Creating Uninstallation Shortcuts for Basic MSI Projects

InstallShield 2024

Project: This information applies to the Basic MSI projects.

Windows Logo Guideline:According to current Windows logo guidelines, best practice is to not place shortcuts to remove the application in the Start menu. An uninstallation shortcut is unnecessary because your application’s uninstaller is in Add or Remove Programs.

You can create an uninstallation shortcut to make it easier for end users to uninstall your product from their systems. When launched, the shortcut automatically starts the uninstallation process.

To create an uninstallation shortcut:

In the View List under System Configuration, click Shortcuts.

In the Shortcuts explorer, right-click the destination directory that should contain the uninstallation shortcut, and then click New Shortcut to Preexisting file. InstallShield adds a new shortcut with the default name NewShortcutN (where N is a successive number).

Enter a new name, or right-click it later and click Rename to give it a new name.

In the Arguments field, type /x [ProductCode]. Separate the two arguments with a space.

Msiexec.exe is the command-line engine for the Windows Installer service. The /x argument instructs the Windows Installer service to uninstall the product referenced by the product code.

Set the Advertised field to No.

In the Target field, select [SystemFolder], and then append msiexec.exe to this location.

In the Component field, select the component with which you want this shortcut associated. If the shortcut should always be installed, associate it with the component containing your application’s main executable file.