Time to remove application is painfully slow.

HK · Post by HK » Thu Jul 12, 2007 11:18 am

We deploy a .NET web application using InstallAware and we find the de-install/remove process to be painfully slow.

It can take 10-15 minutes to de-install our web application. Granted we have lots of files (images etc.) but this is just too slow.

Anyone come across this problem?

Can anyone provide any tips to speed things up?

MLS · Post by **MLS** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:10 pm

I have a web app that installs about 5-6 thousand files and I find the install is slower than deinstall. But I would expect the install to be slower since deleting a file is quick

Maybe you are doing somthing in the uninstall step other than the msi uninstall command

HK · Post by HK » Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:26 pm

We have about 10,000 files taking up 75mb on disk.

Install is just fine.

Have checked the uninstall code and it seems ok. The installer just chugs away deleting each of the the files.

Maybe I can delete the directory instead?!

MichaelNesmith · Post by **MichaelNesmith** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:32 pm

MSI is creating components and other registry data for the files you are installing. I'm afraid this is the cost of using MSI (and building Vista logo compliant packages).

Edhy · Post by **Edhy** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:02 pm

Well, in this case, I would suggest displaying a message to the user know that uninstalling can take a long period so they don't think the computer hang up.

stevew · Post by **stevew** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 9:02 pm

hi, maybe this is not a good idea for you but may be for others. What about putting the images in a set of zip files and just install the zip files and leave the images permanently in zip files? The new windows seems to look into the zip files automatically and you hardly know files are zipped. Even the antivirus programs look into the zip files. Anyway, this could keep the physical file count down and uninstalling could be more efficient.

HK · Post by HK » Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:56 am

Thanks to everyone for providing responses. Appreciated.

Putting a message is not a problem.

It is quicker to install Microsoft Expression Web Designer (195MB file) than it is to de-install our application!

This really creates a negative user experience (considering the fact that de-install is required before our customers can install latest version of our product).

Not sure about putting images into ZIP files. Could cause more potential product support issues!

We used to use the Microsoft Visual Studio Installer project to create our installers. I will have to double-check, but I cannot recall the de-installs taking this much time.

MLS · Post by **MLS** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 4:01 am

One though is maybe write an exe to delete your images before the uninstall step.

The uninstall will just skip over them then I think and maybe quicker.

You could simulate this of course by just installing and then delete the images then do a deinstall and see if it would actually speed it up.

mr. dizzle · Post by **mr. dizzle** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:49 am

I agree with the solution of just installing the images in zip file(s), and then when your app first runs, do the extraction. When you've finished uninstalling, delete all the files.

lextm · Post by **lextm** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:45 am

Guys, slow uninstallation is in fact caused by MSI mechanism, so IMHO InstallAware cannot change it until Microsoft releases a new MSI engine.

I understand there are many ways to speed up uninstallation but only Microsoft can modify the MSI engine.

BTW, I guess any customization IA add to MSI installer should be very careful because changes may not pass certification.