How to show installer log file on installshield wizard finish screen?

Question

I'm using below command to launch my installer from command prompt:

msiexec /i "myproduct.msi" /l*v install.log

Since I'm using /l*v option so installer automatically shows me a check box on the finish screen having its label as "Show the Windows Installer log".

Now I check the check box and then click on the finish button but it doesn't open the install.log file which got created during the installation process. I can see the install.log file present in the root of the directory from where I had initiated the installation. Why the log file is not opening?

Answer 1

I was finally able to nail it down. Actually from starting I was under an impression that showing up of the installer log file will happen on its own. I got that impression because the moment you add /l*v install.log argument into msiexec command you start seeing that "Show the Windows Installer log" checkbox on its own without doing any explicit coding.

The checkbox's visible property is governed by a pre-existing public property named ISSHOWMSILOG and it is already baked into the basic MSI installer project template. Now, if we want the log file to be really shown when the check box is checked then an explicit custom action has to be called to show up that file on the click of Finish button:

Event Type : DoAction

Event invocation condition: MsiLogFileLocation And (ISSHOWMSILOG="1") And NOT ISENABLEDWUSFINISHDIALOG

Event Action : ShowMsiLog

After I made this change into my basic MSI project then only the log file started to show up on click of Finish button.