[SOLVED] Annoyance: uninstall previous version before updati

TerDale · Post by **TerDale** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:29 am

Hi,

I'm using PDF-XChange Viewer for a while, and I have the feeling that things have changed somewhere with one of the latest version, wrt to the update process. Note though that I'm not fully sure that it wasn't always like this.
Anyway, here is the annoyance :
- each time I'm aware there is a new version, I DL it, and then install it
- and (at least for latest versions) I'm systematically told that my current version must be uninstalled first
- uininstalling the previous version is an annoyance per se, but an acceptable one,
- the actual annoyance is that by doing so, all my settings are cleared,
- so, each time I install a new version, I must reset all my custom settings, which is a PIA.

Is this per-design or due to a problem on my side?
If per-design, is there a way to work around it, at least to keep settings when updating the application?

TIA

Thu Sep 29, 2011 3:51 pm

Hello TerDale,

Looking at the message you got - I presume that you are using the .msi installers.
This is a restriction when using this kind of installation, so I would recommend you to try the .zip installer - it will auto detect that you have a x64 OS - and install a 64 bit version of our programs for you, and you will not see the "Please uninstall the old version first" messages in the future.

Also with the .msi installers there is an issue that prevents the "Live updater" from working properly - so that's yet another reason to use the .zip/.exe installer.

Best,
Stefan

TerDale · Post by **TerDale** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 4:13 pm

Hello Stefan

Tracker Supp-Stefan wrote:Looking at the message you got - I presume that you are using the .msi installers.
This is a restriction when using this kind of installation, so I would recommend you to try the .zip installer - it will auto detect that you have a x64 OS - and install a 64 bit version of our programs for you, and you will not see the "Please uninstall the old version first" messages in the future.
Stefan

OK, thanks for the tip, I'll try it soon.
This should also explain why this behavior sounded new to me: I probably switched once from ZIP to MSI installer without figuring it out.

Thanks for you prompt reply.

Thu Sep 29, 2011 4:29 pm

Hi TerDale,

Glad we could help

Cheers,
Stefan

TerDale · Post by **TerDale** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 9:42 am

Followed your advice, and it works as described, thanx.

Just a last question though, it seems that using the EXE package should also help to to reach the same result, do you confirm?

Thanks for your efficient help.

Mon Oct 03, 2011 9:51 am

Hello TerDale,

Glad that it's all up and running now!

Actually the "zip" package I mentioned above is an archive containing the .exe installation file - so yes - it will achieve the same result!

Cheers,
Stefan

sha-it · Post by **sha-it** » Fri Oct 21, 2011 3:16 pm

Tracker Supp-Stefan wrote: Looking at the message you got - I presume that you are using the .msi installers.
This is a restriction when using this kind of installation, so I would recommend you to try the .zip installer - it will auto detect that you have a x64 OS - and install a 64 bit version of our programs for you, and you will not see the "Please uninstall the old version first" messages in the future.

Also with the .msi installers there is an issue that prevents the "Live updater" from working properly - so that's yet another reason to use the .zip/.exe installer.

We have the same issue here. The msi installers are more more easy to deploy in our network. I should be possible to create msi installers that automatically detect previous versions and uninstall them automatically. That's a quite common feature of MSI, e. g. the Java MSI installer do this automatically.

Best,
Matthias

Fri Oct 21, 2011 4:13 pm

Hello Matthias,

I have asked our devs working on the installers to take a look and they will advise as soon as possible, but it's currently Friday evening in Europe already, so the reply might come next week.

Best,
Stefan

Thu Oct 27, 2011 2:54 pm

Hello Matthias and all,

As per our devs request I have created a ticket in our internal system:
#1311: MSI installers: do not request an uninstall of the previous version before update
So that this problem could be investigated and addressed in the future.

We will post here in this thread when there is any additional info on this case.

Best,
Stefan

sha-it · Post by **sha-it** » Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:18 am

Hi Stefan,

thank you for your reply. Hope this will be fixed soon.

Best,
Matthias

Fri Oct 28, 2011 12:40 pm

Hi Matthias,

We are working on it, and will keep this topic updated with all the news on the case.

Best,
Stefan

fghj · Post by **fghj** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 5:58 pm

I just tried to update PDF X-Change Viewer 2.5.199 with 2.5.200, which doesn't work since the installer complains that the product is already installed. I then looked at the MSI and noticed that the product code and package code between the two versions are unchanged. Can you please provide a short term fix for this? Takes 1 minute to do this. Thanks.

