Is there a way to skip base package repair or uninstall for a bundle?

[RoyZhang2022]

We have an installer which is made by Wix bundle. That is the installer is a composition of two packages. Our application package A and the base package Windows C++ redistributed package, VC_redist.x64.exe. It has no problem for installation. But for uninstallation it is not perfect. The problem is when we start uninstallation, the GUI is like this. We could select "Repair", "Uninstall" or "Close". After "Uninstall" is clicked, our package A is uninstalled firstly.

Then we see this GUI for the based C++ redistributed package as the following snapshot. It provides 3 options, "Repair", "Uninstall" or "Close". If "Repair" is selected, the C++ redistributed package will be reinstalled. If "Uninstall" is selected, the C++ redistributed package will be removed. If "Close" is selected, the whole uninstallation process will be rolled back. So there is no way to only uninstallation of our application package A and keeping the C++ redistributed package untouched without reinstallation.

Our code is like this. Currently we could not figure out a way to keep the based C++ redistributed package untouched without reinstallation. Is this a Wix limitation or there is a way that we do not know? Anyone could help? Thanks in advance!

 37     <Chain>
 38       <ExePackage SourceFile='@WIX_VC_RUNTIME_NAME@'
 39                   DetectCondition="VCRuntimeInstalled"
 40                   InstallCommand="/q /ACTION=Install"
 41                   RepairCommand="/q ACTION=Repair /hideconsole" />
 42
 43       <MsiPackage SourceFile="@[email protected]">
 44           <MsiProperty Name="TARGETDIR" Value="[InstallFolder]"/>
 45       </MsiPackage>
 46     </Chain>

[robmen]

Look in the Bundle log file. It'll show you exactly what is being planned. Also, ensure your DetectCondition evaluates to true when VCRedit is installed (the log file will show that too).

[RoyZhang2022]

I got this from the bundle log. After our application package was uninstalled at 16:37:05, I selected "Close" for C++ redistributed package. Seems the "Close" returns an error value which triggers the rollback. Is there a way that "Close" returns success?

[1C20:12B4][2023-04-17T16:37:04]i301: Applying execute package: our_application_package.msi, action: Uninstall, path: (null), arguments: ' ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT="1" MSIFASTINSTALL="7" TARGETDIR="C:\Program Files (x86)\xxxx\xxx"'
[04A8:0EB4][2023-04-17T16:37:05]i319: Applied execute package: our_application_package.msi, result: 0x0, restart: None
[1C20:12B4][2023-04-17T16:37:05]i301: Applying execute package: VC_redist.x64.exe, action: Uninstall, path: C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\4DE9F6681F0F213B132DEF3AF88A3C68483F5F32\VC_redist.x64.exe, arguments: '"C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\4DE9F6681F0F213B132DEF3AF88A3C68483F5F32\VC_redist.x64.exe"'
[1C20:12B4][2023-04-17T16:37:09]e000: Error 0x80070642: Process returned error: 0x642
[1C20:12B4][2023-04-17T16:37:09]e000: Error 0x80070642: Failed to execute EXE package.
[04A8:0EB4][2023-04-17T16:37:09]e000: Error 0x80070642: Failed to configure per-machine EXE package.
[04A8:0EB4][2023-04-17T16:37:09]i319: Applied execute package: VC_redist.x64.exe, result: 0x80070642, restart: None
[04A8:0EB4][2023-04-17T16:37:09]e000: Error 0x80070642: Failed to execute EXE package.
[1C20:12B4][2023-04-17T16:37:09]i351: Removing cached package: VC_redist.x64.exe, from path: C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\4DE9F6681F0F213B132DEF3AF88A3C68483F5F32\
[1C20:12B4][2023-04-17T16:37:09]i301: Applying rollback package: our_application_package.msi, action: Install, path: C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\{CA6C75A4-8BC9-49CE-A71A-4CEE813119E1}v2.0.0\our_application_package.msi, arguments: ' ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT="1" MSIFASTINSTALL="7" TARGETDIR="C:\Program Files (x86)\xxx\xxx"'

[rseanhall]

Most people will set Permanent="yes" on ExePackage. In fact, in v4 I believe this is a compiler error because it is not permanent and doesn't have UninstallCommand. If you are intentionally giving the user the option of what to do with the C++ package, why are you doing that?

[RoyZhang2022]

We want to provide user an option because the C++ redistributed package is a base package that could be shared with other appliations. That means, if it is uninstalled, other applications could not work properly. So we want to provide an option to let user decide to leave as it is or uninstall it. Currently the only way to keep it is to reinstall by "Repair". We do not want to keep it by reinstallation, it is better to just skip.