Missing installation folders after update - Suite Installation

[Henrique Mesquita]

Hello,

We have a project called "Suite Installation" where we have a "main" application that manages five other applications.



When updating the package, we encountered an issue. After completing the update installation, the installation folders of the "child" applications disappear, leaving only the main application folder.



However, in "Files and Programs" and in Windows "Services," all applications are still listed, including with the new versions. The services are listed but remain stopped, and it's not possible to start them. When attempting to start them, the following error is shown:



The "main" application continues to work normally, with its service running. We have had the application for a few months, and this is the first time we have encountered this behavior. We conducted several tests on all the operating systems we support (Windows 10, 11, Server 2016, 2019), where the behavior was observed in all of them. We have not made any changes for this behavior, and furthermore, the behavior was observed in older versions of our application.

Could you assist us with this issue?

[Catalin]

Hello Henrique,

In order for me to further assist here, please forward me the following resources:

- a copy of the AIP file that builds the first version of your project (the one that is updated)

- a copy of the AIP file that builds the second version of your product (the one that updates)

- a download link for each setup (e.g. v1 and v2)

by email at support at advancedinstaller dot com.

If you cannot share the resources with me, please try to create a sample project that reproduces this and forward that to me.

Best regards,
Catalin

[Henrique Mesquita]

Good morning, Catalin

Sorry for delay.

We have identified the reason for the removal of prerequisites.

The MAIN application is updated after the prerequisites are updated, and when it is updated, it deletes the APPDIR directory to update it, thereby removing the installation folders of the prerequisite applications. We changed the update order, putting the MAIN application first, which partially resolved the issue. When the prerequisites have a new version, they are installed correctly, creating the installation folder again. However, when they remain in the same version, they are not installed because Windows recognizes that the version is already installed, but the installation folder disappears because the MAIN application deleted it.

It is worth noting that the prerequisite applications use the APPDIR property of the MAIN application as follows:

[APPDIR]\prerequisite1
[APPDIR]\prerequisite2...



Do we have an alternative to work around this issue? Ensuring that the prerequisite folders are not deleted during the update.