Re: [WiX-users] Some but not all files being removed on uninstall

Scott Moyer Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:48:48 -0700

Sorry for the delay, Mike. I had moved on to my next hurdle of how to 
write/customize my own BA/UI.


I am using the default feature as shown below (nothing conditional):

    <Feature Id='All' Title='All Components' Description='Installs all 
components' Level='1'>
      <ComponentGroupRef Id="CR1" />
      <ComponentRef Id='ProgramMenuDir' />
      <ComponentRef Id='MainExe' />
      <ComponentGroupRef Id='HelpFiles' />
      <ComponentGroupRef Id='DatabaseFiles' />
      <ComponentGroupRef Id='BinFiles' />
      <ComponentGroupRef Id='ExeFiles' />
      <ComponentGroupRef Id='SetGeniusRegistry' />
    </Feature>

Thanks,
Scott

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Turner [mailto:mcturner...@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2014 2:05 PM
To: wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [WiX-users] Some but not all files being removed on uninstall

Scott,

Is your product using conditional Features?  One way that components can get 
"orphaned" is if they belong to a Feature whose Level is 0 at time of 
uninstall.  Usually this happens when the intent is to install the feature only 
if a certain prerequisite software is present, and if the prerequisite is 
uninstalled before the product.  I've found it's best to follow this
pattern:

&lt;Feature ... Level="0"&gt;
    &lt;Condition Level="1"&gt;&lt;![CDATA[REMOVE OR (...My 
Condition...)]]&gt;&lt;/Condition&gt;
    ...
&lt;/Feature&gt;

The "orphaning" happens if you forget to include the "REMOVE OR " part.
(There are other alternatives that involve checking whether the feature is 
currently installed, but this is the simplest way.)

Otherwise, it's possible that the Component GUID-based reference counts are out 
of whack, which could happen from "orphaning" in the past.  It looks like this 
tracking might be stored in the following registry path, but I definitely would 
not advise editing or deleting anything unless you really know what you are 
doing and have made a full system backup first:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\{YourSID}\Components\

And I think the keys under this are encoded in a way that is not as simple as 
just removing the braces and dashes from the GUID, so I would suggest searching 
for the target path instead.  Then you'll at least know whether leftover 
reference counts are the problem.  Just make sure that they don't legitimately 
belong to another product that is installed. =)

Regards,
Mike


Scott Moyer wrote
> I do not see anything suspect in the install log.
>
> Components that get removed say 'Action: Absent' in the uninstall log.
>
> Components not getting removed have 'Action:  Null' in the uninstall log.
>
>
> Also Registry entries are not being removed ('Action:  Null'), even
> when using <RegistryKey ... ForceDeleteOnUninstall="yes">
>
> SharedDllRefCounts are all 0.
>
> I am using Guid="*" for all components.
>
> I am using the same model/code for all files so why some files getting
> removed and some not? The files not getting removed are exes and dlls.
>
>
> I am running as Administrator.
>
> What could be making it so some files and all registry entries do not
> get removed on uninstall?
>
>
> Could there be some sort of registration stuck from a prior install?
> If so how do I remove that?
>
> Thanks.





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