(Vista) Patch cause multiple entries in Add/Remove Programs

Gratuitous Forum Support
1

After each patch, I get one additional entry in the Add/Remove Programs list.

This is probably because each patch appears to Windows as a completely separate install (that just happens to be put in the same folder as something else).

We had the same issue with our product at work, but I can’t remember exactly what we ended up doing that solved it. It involved mucking about a bit with the confused mess that is Windows Installer UpgradeCode, ProductCode and ProductVersion properties.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa370579(VS.85).aspx

I’ll have a look at our build rules this week to find out what the solution was.

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2

Is this 32 or 64 bit? I’m using 64 bit Vista and I’m not experiencing this problem V1.01 through V1.04.

3

64 bit Windows Vista Home Premium. Less than 1 week old installation.

4

Just to confirm, I don’t think that this is a problem in XP Home. I’ve checked my program list and can only see the one listing.

5

Interesting. I use inno setup, I suspect that there is just an option to prevent the patches being listed in there, or it overwriting old ones. I’ll investigate

6

I can confirm this with Windows 7 64-bit as well.

7

well - the patches seem to consider themselves as brand new installs … what with not defaulting to where the game’s installed and giving warnings if you point it at an existing directory (! for a patch!)

8

Indeed, future patches will not do this…