MSI build - Downgradable options

Question

MSI build - Downgradable options

Elanchezhiyan P 100

I'm trying to downgrade the MSI build when we switch over the versions in the API. For e.g. We have installed the MSI build with the version 2.0 in the windows machine. I have to downgrade the version for some reasons and I'm updating the API with 1.0. Can the MSI build be downgraded to 1.0 version with Autoupdate?

I know that only manual installation allows this process to downgrade. Also, if the higher version is installed, we will be getting error when we try to uninstall the lower version. (Attached the image for reference)
User's image

Do we have any possibilities to install lower version through auto update process?

RLWA32 49,651 Reputation points

2023-12-06T00:57:56.62+00:00
Did you create the MSI installer from a Visual Studio Installer extension setup project?

What do you mean by AutoUpdate?
Anonymous

2023-12-06T01:43:43.9466667+00:00

Hi @Elanchezhiyan P ,Welcome to Microsoft Q&A,

MSIX is not currently supported here on Q&A. The group for MSIX actively monitors questions over at

MSIX - Microsoft Community Hub

Thanks for your understanding.
Elanchezhiyan P 100 Reputation points

2023-12-06T04:28:43.44+00:00

@Anonymous ,

When I click in the above link, the gives an error as Node was not found. Attached the image for your reference.
Elanchezhiyan P 100 Reputation points

2023-12-06T04:35:56.09+00:00
@RLWA32 ,

Did you create the MSI installer from a Visual Studio Installer extension setup project?
Yes, The MSI installer is created from the visual studio installed extension via setup project.

What do you mean by AutoUpdate?
*Autoupdate is the process where I have added a service to check for the updated version each 30 mins. This API contains the version and the download link. If the version is higher than current installed version, it downloads the new MSI build from the link and tries to install it with the silent installation process. By this way, Higher version of the build is installed in the respective machine. As like the same, if the version is lower than the current version, then I should download the particular version from the download link and then install it in the same machine i.e.) the lower version should be installed over the higher version. But when I try to install the lower version, I get the error as Unable to install because a newer version of this product is already installed.

How do i overcome this process? Do we have any workaround to install the lower version over the higher version? Please let me know your thoughts.*
Anonymous

2023-12-06T05:14:40.2933333+00:00

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/msix/bd-p/MSIX-Discussions
Elanchezhiyan P 100 Reputation points

2023-12-06T05:20:12.4866667+00:00

@Anonymous ,

I'm able to get into the page.
RLWA32 49,651 Reputation points

2023-12-06T09:51:13.81+00:00
@Elanchezhiyan P By design, the MSI created by a Visual Studio Installer extension setup project does not handle downgrades. However, it is possible to edit an MSI created by the extension so that it will perform a downgrade (i.e., remove installed higher version and install lower version).

In my minimal test I created an MSI that installed a simple .Net Framework 4.8 Windows Forms application (.exe only). It also installed an unversioned text file to the application folder. The installed executable had a 2.0 version number and so did the related MSI installer.

After installing it I then ran a second MSI that I had edited which removed the version 2.0 executable and installed the version 1.0 executable as well replacing the unversioned text file.

The edits to the MSI in my test were made with Orca, the MSI editor that is included with the MSI Tools available from the Windows SDK. It is also possible to make the necessary edits to the MSI programmatically but for my test using Orca was simpler and easier.

As I said, my test was with a simple executable that did not include any assemblies and was deployed to a standard file system location (e.g., C:\Program Files...). Both version 1 and version 2 deployed the executable, the text file and a config file. I have some additional questions -

What version of Visual Studio are you working with?

Is your Windows Forms application .Net Framework or .Net?

How can I construct a test of a downgrade installer that more closely resembles downgrading your application?

Is doing an interactive silent install sufficient to simulate your AutoUpdate service?
Elanchezhiyan P 100 Reputation points

2023-12-07T06:15:31.3566667+00:00
@RLWA32 ,
Thanks for the given info. I understood the behavior of the MSI installer that is built to setup the project. It's a default rule that it does not allow the lower versioned apps to install over the higher versioned apps. I too have tried and found a way i.e.) when we edit the values in the upgrade table using ORCA, we are able to bypass the installer message. The issue currently I'm facing is When we use file versioning, only the higher version allows the upgrade process.

