Microsoft Setup Projects for services and automated removal previous versions.

Question

I have an application that runs as a service.

I have altered the services installer object so that I can pass setup data to it from a user input screen on the installation/setup project.

This all appears to work well apart from the following points:

1. Installation is error free UNLESS there is a copy of my service already installed on the client machine, in which case it throws up a window saying that it is already present and bombs out, even though I have got the setup property RemovePreviousVersion set True.
2. When a sussessful install has neared completion, I get a message stating that the service cannot be started automatically and to use NET START or service administrator.

So how do I get it to automatically remove the previous version of the service if it is installed?

Also, how do I get it to start the service automatically or ask the user to restart the machine?

Answer 1

are you changing the Version of the installer? In the properties window, you need to increment the Version property. It will prompt you that you need to create a new Product Code. Just click yes. See if that works for you.