Why is Visual Studios Installer not picking up dependencies - visual-studio

I'm using Visual Studio 2005. I have a program written in C#. When I create the installer and then add the primary output, it's not picking up any dependencies. Not even .Net. Anybody have any ideas?

I fixed my own problem, but figured I would post the "fix" in case any else should run into the problem.
I went back under my main project>references and removed the references to other projects. Then I right clicked on each of the other projects and removed them. I added them all back and rebuilt the project. Then I right clicked on the "Detected dependencies" folder in the installer and hit refresh dependencies and it detected them all

If you want to install the .NET Framework with your setup, you should add it under "Pre-requisites" on the property pages of your setup and deployment project.
Then the created bootstrapper (i.e. the setup.exe file) will check whether the specified version of the .NET Framework is present on the target system and install it as needed.
Please note that this check is only done by the setup.exe file and not when the user double-clicks the msi file. The reason for that is that Windows installer does not allow one msi file (your installer) to start another msi installation (e.g. the .NET Framework installation).

Try to do a build of your installer, it may add the dependencies at that time.

Your dependency dll must be in binary search path of windows.
That is PATH=/path/to/dll must be in environment.

Just in case it helps somebody... None of the other answers worked for me... It seems the cause of the issue for me was that I was adding the 'Primary output' and 'Content Files' in one step (at the same time)... once I deleted them both and added them individually it worked.
i.e. once I removed them both ('Primary output' and 'Content Files') and added 'Primary output' the Detected Dependencies folder was populated correctly, I then continued to add the 'Content Files'.

Related

Package target doesn't include bin\x64 folder but VS2019 did

I think I have various beads on why this may be happening, but I can't quite put all the clues together.
We were building an ASP.NET app in VS 2019 with a nuget dependency (Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SNI.1.0.19235.1 if it matters). I've used msbuild -t:package and in VS 2019, it would spit out bin\x86 and bin\x64 folders with the DLL from that nuget package. That package step would spit out a zip file and opening that up you can see the x86/x64 folders in there.
We upgraded to VS 2022 and the CPU arch folders are no longer there. I can see them get created in the working directory, but not in the package output.
Nothing in the project has changed. It's set to target "AnyCPU" and Framework 4.6.2. The command we're using to build hasn't changed either. As far as I can tell, it's just the upgrade to VS 2022.
I know VS 2022 is now 64-bit native, so I have a suspicion that's in play here. Any ideas on why those CPU-architecture folders are no longer included in the zip package? And how to get them back in there?
Thanks!
According to your description I make some test, hope it can help you:
Check your Configuration Manager under Build in the menu and add new Platform you need.
Build the project in Batch Build under Build in the menu.
We can see that .dll files are created in the same path so it will be covered.
Open the project file.(Right click on the project and Unload Project then right click again an choose edit project file)
You can see code like this:
Change the OutputPath to “bin\x64\Debug\”, ”bin\x64\Release\” and so on.
Reload the project and rebuild the project in Batch Build.
About how to Pack multiple platforms into one package you can see this(Pack multiple platforms into one package, using dotnet pack ).
If it helps anyone, since my problem was specifically with the SNI.dll not being emitted in the x64/x86 folders, my workaround solution was to upgrade the Microsoft.Data.* libraries to a newer version. The x64/x86 folders are still not emitted, but I now see Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SNI.x64.dll and Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.SNI.x86.dll files in the root bin folder.
It doesn't answer the original question, but at least it got me moving.

Visual Studio: How to automatically uninstall previous installed version?

I have a simple Web Setup project that reads from a Deployable Project.
Even though I have set the Setup to DetectNewerInstalledVersion to false I always get that annoying alert box that a previous installation exists and I need to go to the Control Panel and find the software to remove it...
Is there a way to add a script in a new new installation Dialog that could say A previous version was found, press NEXT to uninstall it. ?
Older versions are uninstalled automatically if you increase your Product Version and change the Package Code. This needs to be done each time you modify the setup project and build a new package.
If you keep the same version and Product Code, older builds cannot be uninstalled automatically. They are detected by Windows Installer before your new package is actually launched. So you need to uninstall them manually.
In my case I found out that the setup project wasn't part of the configuration manager.
Therefore, it wasn't rebuld on solution rebuilds and setup file with the new version and ProductCode wasn't generated.
The solution is simply to right click on the setup project and click rebuild.
Hope this help to future readers :)
The answer is not to use the Visual Studio setup project that's already integrated. I'm having the exact same problem: it won't remove previous versions even though I up the version, set it to remove previous version, check for previous version and rebuild, I can install but the files aren't updated. There are some good tools for this out there, check out bitrock, inno setup or wix.
Also Visual Studio 2010 was the last version with setup project support. It's not included in 2012.
I struggled with this for a long time but it is very simple.
Go to manage VS Extensions (VS2019) and install 'Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Project' v0.9.9
Right click on your installer project and go to properties. Keep the UpgradeCode variable in the properties window the same for different versions of the same product.
Change your ProductCode variable between different builds.
Now when you install the product with the same UpgradeCode already on the system, the installer will upgrade your existing product and you will only have one program in the Add/Remove window.
Create a .bat file
Write this code:
wmic product where name="SetupProgramName" call uninstall /nointeractive
cd Debug
setup.exe
Put this file in installer directory.

