What would be awesome is if the DIFxApp people would donate a copy of their code to the WiX toolset so we could take it forward (and fix the upgrade issues and who knows what else).
I had zero pull with them (and have even less now <smile/>) but if someone out there has a big driver installation and can talk to the "Windows Driver People" I'd love the above could happen. On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 9:32 AM, James Johnston <johnst...@inn-soft.com>wrote: > This did the trick for us: > > <InstallExecuteSequence> > <RemoveExistingProducts Before="InstallInitialize" /> > > I haven't had any complaints in a long time now since doing this. At this > point, I would always schedule things this way if using DIFxApp. As I > described in the message you quoted, we previously had > RemoveExistingProducts scheduled after InstallInitialize, which led to the > problems I described. > > The downside to scheduling RemoveExistingProducts before InstallInitialize > is that if the install fails, the old version isn't restored and the user > is > left with no product at all on their system. But it's better than a > corrupted DIFxApp configuration being left on the system. > > It would really be nice if the DIFxApp team would fix these issues... Or > at > least document the limitations so that at least people who read the docs > don't get trapped by this. > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Rob Hamflett [mailto:rob_hamfl...@sn.scee.net] > > Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 14:14 > > To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net > > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] DIFxApp and upgrades > > > > We've recently been seeing issue 1 where an upgrade doesn't work due to a > > missing registry entry. We're currently telling customers how to do a > full > > repair on a case by case basis as this occurs. Did anyone ever find a > fix > for > > this? > > > > Thanks, > > Rob > > > > On 29/11/2010 21:23, James Johnston wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > > > A couple questions, both regarding DIFxApp. (We use it to install > > > three drivers for three plug-and-play USB devices for a hardware > > > product that we > > > ship.) > > > > > > 1. Some time ago Rob Mensching mentioned the following on this list: > > > > > > "Yeah, there are some design issues in the DIFxApp code around > > > Upgrades I'm still trying to figure out what to do with DIFx since we > > > don't have the code to fix it here. I'll try to find someone to > > > forward this thread to see if we can't get some movement (not that it > has > > worked yet)." > > > http://www.mail-archive.com/wix- > > us...@lists.sourceforge.net/msg35219.h > > > tml > > > > > > I am very interested in knowing whether anybody here knows what some > > > of these design issues might be? Can DIFxApp be used when an > > > application must be serviced in the future? I looked through MSDN and > > > did not find any mention one way or the other regarding DIFxApp and > > > upgrades. If upgrades are not supported (which would seem like a > > > serious deficiency!), what is the recommended way of servicing an app > > > that uses DIFxApp? Just what, exactly, are the caveats involved with > > upgrades and DIFx? > > > > > > The reason I ask is that upgrades are not going as well as we would > like. > > > Currently we service our application very simply. Every new version > > > is a major upgrade: new product code, new version number. We have > > > always scheduled RemoveExistingProducts immediately after > > > InstallInitialize. We have tested this in-house on just about every > > > computer at our (small) company without any issue: the upgrades > generally > > go very smoothly. > > > Additionally, most of our customers have also done upgrades without > > issue. > > > > > > However, there have been a few customers (i.e. about 10: enough for us > > > to not consider it to be an isolated incident) where they were unable > > > to upgrade. The setup program will roll back and fail when upgrading. > > > Also, they are then unable to uninstall the software: again, the setup > > > program rolls back when attempting to remove the product. The MSI > > > logs always point to DIFx as the problem, with DIFx indicating that > > > key DIFx information in the registry is missing. Searching Google > > > seems to indicate that we may not be the only people experiencing this > > > issue. The problem has been observed on both Windows XP SP3 and > > > Windows 7 (few customers use Vista). Every setup package uses the > > > version of DIFx included with WiX 3.0 (I believe it's version 2.1.1). > > > > > > In order to get the customer working again, we have successfully used > > > the following workaround in every case: (1) delete the key file as > > > specified by the driver component, (2) do a repair of the existing > > > product; the absence of the key file triggers MSI/DIFx to successfully > > > install the driver again, > > > (3) we can now uninstall the old product/MSI, (4) the new product/MSI > > > can be installed. Unfortunately, we have not been able to reproduce > > > the problem locally. That also means that we (obviously) haven't > > > identified what it is about the customer computer that causes problems. > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Master HTML5, CSS3, ASP.NET, MVC, AJAX, Knockout.js, Web API and > much more. Get web development skills now with LearnDevNow - > 350+ hours of step-by-step video tutorials by Microsoft MVPs and experts. > SALE $99.99 this month only -- learn more at: > http://p.sf.net/sfu/learnmore_122812 > _______________________________________________ > WiX-users mailing list > WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Master HTML5, CSS3, ASP.NET, MVC, AJAX, Knockout.js, Web API and much more. Get web development skills now with LearnDevNow - 350+ hours of step-by-step video tutorials by Microsoft MVPs and experts. SALE $99.99 this month only -- learn more at: http://p.sf.net/sfu/learnmore_122812 _______________________________________________ WiX-users mailing list WiX-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/wix-users
