Installshield - Few files getting removed on major upgrade

Question

I updated an installer file (.ism) for major upgrade in which I made the following changes:

updated product code,

updated package code,

updated versionmin and max in upgrade,

updated product version,

few strings in which old version was mentioned.

Now when I am upgrading my product using this setup, few files get removed automatically. I did not make any changes in those files in target machine and the same files (no change in content) are in my new setup. Also I did not add any entry in "RemoveFiles" table to remove them.

Also checked the installation log in which I am just seeing this:

Action 14:14:59: RemoveFiles. Removing files

RemoveFiles: File: CapibilityDemo.htm, Directory: C:\Program Files\Server\Printing\

RemoveFiles: File: HTTP.js, Directory: C:\Program Files\Server\Scripts\OpenLayers\lib\OpenLayers\Protocol\

RemoveFiles: File: Script.js, Directory: C:\Program Files\Server\Scripts\OpenLayers\lib\OpenLayers\Protocol\

Can anyone please help me in resolving this issue ?

Thanks Taran

Answer 1

Dynamic components are probably the problem.

This link is someone who was having a similar problem while patching (which is like a minor update)

Basically what is happening is that MSI has determined that the 'old' components have been removed (since they are dynamically generated, the GUIDs change every build). So in your upgrade it is removing the components you 'removed'. However it isn't laying down the new components, likely because it has determined there isn't a need for it to do so. You should examine your MSI file in Orca and look for the files/components that didn't get installed in your upgrade, and then search the install log for that GUID. That should give you a clue as to the next steps.

Also, here is the installshield best practice recommendations for Dynamic file linking.