Creating Major Upgrades

InstallShield 2020

Project:This information applies to the following project types:

Basic MSI
InstallScript MSI
MSI Database
Transform

Once you have determined that a major upgrade is the best upgrade solution for you, you can begin to create a major upgrade in the Upgrades view. Note that a major upgrade signifies significant change in functionality and warrants a change in the ProductCode property; you can update this property in the General Information view.

Note:When you change the product code, Windows Installer treats your latest and previous product versions as unrelated, even though the ProductName values are likely the same. If you want both versions of your product to be installable on the same system, you can simply change the product code and the main installation directory (often INSTALLDIR).

Essentially, a major upgrade is two operations rolled into one installation package. The major upgrade either installs the new version of the product and then silently uninstalls the older version or silently uninstalls the older version and then installs the newer version. The sequence of these two separate operations depends on how you configure the installation package of the newer version of the product.

For more information on creating a major upgrade using InstallShield, refer to this section of the InstallShield Help Library.

See Also