LabWindows Installer deletes old apps

[BScannell]

I've found a similar problem in LabView application builder, but I haven't found a solution for labwindowsCVI. (See Knowledgebase 2LJBQP09: "New Installer Uninstalling Old LabVIEW Built Executable Before Installing Newer Version". My distribution kit forces me to uninstall previous versions. I can't find a way to change the MSI product code using LabWindows.

[bilalD]

Hello


This is not an error. This is the expected behavior and let me explain why.

The project file (with extension *.prj) stores a Global Unique Identifier (GUID) used by the MSI installer. When installing a project with the Distribution Kit of CVI, this GUID is stored in the Windows Registry. If you make any changes to your project and build another Distribution Kit, the same GUID is used since it's the same project file. With MSI, you can only have one GUID, or should I say, one installation of any application per machine. Thus the reason why the message "project is already present on system, please uninstall before proceeding".

In order to get rid of this message, you can do two things:


Uninstall project before reinstalling the updated version
.


If you want to have two installations of the same project (I don't see why you would need this though), you can change the name of the second project from the Project Window by selecting File » Save Project As to rename the project. At this point, CVI generates a new GUID since this is a new project file. Now you can install this second project on the same machine that has the original project without any problem.

I hope this helps

Bilal Durrani
NI

[BScannell]

Works great! I was at a loss of things to try. I needed the old version because my new release hasn't been tested by our local CM. Once it passes testing, I'll be able to rename and remove the old version.

Thanks Bilal!