AdvancedInstaller locking ServiceController

[Dashut]

Using AI 7.7:
I have experienced this problem before, and didn't find the reason. Now I further investigated the problem, and I found that AdvancedInstaller is holding ServiceController during upgrade.
What this causes is that if I delete a Service (manually with a custom action "sc.exe delete <myService>" during upgrade, then this Service is marked as "Startup type": "disabled".
What this means is: if I later want to re-create this Service, I can't until I reboot the computer.
This is well documented by Microsoft in: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287516
However, this is NOT the case when uninstalling: when I uninstall AdvancedInstaller is NOT holding the ServiceController and I am able to delete my Service without having it marked as "disabled".
I have read the release notes of AdvancedInstaller 8.0 and I found the following note under "Enhancements to existing features":

Code: Select all

Add MsiConfigureServices action to installer only when needed

and I think that this might be why AdvancedInstaller is holding the ServiceController when not needed (meaning the cause of this bug in version AI 7.7 and possibly below).
Since my Maintenance Plan is over (missed it by a DAY!!!!) then I can't verify this.

Your help will be greatly appreciated, Dashut.

[mihai.petcu]

Hello Dashut,

This is the behavior of Windows Installer and unfortunately we do not have any control over it.
Are you stopping your service before uninstalling it?

Also, you can still evaluate Advanced Installer 8.0 by installing the Trial version on another machine.

Regards,
Mihai

[mihai.petcu]

Hello Dashut,

Since your maintenance plan expired just one day before the release, please send us an email to support at advancedinstaller dot com with your license key and we will extend it for free so it covers 8.0.

Regards,
Mihai