Advanced Tab

Specify where you want your patch file built or browse for an existing folder. InstallShield appends the following subdirectories to your output location:

\PatchConfigName\Patch.

Note • InstallShield also adds a folder called Interim to your output directory. The Interim folder contains the following files after you build a patch:

The patch GUID is used to uniquely identify a patch package. InstallShield automatically generates a new GUID for this property every time you build the patch if the Generate Patch GUID property is set to Yes.

Specify whether to include whole files for every file included in the patch package.

Note • You can override this setting on a file-by-file basis in the Latest Setup settings.

Select Yes to leave all .msp file information in a temporary folder. This information can be useful when troubleshooting. If you do not want this information stored, select No.

Specify a directory where the temporary files from patch caching should be stored. These intermediate files are left indefinitely on your system.

Specify whether you want the patch creation executable to suppress build-time prompts if product codes differ between the original and latest installations. For a major upgrade, be sure to select .

To replace one or more earlier installed patches with the current patch, set this property to the patch GUIDs of those patches, and separate each with a comma. For example:

{C86838C9-DEDC-4451-B96F-94AFB9460F15},{C8633E5B-AC44-45d8-B487-C68B3B1F60D6}

Setting this property is typically not required, even if you have several patch configurations in the Patch Design view. However, if your patch does not overwrite files added in an earlier patch, it may be necessary to set this property.

Note • This property affects only the installation portion of the patch. It does not revert files back to their original versions.

Specify whether you want to create an Update.exe update launcher for the current patch.

To learn when an Update.exe update launcher is required, see Patching Considerations.

To password-protect your patch, select Yes, and then type a password for the Launcher Password setting. When you password-protect your patch, any end user who wants to apply your patch must enter a case-sensitive password to launch your update.

This setting is applicable only to patches that use an Update.exe file.

If you want your minor-upgrade patch to essentially remove all of the patches up to the release to manufacturing (RTM) version of the product (or the most recent major upgrade of the product, if one has been installed) before applying the current minor-upgrade patch, select Yes for this property. With this option, all patches (with or without sequencing data) are removed. You do not need to target additional baseline versions and thus increase the patch payload. All end users can successfully apply the patch without applying any intermediate patches.

If you do not want your minor-upgrade patch to remove all of those earlier patches, select No. If you select this option, it may be necessary for your patch to contain the information needed to target each of the earlier minor upgrades that were created after the RTM (or the most recent major upgrade of the product, if one was created).

For example, if you are creating a minor-upgrade patch for service pack 2 and you select No for this property, your patch needs to target the minor-upgrade patch for service pack 1. You could also optionally target other baselines (such as RTM); doing so would increase the patch payload. Note that if you do not target the RTM version, any end user who has the RTM version but not the service pack 1 minor-upgrade patch would need to install service pack 1 before service pack 2.

Versions of Windows Installer earlier than 3.1 ignore this setting.

Specify whether the Windows Installer engine should be included with your patch package.

Specify whether to include the Microsoft .NET Framework in your patch. If you select Yes, the same version of the .NET Framework that was included in the latest release is included in this new patch.

If you want to override the default company name for Update.exe with your company name, enter your company name.

The company name is displayed on the Properties dialog box for the update launcher; this Properties dialog box opens when end users right-click the Update.exe file and then click Properties.

To learn more, see Customizing File Properties for the Update Launcher.

If you want to override the default product version for Update.exe with your product version, enter your product version.

The product version is displayed on the Properties dialog box for the update launcher; this Properties dialog box opens when end users right-click the Update.exe file and then click Properties.

To learn more, see Customizing File Properties for the Update Launcher.

If you want to override the default copyright notice for Update.exe with your product’s copyright notice, enter your product’s copyright notice.

The copyright notice is displayed on the Properties dialog box for the update launcher; this Properties dialog box opens when end users right-click the Update.exe file and then click Properties.

To learn more, see Customizing File Properties for the Update Launcher.