Overview of Uninstall

[Chris]

Hurray!! My first big SetupBuilder Install works perfectly.

But although I thought I had ticked all the boxes for simple Uninstall, nothing got added to the Control Panel > Add/Remove
and I can't see anything like Uninstall.exe in the app directory.

Please can you give me a quick overview of what the automatic Uninstall in SetupBuilder should do. (yes, I've spent an hour reading the PDF Help and Get Started guide, but can't find it :-)

[linder]

Well, if you don't see your install in Add/Remove then you have removed that functionality from your project (for whatever unknown reason <g>). By default, uninstall is automatically handled for you.

Check the following:

1. General Information -> Product Properties -> "Support Uninstall" is set to YES

2. General Information -> Add/Remove Programs -> "Use Add/Remove Programs" is set to YES

3. In your script, you have not removed the Create Installation App & Log "[UNINSTALL_LOG]" script line (which creates the uninstall .exe/.log)

Hope this helps :)

Friedrich

[Chris]

Well I knew it would be me doing something :-) I removed the create installation App.

>>> which creates the uninstall .exe/.log
This is what I am asking about.
Where does it create these? (ie. in which folder).
Do I need to do anything with these? (eg create shortcut?)
If Add/Remove Programs is set YES, is the uninstall automatically linked?


Thanks.
Chris

[linder]

Chris,

When you create a new project, all the uninstall settings are automatically created for you. You do not do anything with the default settings -- you can modify the original settings, but it's not recommended. SetupBuilder handles it for you behind-the-scenes. Microsoft recommends not to add an uninstall shortcut (especially not in the new Win8 environment).

See attached screenshots.

BTW, the uninstall .exe is not linked in. It's dynamically created at runtime.

Friedrich

[Chris]

Thanks. On checking I find I had left everything in place, including the Create Installation App.
But I had not set the Uninstall Name and Uninstall Log to point to the _SB_INSTALLDIR.
Trying that now.

[Chris]

I now have the Uninstall.exe and .log --- Progress :-)

But the app still does not appear in the Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel.
Is there anything else I must set for this to work? eg. I have not set the Product GUID.

[linder]

You do not have any Product GUID? Why did you remove that? And why did you "modify" (remove, etc.) all the default settings?

Friedrich

[Chris]

I didn't touch it. Honest :-)
The boxes were mostly all blank, including the Product GUID

[linder]

Well, SetupBuilder did not remove that for you ;) When you create a new project, the IDE defines (and fills in) all default settings.

Friedrich

[Chris]

Aha. Belatedly I have read in the PDF that I need to press the GENERATE GUID button. So I now have a GUID.

[Chris]

Now it all works.
And compared to my previous installer, SetUpBuilder is much faster and smoother :-)

Thanks for your help.

[linder]

Perfect! Thank you!!! :)

Friedrich

[Chris]

With a customised Uninstall, the function Process Uninstallation Queue takes the Log file and does the uninstall.

With a standard Uninstall, I assume the Log file is automatically processed?

Does SB handle this without me needing to do anything? ie. so the Log file does not get processed twice.?

And similarly, if the standard uninstall has dialogs, and the custom uninstall has dialogs, does SB show both, or just the custom uninstall?

[linder]

By default, SetupBuilder adds a "standard" uninstall script to your project (at compile time). At runtime, the log is automatically processed. BTW, if you create a new uninstall include script then you see the source code of a "standard" uninstall.

If you create a "custom" uninstall then this custom uninstall include script is compiled into the setup (instead of the standard one).

Friedrich

[Chris]

Good clear answer. Perfect. Thank you.

[linder]

You are welcome! :)

Friedrich