Setup wants to perform fresh install instead of uninstalling

[jsmith]

Hi!

We have recently run into an issue on one computer here where our setup goes into "install" mode instead of "uninstall" mode when running setup.exe in an attempt to uninstall the already-installed product. The same setup.exe file is being used in the attempt to uninstall as was used to install.

It seems that on this one computer, MAINTENANCE must not be TRUE, otherwise the MSIcode would GoTo Label: Maintenance. Instead, it's going to the Welcome Dialog.

How does the MAINTENANCE variable get set to true? I have verified that the following registry key exists, and is populated with values that match those on a system where this issue is not occuring:

Code: Select all

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{our-product-code}

Furthermore, I've gone to the path pointed to by:

Code: Select all

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{our-product-code}\UninstallString

and have run the setup.exe that is cached there. I get the same behavior; it goes to the Welcome Dialog and attempts to take me through a clean install when it should be uninstalling.

Has anybody else run into this? What else could I look for on this computer in an attempt to understand why this is happening?

It's probably worth noting that if I run a newer version of our setup with the same Product Code and same Upgrades Product with Product Code, but with a different Revision Code, the upgrade works as expected. If I then try to uninstall the version I just upgraded to by running the setup.exe for the version I just upgraded to, then I run into the problem where it wants to do a clean install and not an uninstall.

Thanks!

[MichaelNesmith]

Are you transforming a new instance on each new install? An install you create using any of the built-in templates and samples won't do this, maybe that can help triangulate the issue.

[jsmith]

Thanks for replying. No, we're not transforming new instances. Two instances of our product cannot be installed simultaneously.

[jsmith]

Hello. Do you have any other suggestions for what might be causing this or where else I could look for any clues? This is only happening on one computer; it can't be readily reproduced. But on the computer that is suffering, it happens every time.