There is a fair bit of debate about the propriety of including the policy MSMs.
Some argue that they should be included (MS does ship them as MSMs, after all)
so that everyone will benefit from whatever the latest-and-greatest the user
happens to install (i.e. increase the coverage of MSFT security fixes). Others
counter that including the policy MSM can cause other installed software to
fail because it changes the runtime that those other already installed
applications to load, and they may be depending on some undocumented or
unanticipated "feature" that was changed in some subsequent fix.
In other words, adding the policy MSM can cause other people's code to break
(just because the user installed yours). You can usually get yours to work
without the policy MSM by making your code build against the updated libs that
the MSM you are distributing were built with.
That was the root of my question. What revision of the libs are you building
against (you can see this in the manifest embedded in your binaries) vs what
are you shipping in the MSM (you can see this in the metadata in the MSM)?
> From: laasu...@hotmail.com
> To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
> Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 08:16:47 +0200
> Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Merge module not working
>
> Thank you for your reply.
>
> Adding the policy merge module solved the issue.
>
> I would consider updating the
> http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix3/install_vcredist.htm page, either
> update this line "There is generally no need to include the policy MSMs as
> part of the installation." or describe the purpose of the policy msm very
> briefly.
>
> Lars
>
> > Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 14:46:11 -0700
> > From: phildgwil...@gmail.com
> > To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
> > Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Merge module not working
> >
> > A couple of other things to look at, assuming you've looked at Blair's
> > comment:
> >
> > One issue with these SxS Dlls is that the policy merge module makes a
> > difference. IIRC, the VC redist exe will install the Dlls and the policy
> > file that redirects requests to the appropriate Dll. So I'd add the policy
> > merge module.
> >
> > The other issue is that the VC redist installs everything. For example, if
> > your code has a dependency on the MFC or ATL Dlls then the CRT by itself is
> > not enough.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 9:08 AM, Blair Murri <os...@live.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Did the merge module come from the same service pack level of Visual
> > > Studio as was used to build the application?
> > >
> > > > From: laasu...@hotmail.com
> > > > To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
> > > > Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 11:34:36 +0200
> > > > Subject: [WiX-users] Merge module not working
> > > >
> > > > Using Wix 3.7
> > > >
> > > > I added Microsoft_VC80_CRT_x86.msm merge module to my wix setup
> > > according to http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix3/install_vcredist.htm
> > > >
> > > > I tested the new msi file on a clean WinXP SP3 machine. Installed the
> > > product and when I started the application I get "The application failed
> > > to
> > > initalize properly (oxc0150002). Click on Ok to terminate the
> > > application".
> > > > I downloaded and installed "Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable
> > > Package (x86)" on the test computer and the application then works.
> > > > So I try to diff the usage of merge module and redistribuable.
> > > > - Both approaches creates the folder
> > > "C:\WINDOWS\WinSys\x86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6b128700"
> > > > - Both approaches add the same three files to the folder (msvcm80.dll,
> > > msvcp80.dll, msvcr80.dll)
> > > > - Diff'ed the files added by merge module and redistribuable and they
> > > are binary equal.
> > > >
> > > > So why doesn't merge module work?
> > > >
> > > > I have added the wix configuration below.
> > > > <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
> > > > <Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi";>
> > > > <Product Id="490F391C-336C-4a47-A7F6-587B2C92AC92"
> > > > Language="1033"
> > > > Manufacturer="MyCompany"
> > > > Name="MyName"
> > > > UpgradeCode="E5B47089-C70D-46bd-AA9C-D222CFE9A699"
> > > > Version="1.0.0.0">
> > > >
> > > > <Package Compressed="yes" InstallerVersion="300" />
> > > > <Media Id="1" Cabinet="product.cab" EmbedCab="yes" />
> > > >
> > > > <Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
> > > > <Directory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
> > > > <Directory Id="INSTALLLOCATION" Name="MyCompany">
> > > > <Component Id="cmp829B7EDF9835ECFBEB6B7A5E00D6B29F" Guid="*">
> > > > <File Id="filD32196FBAB143D1B642565E64AFE743C" KeyPath="yes"
> > > Source="C:\path\bin\MyLibrary.dll" />
> > > > </Component>
> > > > </Directory>
> > > > </Directory>
> > > > </Directory>
> > > > <DirectoryRef Id="TARGETDIR">
> > > > <Merge Id="VCRedist"
> > > SourceFile="C:\Path1\Path2\Microsoft_VC80_CRT_x86.msm" DiskId="1"
> > > Language="0"/>
> > > > </DirectoryRef>
> > > > <Feature Id="ProductFeature" Level="1" Title="MyTitle">
> > > > <ComponentRef Id="cmp829B7EDF9835ECFBEB6B7A5E00D6B29F" />
> > > > <MergeRef Id="VCRedist"/>
> > > > </Feature>
> > > > </Product>
> > > > </Wix>
> > > >
> > > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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