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 7:28 pm

Hi,

if we modify the MSI installer as suggested this will I suspect compromise the patch update/installer - so would suggest you use the 'patch' located at the links below - dependant on which product you own/use and whether you are using 32/64 bit Windows ...

Viewer ONLY :
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PXCView ... 00_x64.msp
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PXCView ... 00_x86.msp

PDF-XChange PRO Bundle:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFXCPr ... 00_x64.msp
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFXCPr ... 00_x86.msp

HTH

fghj · Post by **fghj** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 5:37 pm

Thanks for the quick reply, however you must have misunderstood me. The problem is exactly about the update. Installing PDF X-Change Viewer on a new machine works fine. If you then try to update the installation (because a new version has been released), it will fail. That is because the MSI package of the old version and the MSI package of the new version use the same package GUID. Different MSI packages must not use the same package GUID, otherwise they wouldn't be "Globally Unique". Have a look at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... S.85).aspx

The package code cant be left unchanged. That would mean that PDF X-Change Viewer 2.5.200 is the same as 2.5.199, which is not true.
If PDF X-Change Viewer 2.5.200 was a major upgrade, then change the product code, package code and product version. If it was only a minor upgrade, then leave the product code as it is and only change the package code and product version. (Many companies don't bother about that and simply declare everything they release to the public as a major upgrade.) In both cases the new MSI package will replace the old package because they use the same upgrade code.

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 5:42 pm

Hi,

are you saying that you have used one of these and they have failed (assuming you currently have build 199 and wish to upgrade to build 200) - in tests here - that is not the case :

Viewer ONLY :
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PXCView ... 00_x64.msp
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PXCView ... 00_x86.msp

PDF-XChange PRO Bundle:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFXCPr ... 00_x64.msp
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFXCPr ... 00_x86.msp

This are specifically provided to upgrade an existing install - not overwrite and this is I believe what you requyire - you should NOT use the full MSI installer used originally to update

Please see this MSDN article detailing the issues previously described.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... 85%29.aspx

fghj · Post by **fghj** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 4:36 pm

No, I refered to the MSI package.
It should be possible to update an installation with the MSI package. This can be achieved by not specifying the same package GUID for different installation packages.

Post by **John - Tracker Supp** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 5:22 pm

For now at least - please use the patch - not the MSI package for the update, as time allows we will investigate this further.

fghj · Post by **fghj** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:53 am

nvm I used the wrong file

tooor · Post by **tooor** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:39 pm

There seems to be a problem with the 64 Bit patch PXCViewer_200_to_201_x64.msp. Error message is:

"Error applying patch to file C:\Config.Msi\PT60CE.tmp. It has probably been updated by other means, and can no longer be modified by this patch."

The 32 Bit version works quiet well.

#torsten

fghj · Post by **fghj** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:32 am

I didn't try the 64 bit Patch, so I can't comment on that. The general problem with the patch is that in my understanding every patch only applies to one single version, but you don't know which version the client is using. For example a PC wasn't used for 1 year, is then turned on again and all the software updates of the last year get deployed. To solve that you would have to roll out all each and every patch for PDF Xchange Viewer on every update, so that the most recent version is installed in the end, no matter which version was installed on the client before. However when doing this, a lot of patch installations would obviously fail with error code 1642 (patch couldn't be applied) and you don't know if the installation simply failed because the client was already running a newer version or because something really went wrong.

Until the package and product IDs are fixed so that the setup behaves as other MSI setups I resorted to the following upgrade script instead:
Export settings:
reg.exe export "HKCU\Software\Tracker Software\PDFViewer" "pdfxchange.reg""
Uninstall old version:
msiexec.exe /x{3A6F4A31-8CFD-46B4-8385-E1F384DB121E} /passive /norestart
Install new version:
msiexec.exe /i "PXCViewer_x86.msi" /passive /norestart
Import settings:
reg.exe import "pdfxchange.reg""
%COMSPEC% /C del "pdfxchange.reg"

That way the newest version gets installed, no matter what the client was running before. Maybe this helps someone.

Thu Jan 26, 2012 1:36 pm

Thanks for the tip fghj,

Best,
Stefan