1. W H I T E PA P E R
Customizing Your Uninstaller
by Robert Dickau
Principal Technical Training Writer, Flexera Software
2. Customizing Your Uninstaller
Introduction If your installer supports console mode, you should add
As important as properly designing your installer is console equivalents to the graphical panels displayed
designing your uninstaller. Most simple projects will not during uninstallation.
require much uninstaller customization. However, if you
are installing multiple projects, using merge modules, You can customize the appearance, location, and some of
or installing server applications, you may wish to add the behavior of the uninstaller using its customizer in the
additional functionalityto your uninstaller. Install task.
This white paper describes how to build customized
uninstallers to control the removal of products and features.
Learn More about InstallAnywhere
If you wish to learn more about the capabilities
of InstallAnywhere and download a free evaluation,
please visit the Flexera Software Web site at
www.flexerasoftware.com/installanywhere
Uninstallation
In InstallAnywhere, you can customize the uninstaller in the
same way you can customize the installer. In particular, you
use the Pre-Uninstall and Post-Uninstall tasks to modify the By default, the uninstaller executable is called Uninstall_
panels and actions performed during uninstallation. ProductName, and is located in an Uninstall_ProductName
subdirectory of the installation location $USER_INSTALL_
DIR$.
Feature-Level Uninstallation
Each installer project has one uninstaller. All features are
registered with the uninstaller through a local registry. If the
Choose Feature panel is included in the uninstaller, the user
will be offered the option to uninstall only certain features.
There are two options for controlling the behavior of a
Starting with InstallAnywhere 2009, you can set the feature-level uninstall. The default behavior, illustrated in the
variable $SKIP_UNINSTALL$ to true to prevent the Uninstall following figure, is that installed features appear checked at
step from being performed. uninstall time, and that clearing a feature’s check box causes
it to be uninstalled.
The uninstaller is similar to the installer. It is a collection of
panels, consoles, and actions. It keeps track of what the
installer has done, and contains a record of every action
run during install time. All Pre-Uninstall panels, actions, and
consoles run first; then the uninstall functionality of actions
in the Install task are called; and lastly the Post-Uninstall
actions are run. In addition, the product information
(product, feature, and component information) is removed
from the InstallAnywhere registry.
In the settings for the Choose Features to Uninstall panel,
Note: You can disable integration with the InstallAnywhere you can specify to use the opposite behavior, that installed
registry by deselecting the Do not update the product registry features are displayed un-selected, and selecting a feature
check box in the Project > Info task. causes it to be uninstalled.
2 Flexera Software: InstallAnywhere White Paper Series
3. Customizing Your Uninstaller
A feature-level uninstallation enables end users to choose Similarly, you can optionally specify to integrate your
specific features to uninstall. If an end user opts to uninstall product information with the RPM database on a Linux
one feature that has a shared component with a feature they user’s system. You can specify the integration in the Project
were not planning to uninstall, the uninstaller recognizes this > Platforms > UNIX task.
conflict and does not uninstall the shared component.
If you select to enable RPM registration, the Configure
Uninstaller Integration with the Target System button enables you to specify the information to store in the
InstallAnywhere automatically creates an uninstaller RPM database.
for the project, which can be launched manually. The
InstallAnywhere uninstaller removes all files and actions
that occur during the Install task of the installation. Actions
added in other phases
of the installation cannot be removed using the uninstaller,
and should be accounted for in the install phase.
On Windows platforms, InstallAnywhere automatically
creates an Add or Remove Programs entry.
If the user clicks the “Click here for support information” link
in the Add or Remove Programs entry, the following
Support Info panel is displayed.
Likewise, InstallAnywhere 2008 Value Pack 1 introduced
support for integration with the SWVPD registry on AIX
target systems, and RAIR support on System i (i5/OS)
systems.
Summary
This white paper discussed how to build customized
uninstallers to control the removal of products and features.
It also highlighted how InstallAnywhere makes it easy for
developers to design the right uninstaller.
The details are populated based on the settings you specify
Begin a Free Evaluation of InstallAnywhere
in the Project > Description task.
You can download a free trial version of InstallAnywhere
from the Flexera Software Web site at:
www.flexerasoftware.com/installanywhere/eval.
Learn More Best Practices for Building Quality Installations
Join an InstallAnywhere training class – visit
www.flexerasoftware.com/training for available classes.
Also, if you have a critical installation project but are
short on developer bandwidth or expertise, Flexera
Software’s Professional Services team can help. Learn
more at: www.flexerasoftware.com/services/consulting/
software-installations.htm
Flexera Software: InstallAnywhere White Paper Series 3