What version of Visual Studio are you working with? I'm using Visual studio 2022 community edition.

Is your Windows Forms application .NET Framework or .NET? I'm using Windows forms with the .NET Framework 4.8. Also, I use Windows service for installer and uninstaller process. I use Sqlite3 database for storing the data's with the entity framework migration.

How can I construct a test of a downgrade installer that more closely resembles downgrading your application? Let us consider that I have created an application with the 2 windows service. One stands for installer and uninstaller process and other is for Auto Update process. I have added windows form for user interaction process along with the sqlite3 database to store and retrieve data's. I have used MSI version to show it in the control panel and Assembly & file version to check the current version installed. In this way, we have an API which will give the latest version with the download link. This download link will contain the updated MSI and it will be downloaded locally and installed via below code. This is a silent installation process which updates the application in the background.

Is doing an interactive silent install sufficient to simulate your AutoUpdate service?
Yes, This is a silent auto installation process.

1 answer

Your answer

RLWA32 49,651 Reputation points

2023-12-06T00:57:56.62+00:00

Did you create the MSI installer from a Visual Studio Installer extension setup project?

What do you mean by AutoUpdate?
Anonymous

2023-12-06T01:43:43.9466667+00:00

Hi @Elanchezhiyan P ,Welcome to Microsoft Q&A,

MSIX is not currently supported here on Q&A. The group for MSIX actively monitors questions over at

MSIX - Microsoft Community Hub

Thanks for your understanding.
Elanchezhiyan P 100 Reputation points

2023-12-06T04:28:43.44+00:00

@Anonymous ,

When I click in the above link, the gives an error as Node was not found. Attached the image for your reference.
Elanchezhiyan P 100 Reputation points

2023-12-06T04:35:56.09+00:00

@RLWA32 ,

Did you create the MSI installer from a Visual Studio Installer extension setup project?
Yes, The MSI installer is created from the visual studio installed extension via setup project.

What do you mean by AutoUpdate?
*Autoupdate is the process where I have added a service to check for the updated version each 30 mins. This API contains the version and the download link. If the version is higher than current installed version, it downloads the new MSI build from the link and tries to install it with the silent installation process. By this way, Higher version of the build is installed in the respective machine. As like the same, if the version is lower than the current version, then I should download the particular version from the download link and then install it in the same machine i.e.) the lower version should be installed over the higher version. But when I try to install the lower version, I get the error as Unable to install because a newer version of this product is already installed.

How do i overcome this process? Do we have any workaround to install the lower version over the higher version? Please let me know your thoughts.*
Anonymous

2023-12-06T05:14:40.2933333+00:00

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/msix/bd-p/MSIX-Discussions
Elanchezhiyan P 100 Reputation points

2023-12-06T05:20:12.4866667+00:00

@Anonymous ,

I'm able to get into the page.
RLWA32 49,651 Reputation points

2023-12-06T09:51:13.81+00:00

@Elanchezhiyan P By design, the MSI created by a Visual Studio Installer extension setup project does not handle downgrades. However, it is possible to edit an MSI created by the extension so that it will perform a downgrade (i.e., remove installed higher version and install lower version).

In my minimal test I created an MSI that installed a simple .Net Framework 4.8 Windows Forms application (.exe only). It also installed an unversioned text file to the application folder. The installed executable had a 2.0 version number and so did the related MSI installer.

After installing it I then ran a second MSI that I had edited which removed the version 2.0 executable and installed the version 1.0 executable as well replacing the unversioned text file.

The edits to the MSI in my test were made with Orca, the MSI editor that is included with the MSI Tools available from the Windows SDK. It is also possible to make the necessary edits to the MSI programmatically but for my test using Orca was simpler and easier.

