Uninstall section - removing files

Hi *,

I used some wizards to generate a basic installer that just copies 3 files on the destination computer. I noticed that in the uninstall section is:

Delete "$INSTDIR\sample1.exe"

Delete "$INSTDIR\sample2.exe"

Delete "$INSTDIR\sample3.exe"

Why would I need something like this (3 times the Delete command) and not having in the uninstall section just:

RMDir /REBOOTOK "$INSTDIR"

Otherwise if I have 20 files that I need to copy when install, and to remove when uninstall, I would need 20 times the File command and 20 times the Delete command, for the same files, instead of 1 RMDir only in uninstall case. Or am I totally wrong/missing smth here?

Thanks,
Viv

RMDir /r /REBOOTOK $INSTIDR

Re: Uninstall section - removing files

Originally posted by coco_vc

Otherwise if I have 20 files that I need to copy when install, and to remove when uninstall, I would need 20 times the File command and 20 times the Delete command, for the same files, instead of 1 RMDir only in uninstall case. Or am I totally wrong/missing smth here?

Thanks,
Viv

You could do either way but you may want to consider where people are installing these files/folders from your install package. If someone installs their files to their My Documents folder and you tell the uninstaller to delete the entire folder that user has just had their My Documents folder deleted. Don't laugh. It's happened to me. Most users are likely to install files to a unique folder name that will not conflict with any other files/folders on their computer and you are likely to have a pre populated folder name for where your files are to be installed.

Alternatively as has been mentioned many times on these forums you can keep track of what files are installed during installation and then uninstall only those files by reading that file. This has the nice advantage that you can install to potentially dangerous spots such as My Documents or even the Windows\System folder and uninstall and you'll have no issues on uninstallation.

Agreed, using "RMDir /r $INSTDIR" is irresponsible unless you know what $INSTDIR is. People do odd things when installing, and nobody wants to be responsible for wiping a user's $WINDIR, $PROGRAMFILES, $APPDATA, etc. when they uninstall.

Thx for all your answers. So your suggestion would be to:
- delete specifically each file I installed
- delete, maybe over reboot, the INSTDIR, without using the /r flag

So, it will look like:

Delete /REBOOTOK "$INSTDIR\sample1.exe"

Delete /REBOOTOK "$INSTDIR\sample2.exe"

Delete /REBOOTOK "$INSTDIR\sample3.exe"

RMDir /REBOOTOK "$INSTDIR"

This would be both: save and nice.

Questions:
1) Is the above correct?
2) Is there a way to specify only once all the files that need to be installed and removed (it's the same list, so would be nice to have somehow a list of all files and on install specify to install all and on uninstall to remove all)

Thx,
Viv

To delete only installed files, use:

This is probably not needed here though; you might as well just delete them yourself with the code that you have posted (which is perfect).

-Stu

Thx Stu. I used in the end the:

Delete /REBOOTOK "$INSTDIR\sample1.exe"

Delete /REBOOTOK "$INSTDIR\sample2.exe"

Delete /REBOOTOK "$INSTDIR\sample3.exe"

RMDir /REBOOTOK "$INSTDIR"

Viv