Question How can I use a custom action to dynamically populate rows in the table? Answer Immediate custom actions have full access to the Windows Installer database. All you need to do is use the database API to open a view and execute the view...

Question Can anyone tell me how to make a universal transform or a template transform that will work on all msi's? Answer The trick is to get the validation conditions on the transform to be lenient. The following validation conditions are available...

Question Can someone comment on what consequences would there be if the following ICE27 exceptions were left as is? 'SetODBCFolders' Action in AdvtExecuteSequence table in wrong place. Current: Execution, Correct: Selection Action: 'SetODBCFolders...

Question Is there a way to set ACLs for a service using MSI standard actions or is a custom action required? If this can only be done through a custom action, does someone have an existing CA that sets service ACLs that I could use? Answer No, there...

Question Any tips on troubleshooting Error 2259: Database: foo.msi Table(s) Update failed? What column in the update is causing the update to fail? UPDATE ControlCondition SET ControlCondition.Condition = '1' WHERE ControlCondition.Dialog_='FolderForm...

Question How to manage order dependencies between AppSearch entries? In my case, I want a RegLocator to check for a path out of the registry and then I want Signature .Parent to use the path results of the RegLocator . Here's my implementation in...

Question How do I AppSearch for Dot Net Framework? Answer The official registry key/value to check is HKLM\Software\Microsoft\NET Framework Setup\NDP\ @Install=1. Of course, this key/value has the same issue as you mention below because the version...

Question Can you help me decipher the error from LastErrorRecord FormatText : "1: 2235 2: .\debug\ftminstall.msi 3: Value 4: UPDATE ControlCondition SET ControlCondition.Value = 1 WHERE ControlCondition.Dialog ='FolderForm' AND ControlCondition...

Question How can I pass the installation directory info to the custom action exe? Answer See MSDN Topics: Changing the Target Location for a Directory [Windows Installer] MsiSetTargetPath(MSIHANDLE,LPCTSTR,LPCTSTR) function [Windows Installer...

Question I am presently trying to automate patch builds for my product code, and I am using msimsp.exe with the following command-line Msimsp.exe –s -p -l It pops up a confirmation dialog saying – Target ProductVersion is greater than the...

Question When I uninstall with our application running, the folder that contained the app is not removed after reboot. Now I know the documentation for the RemoveFolders action says that if the folder is not empty it won’t remove the folder. However after...

Question We’re trying to install our MSI without having it listed in Add/Remove Control Panel using (as per documentation I found in the MSDN): ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT=1 We’ll then manually add an entry in the registry (CurrentVersion\Uninstall\...

Question I’ve got a report of error 2356 "Could not locate cabinet in stream: [2]." which says a cabinet is missing from the stream. How can I see the streams that are in the MSI and once I know the names, how can I extract them? Answer Wistream...

Question Background For background on subcomponents, see Why does the Windows Installer log list apparently duplicate components prepended with double underscore and appended with 65? A careful reader will notice a problem with the subcomponent...

Question Why does the Windows Installer log list apparently duplicate components prepended with double underscore and appended with 65? Example: Action start <time>: InstallValidate. MSI (s) <process info>: Feature: Simple; Installed...

Question Updated build of MSI not being installed despite REINSTALLMODE=vomus property? Troubleshooting Start by noticing that features that should be installed are actually listed as Advertised MSI (s) <process info>: Feature: AdminTools;...

Question I went to the Microsoft download site and could not find a entry for the Windows Installer SDK. Where is the Windows Installer SDK? Answer The Windows Installer documentation on MSDN always lists the download page for the Installer SDK...

Question What are some sources of: Error 1606: Could Not Access Network Location? Answer Generally, the installer will validate the existence of directories listed in the directory table -- if you don't install to that directory, then don't list...

Problem How can I tie the execution of an MSI with an enclosing Wrapper? Design Considerations Pragmatically Product Support and Administrators need the capacity to operate MSIs from the command line so there’s never been a need for MSI users to...

Custom actions provide a generalized way of extending the Windows Installer engine. Due to the fact it's a generalized extension mechanism, it's difficult to provide a universal cookbook for custom actions. I suggest starting with the Windows Installer...

Problem I’m trying to build a customized cub file to run against my MSI using msival2.exe. I built a DLL with some customized ICE errors and inserted it into the cub file. When I run msival2, it keeps complaining the DLL cannot be run. The detail error...

Question Can I enable a particular priviledge for my NoImpersonate custom action? Answer No. DCOM will strip privileges from the token that are not explicitly enabled. That's a DCOM design -- not MSI and since custom actions are 3rd party...

Question Is there a way to surgically update the MSI with the signed binaries without having to repackage the MSI? Answer You can use MsiFiler.exe tool to update File table and MsiFileHash table. If you are looking for fully verified signed installation...

Question How do I detect that the installer is doing a repair? Answer You can check if the REINSTALL property is set. If you want to detect if a patch operation is happening (which also sets the REINSTALL property), you can check if the PATCH property...

Question Where can I get some help parsing the Windows Installer logs? Answer Check out Wilogutl.exe Content credit also belongs to Ashish, MSI Team Test Engineer. You can get other Ashish insights about developing for Windows Installer from...