MSIX states the package is installed even when it has been uninstalled.

[Annesly Rayan]

Hi All,

I am new to this.

I have packaged an exe program of mine and during the creation you need to run it so that the MSIX can capture what is needed. This all works fine and the file is created.

Then I tried uninstalling the program from Add/remove programs which also worked fine. 

Then I tried to install it using the MSIX file that was created and it gives a message that the file is already installed and the only option is to close.

Am I misunderstanding the purpose of this file or is there something wrong with this behaviour of MSIX installation Package?

One other thing is that when I converted an EXE file to MSIX it only created a very small file which appears to be the instructions without the program files. Is this normal and if so how do you distribute the installation if the program file are not in the installation package. When I converted an MSI file to MSIX it contains the full file with the program or so it appears as the file is a similar size of the file that was converted. This is what I was hoping for with the EXE conversion as well.

Any help will be appreciated.

Kind regards

Annesly

[#2]

The MSIX package is replacing your application installer not the main executable it self. 

Packaging tool captures the files that are being laid down with the msi installer during conversion. Your main exe is not installing the application binaries so what you are seeing is by design. 

If your installer is a setup.exe that should still work, but if the app does not have an installer, you can manually package the app by not passing an installer in select installer page, and mimic the installer during the installation step by manually copying the main executable and other required binaries to the installation folder as well as make the required registry key edits.

Hope that helps!

-Peyman

[#3]

Hi Peyman,

Thanks for the response.

Am I understanding you correctly if I say that if I use an msi file to create the msix file, then the installation files are included with the msix? or is the msix only the installation process and all installation files will need to accompany the msix file for the installation to take place?

Currently if I provide the msi file it contains all the installation files that are needed and I do not need to provide any further files just the one installation file (that is the msi file or the exe file).

Therefore my question is, if I use the msix to convert the msi file will I be able to distribute the msix file and will the users be able to install the software with the misx file or will I need to provide any other files with this for them to be able to install the files.

One further question is when will this be available for the users to be able to install msix files? Currently the file is not recognised on windows other than the machine that I have installed the insider version of windows 1809 on.

thanks for your help in advance.

Kind regards

Annesly 

[#4 · Accepted solution]

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@Annesly Rayan wrote:

Am I understanding you correctly if I say that if I use an msi file to create the msix file, then the installation files are included with the msix? 

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Yes that is correct. All the files that the installer lays down as well as any changes in the registry will be captured in the MSIX package. 

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@Annesly Rayan wrote:

Therefore my question is, if I use the msix to convert the msi file will I be able to distribute the msix file and will the users be able to install the software with the misx file 

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Yes as long as the msi installs all the bits that are necessary including dependencies. Once user installs the MSIX package all the files and registry keys that were captured during conversion will get installed. 

As of now MSIX deplyment is only natively supported on windows 10 1809. For deploying on down-level OSes including Windows 7 and other platforms you need to use the MSIX SDK, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/sdk-overview 

- Peyman

[#5]

Hi Peyman,

Thank you, for answering all my questions. 

Have a nice day.

Kind regards

Annesly