Summary

Creating a major upgrade in InstallShield

Synopsis

This article discusses how to create a major upgrade installation for a Basic MSI or InstallScript MSI project.

Discussion

When deploying a major upgrade the Windows Installer will uninstall the existing version of your product and then install the major upgrade. The Product Version, ProductCode and PackageCode of the original installation must be different from the Product Version, ProductCode and PackageCode of the major upgrade installation. It's recommended to use the same UpgradeCode when packaging a newer version of an existing product. The UpgradeCode property is a GUID representing a related set of products. The UpgradeCode is used in the Upgrade Table to search for related versions of the product that are already installed.

To create major upgrade, follow these steps:

1. Create a backup copy of the InstallShield project.
2. Open the InstallShield project under the Installation Designer tab.
3. Change ProductVersion under the General Information view e.g. change Product Version from 1.00.0000 to 2.00.0000
4. Generate a new GUID for the ProductCode under the General Information view by clicking on the ellipsis.
5. Create the major upgrade item:
   1. Go to the Media/Upgrades view.
   2. Expand the Prepare Setup For Upgrade Scenarios.
   3. Right click on Upgrade Windows Installer Setup.
   4. Select Add Major Upgrade Item from the pop-up menu.
   5. Give the new item a meaningful name.
   6. Under the common tab specify the Upgrade Code for the product family that this major upgrade would target and whether it would be 'Any earlier version' or 'Within a specific range of Versions' or 'With a specific Version' upgrade.
   7. Based on the upgrade code and Product version settings the 'detect property' (specified under the Advanced tab) gets set during runtime and a major upgrade is performed.
6. Create the new Release.
   1. Go to the Media/Releases view.
   2. In the middle pane, right click on Releases and select New Product Configuration from the pop-up menu.
   3. Give the Product Configuration a meaningful name.
   4. Right click on the new Product Configuration -> select New Release from the pop-up menu.
   5. Give the new release a meaningful name.
7. Build the major upgrade release.

Additional Information

The following Microsoft article has additional information on major upgrades