Upgrading Projects from InstallShield 2014 Express Edition or Earlier

InstallShield 2019 Express Edition

The following information describes possible upgrade issues that may occur when you upgrade projects that were created with InstallShield 2014 Express Edition and earlier to InstallShield 2019 Express Edition. It also alerts you to possible changes in behavior that you may notice between new InstallShield 2019 Express Edition projects and projects that are upgraded from InstallShield 2014 Express Edition or earlier to InstallShield 2019 Express Edition.

General Information about Upgrading Projects that Were Created in Earlier Versions of InstallShield

If you use InstallShield 2019 Express Edition to open a project that was created with an earlier version, InstallShield 2019 Express Edition displays a message box that asks you if you want to convert the project to the new version. If you reply that you do want to convert it, InstallShield creates a backup copy of the project with a file extension such as .775 before converting it. Delete the .775 part from the original project’s file name if you want to reopen the project in the earlier version of InstallShield. Note that you cannot open InstallShield 2019 Express Edition projects in earlier versions of InstallShield.

You can upgrade projects that were created with the following versions of InstallShield Express Edition to InstallShield 2019 Express Edition: InstallShield 2014 Express Edition and earlier, InstallShield 12 Express Edition and earlier, and InstallShield Express 5 and earlier. Note that projects that were created with InstallShield MultiPlatform or InstallShield Universal cannot be upgraded to InstallShield 2019 Express Edition.

Changes to the List of Supported Versions of Windows for Target Systems

Windows XP SP3 and Windows Server 2003 SP2 are now the minimum versions of Windows that are required for target systems that run the installations that are created in InstallShield.

Removal of Support for Digitally Signing with .spc and .pvk Files

InstallShield no longer has support for using .spc and .pvk files to digitally sign files at build time.

If you configured a release or QuickPatch package in InstallShield 2014 Express Edition or earlier to be digitally signed at run time with .spc and .pvk files, and then you try to open that project in InstallShield 2019 Express Edition, InstallShield displays upgrade warning -6048 (for a release) or -6050 (for a QuickPatch project). The warning explains that InstallShield is removing the .pvk file and the associated password from your project during the upgrade.

Before you can successfully build the release or the patch in InstallShield 2019 Express Edition, you will need to remove the .spc reference from the release or QuickPatch project. You can replace it with a .pfx certificate, or with a reference to a certificate in a certificate store. To learn more, see:

If you try to build a release or a patch without removing the .spc reference from it, InstallShield displays build error -7347, stating that the .spc file must be removed.

To learn how to convert an .spc file and a .pvk file to a .pfx file, see Digital Signing and Security.

Removal of SignTool.exe and Signcode.exe from InstallShield Installation

SignTool.exe and Signcode.exe are no longer installed on your machine when you install InstallShield. If you want to digitally sign your files manually, consider using SignTool.exe, which is installed with Visual Studio and included in the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK).

Trialware Support

InstallShield no longer includes support for creating the Try and Die or the Try and Buy/Product Activation types of trialware. The Trialware view is no longer included in InstallShield.

See Also

What’s New in InstallShield 2015 Express Edition

Upgrading from Earlier Versions of InstallShield

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