rn-pro
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2011 10:27 am

Necessity to change instances product code by major upgrade.

Sun Feb 26, 2012 4:32 pm

Hi,
I have a question regarding the necessity to change the product code of the instances in the case of a major upgrade package.
As I see right now, when the product-version is changed, your application will ask if this change is going to be a “major upgrade” or a just a patch.
update_method.PNG
update_method.PNG (17.02KiB)Viewed 3186 times
If we choose “major upgrade” the product code of the base installation will be automatically changed. However, the product-codes of all defined instances won’t be touched, even if for them, the current package would be actually a major upgrade too.

Is this correct? Can Windows-Installer in this case handle the major-upgrade using the same product-codes just because they are only transforms of the base installation or should we actually take care and change ourselves the product codes of all defined instances?

Thank you very much!
rn-pro

mihai.petcu
Posts: 3860
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 8:01 am

Re: Necessity to change instances product code by major upgr

Mon Feb 27, 2012 2:24 pm

Hi Razvan,

When selecting major upgrade after changing the version in a package with multiple instances, each instance will not have its product code changed.
This means each instance will have a minor upgrade applied in the new version:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... 85%29.aspx

All the best,
Mihai
Mihai Petcu - Advanced Installer Team
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rn-pro
Posts: 48
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2011 10:27 am

Re: Necessity to change instances product code by major upgr

Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:40 pm

Hi Mihai,

I see that this is what's going on.
mihai.petcu wrote: When selecting major upgrade after changing the version in a package with multiple instances, each instance will not have its product code changed.
This means each instance will have a minor upgrade applied in the new version:
But is it enough to apply a "minor upgrade" to the instances of a product which just got a major upgrade? What happens if this upgrade contains changes which are not possible in a minor upgrade?

Thank you very much!
rn-pro

mihai.petcu
Posts: 3860
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2010 8:01 am

Re: Necessity to change instances product code by major upgr

Tue Feb 28, 2012 8:21 am

Hi Razvan,

A minor upgrade is enough because it covers many upgrade cases.

With a major upgrade the default instance can be installed during the first upgrade prompt in the upgrade installer. This way the old instances are removed and the new version gets installed. However, you will have to upgrade the rest of instances by running the upgrade installer once more.

All the best,
Mihai
Mihai Petcu - Advanced Installer Team
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