've got away with this problem as these are only our expanded testing group so far who I can direct at Windows Installer Cleanup Utility. However I cannot expect clients in a large corporate environment to need to install and use that ancient clean up tool just to perform a basic uninstall/upgrade.
I don't feel I'm doing anything special/clever in my package so am bemused by this constantly reoccurring problem.

[Bogdan]

Hi,

It took some time to track this down, it was a little tricky. Here is how things are.

First of all, the solution you've applied, using the option "Do not delete extracted files" will work. As you can see in the log, at line 813, the source from the extraction path is looked first. When this is not found the OS cache is required.

Now, regarding the OS cache problem, this appears because you are using a mixed package. For supporting mixing packages we had the bootstrapper applying transforms over and empty MSI package, at install time. The problem is that the OS does not cache the transforms, so only the empty MSI was remaining, which was useless.

Using the current version of Advanced Installer you have two solutions:
-- either use the option "Do not delete extracted files" as you already said
-- or run the mixed package wizard again, from Install Parameters page, "..." button, without changing anything but enabling the option "Build separate install databases" from Package Organization page in the wizard. This option will make Advanced Installer to create separate full MSI packages and include them in the bootstrapper, without using the transforms anymore, so the OS cache should not store all the required information, without being required for the option "Do not delete extracted files" to be used.

Regards,
Bogdan

[Activeplan]

Thank you very much indeed - totally understand the problem and feel confident implementing that solution.

Can understand that was a tricky one to track down as it has been for me too!

Thanks again, much appreciated.

[Bogdan]

Always a pleasure.

Have a pleasant week,
Bogdan