As I said, my test was with a simple executable that did not include any assemblies and was deployed to a standard file system location (e.g., C:\Program Files...). Both version 1 and version 2 deployed the executable, the text file and a config file. I have some additional questions -

What version of Visual Studio are you working with?

Is your Windows Forms application .Net Framework or .Net?

How can I construct a test of a downgrade installer that more closely resembles downgrading your application?

Is doing an interactive silent install sufficient to simulate your AutoUpdate service?
Elanchezhiyan P 100 Reputation points

2023-12-07T06:15:31.3566667+00:00

@RLWA32 ,
Thanks for the given info. I understood the behavior of the MSI installer that is built to setup the project. It's a default rule that it does not allow the lower versioned apps to install over the higher versioned apps. I too have tried and found a way i.e.) when we edit the values in the upgrade table using ORCA, we are able to bypass the installer message. The issue currently I'm facing is When we use file versioning, only the higher version allows the upgrade process.

What version of Visual Studio are you working with? I'm using Visual studio 2022 community edition.

Is your Windows Forms application .NET Framework or .NET? I'm using Windows forms with the .NET Framework 4.8. Also, I use Windows service for installer and uninstaller process. I use Sqlite3 database for storing the data's with the entity framework migration.

How can I construct a test of a downgrade installer that more closely resembles downgrading your application? Let us consider that I have created an application with the 2 windows service. One stands for installer and uninstaller process and other is for Auto Update process. I have added windows form for user interaction process along with the sqlite3 database to store and retrieve data's. I have used MSI version to show it in the control panel and Assembly & file version to check the current version installed. In this way, we have an API which will give the latest version with the download link. This download link will contain the updated MSI and it will be downloaded locally and installed via below code. This is a silent installation process which updates the application in the background.

Is doing an interactive silent install sufficient to simulate your AutoUpdate service?
Yes, This is a silent auto installation process.

Answer 1

A Visual Studio Installer project has two properties that control the content of the Upgrade table contained in the generated MSI file. They are -

UpgradeTableProps

You can generate an MSI that does not check for newer versions by setting DetectNewerInstalledVersion to "False". Consequently, the Upgrade table will not include an entry for that test.

In my test to create an MSI that will downgrade from 2.0 to 1.0 I created an MSI for the 1.0 version that set DetectNewerInstalledVersion to "False" and RemovePreviousVersions to "True". Then I used Orca to edit the Upgrade Table so that it appeared as follows -

DowngradeTable

Testing with the generated MSI demonstrated that the 2.0 version of the executable remained in the application folder after downgrade. Other unversioned items were properly downgraded.

To work around Windows not replacing a 2.0 version with a 1.0 version of a versioned binary it was necessary to add an additional property to the Property table. The property was REINSTALLMODE and the value was "amus" as seen below.

PropTable

These edits allowed a successful downgrade from 2.0 to 1.0.

Consider carefully and test thoroughly the effect of the REINSTALLMODE edit. Depending on what your MSI does It has the potential of replacing deployed content with older versions even though you may not intend for that to happen. Refer to REINSTALLMODE property and also to this MSDN blog post Aaron Stebner's WebLog.

Elanchezhiyan P 100 Reputation points

2023-12-11T05:26:04.2633333+00:00

Hey @RLWA32 ,

Thanks for the above one. When using REINSTALLMODE property, I replaces all the higher versioned files to lower version. I have two more questions where I have an issue in using REINSTALLMODE.

I have sqlite3 database where it contains the data in it. I need to downgrade the database based on the version I try to install. We should not have data loss in it. How can we do this? (If I use the REINSTALLMODE, it replaces the database as well)

I have installed Windows service, where it throws error as it replaces 1.2.0 to 1.1.0. How do I prevent this process?

Let me know your thoughts on it.
RLWA32 49,651 Reputation points

2023-12-11T10:21:00.6933333+00:00

I am not a user of sqlite3 and so I'm not sure what you mean by "downgrade the database". Also, it is unclear what error is occurring with respect to the windows service. Keep in mind that Visual Studio Installer projects are considerably less flexible and less capable than other tools such as Wix.

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MSI build - Downgradable options

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