windows installer - Installing a new version of a deployment project over old version

Question

I have a deployment project which will not let me install over an older version. The msi file says to uninstall the program first from Add/Remove programs. This is not a good user experience. How can I do it so that the installer will simply remove the software first and then install the new version?

Answer 1

This is tricky, you have to do following steps,

1. Set Remove Previous Installation as True
2. Set Detect new version as True
3. Your C# program's version must increase with every deployment
4. You should change version of your installer to one higher version and it will ask you to change product code, select YES.
5. Do not change your upgrade code, let it be same.

If you do not do 3rd step correctly, installer will still install and keep the old file, your file version of every file must be new if you have changed your content.