Question

We are using Install4J for our current version of our software and install MySQL 5.1 silently during the installation.

For the next version of our software, if it is an upgrade, I want to remove MySQL 5.1 and install 5.5. Ideally, the uninstall should go silently, but not a hard requirement. I managed to get it working on 32-bit Windows XP, but not on 64-bit Windows 7. This is what I have so far:

String[] uninstallKeys = WinRegistry.getSubKeyNames(RegistryRoot.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall");
for( String uninstallKey : uninstallKeys )
{
  Object displayVersion = WinRegistry.getValue(RegistryRoot.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall\\" + uninstallKey, "DisplayVersion" );
  Object displayName = WinRegistry.getValue(RegistryRoot.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Uninstall\\" + uninstallKey, "DisplayName" );
  if( displayVersion != null && displayVersion.toString().equals(installedMysqlVersion)
                  && displayName != null && displayName.toString().startsWith("MySQL Server") )
  {
    Util.logInfo( null, "Found match, uninstall key: " + uninstallKey );
    context.setVariable( "mysqlUninstallKey", uninstallKey );
    break;
 }
}

This will put the product code of MySQL Server 5.1 in the mysqlUninstallKey variable. After this step, I have an ‘Run executable or batch file’ step with the following settings:

• Executable: msiexec.exe
• Working Directory: ${installer:sys.system32Dir}
• Arguments: /I{installer:mysqlUninstallKey}

This will (on 32-bit Windows XP) run the installer of MySQL server and then the user has to select ‘remove’ manually.

On 64-bit Windows 7, it just shows a dialog showing all the command line flags and their explanation, so msiexec.exe is being started, but the argument I pass into it is not recognized.

Any idea what might be wrong ? Or maybe I am doing this totally wrong and there is a better way?

I use Install4j 4.2.8.

Answer 1

Thanks to the comment of @marcus-adams, I figured it out. You need to use ‘/qn’, ‘/x’ and ‘{installer:mysqlUninstallKey}’ as separate arguments in the ‘Run executable or batch file’ action of install4j. If you use 1 argument with spaces, it does not work. With this it works on 32-bit and 64-bit.