Lenge
26th March 2008 14:32 UTC

Vista: Desktop icon is not removed
Hello world,

I am doing the first Vista tests with an NSIS installer that works perfectly on 2000 and XP. I noticed that on Vista, the uninstaller does remove the start menu shortcuts, but not the desktop icon. (I only use 'all users' shortcuts.)

Searching the NSIS pages, I found two essential hints:
* Use "RequestExecutionLevel admin"
* Use "SetShellVarContext all" at both install and uninstall

I did both, but still the desktop icon is not removed on Vista. Shortened code sample:

...
RequestExecutionLevel admin
...
Section
  ...
  SetShellVarContext all
  SetOutPath "$SMPROGRAMS\MyApp"
  CreateShortcut "MyApp.lnk" "$INSTDIR\MyApp.exe"
  SetOutPath $DESKTOP
  CreateShortcut "MyApp.lnk" "$INSTDIR\MyApp.exe"
SectionEnd
...
Section Uninstall
  ...
  SetShellVarContext all
  RmDir /r /REBOOTOK "$SMPROGRAMS\MyApp"
  Delete "$DESKTOP\MyApp.lnk" # <-- Does not work on Vista
SectionEnd

mauvecloud
26th March 2008 15:12 UTC

Even if you delete the shortcut, the icon isn't immediately removed from a Vista desktop. It remains until you refresh the desktop (or restart the computer).

Lenge
26th March 2008 15:15 UTC

Hmmm... strange, it does work well under 2000/XP.

Is there a way to trigger such a refresh from within the NSIS uninstaller to make the icon actually disappear?

mauvecloud
26th March 2008 15:34 UTC

http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Refresh_Desktop shows two ways to do that, though I haven't personally confirmed yet that it will clear the shortcut off the desktop.

Lenge
27th March 2008 16:40 UTC

I have just tried - triggering a refresh does actually make the icon disappear.

Thanks for the hint!