Including a runtime (vcredist_x86.exe) as part of an installer

I need to include a runtime as part of a project installer.
I was having trouble including it, as an error saying "an installation is already in progress" was appearing, due to the fact that I was essentially trying run an msi from within an msi.
I managed to get over this by including it in the "OnAfterInstall" event, however it appears now that it is not being installed on upgrades, only on fresh installs.
Can anyone offer any advice?
Thanks
You don't specify what version of the Visual C++ Runtime, but this may work:
Visual Studio Installer Projects provide a prerequisites setting which is pre-populated with a list of common components. These are .mst files, so they can be merged into your installer. To reach the prerequisites screen, right-click your installer project -> Properties -> Prerequisites. Check the appropriate box in the list and change the option at the bottom to include the prerequisite in the setup program.
apparently you should add it as a "merge module" in your MSI http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/archive/2007/10/12/how-to-redistribute-the-visual-c-libraries-with-your-application.aspx

Visual Studio Setup project - force installation of a .DLL?

I have an update to third party .DLL that must be installed onto my clients' computers. We currently employ automated installs via MSI that are created in Visual Studio 2010
Unfortunately, the third party .DLL was versioned incorrectly and file version of it was not increased by the provider (they only increased assembly version). The third party provider is Microsoft, so waiting on them to fix the issue is not realistic. We need to get the new .DLL to people now and within one MSI update. Right now, MSI update is not overriding the .DLL
Is there a way within VS2010 Setup project to force override a .DLL even if the file versions match?
If you are willing to do msi postbuild tweaking you can hit the File table and do "version lying". Another thought is to not put that DLL in your install. Find an installer from Microsoft ( if it exists ) that you can put into a bootstrapper or create your own installer and use AMUS instead of OMUS for the version rules.
Can't you just add the file to your installer as a 'file' and install it with the other files? Don't set it as project output, or any of the canned install actions. Go to the file portion and right click the "Application Files" folder, and say > add file. Navigate to the file that you want and choose it.

Web setup project removes files after upgrade from VS2008 to VS2010

I have a web setup project built using VS2008. I've converted my solution to VS2010 and now when I build my new installer and run the install from the MSI it installs fine, then at the last step, removes all the files it's just installed.
I have RemovePreviousVersions set to true. If I turn this off the files remain in place (but I get multiple instances in the Programs and Features in the control panel).
If I run the install again, the files reappear. From then on, the files always remain, even when installing another version. So, the problem seems to be with running an installer built using VS2008 and then running the same installer built by VS2010. The upgrade GUIDs on each installer are the same.
What is the cause and how can I fix this?
I haven't tried porting a setup from VS2008 to 2010, but having the same upgrade code for different build versions will cause problems; simple explanation is the msiexec installer fails when it tries to remove the old components because the older components have the same upgrade version as the newer components being installed. There is a VS project setting where you can automatically generate a new upgrade code each time you rebuild your .msi; I generally select this and saves a lot of these versioning headaches.
Uninstall all copies of your app using
add/remove programs
Delete the contents of your %TEMP% folder ( to
get rid of any "old" (VS2008) copies
of your .msi)
Update the GUID for the VS2010 version (I think you do this by right clicking on the
GUID in the properties window and clicking "genereate new GUID")
rebuild the project and try again!
I just encountered this error. Had the exact problem when upgrading. I tried the solution at:
https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/559575
I edited my MSI-file in Orca resequenced RemoveExistingProducts right after InstallInitialize (sequence number 1501). This was found in the InstallExecuteSequence table. This was originally sequence number 6550.
That solved my problem.
What I've discovered is that changing the UpgradeCode will prevent the files from being removed, however it's then treated as a separate installed program - i.e. in the control panel (Programs and Features) my program appears twice. Logically, I think, this is because it's not the same program.
My only option seems to be to programmatically uninstall the old version in the installer of the new version by writing a custom action.
I've submitted a bug to Microsoft Connect and they've confirmed it's reproducible.

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