Go to (under Organization). Right-click > New Upgrade Path . Point it to the previous version's .MSI file or manually enter the old Product Code. Set the action to "Uninstall the previous version."
Understanding the InstallShield Product Code If you’ve ever managed a Windows deployment or wrestled with a tricky uninstallation, you’ve likely encountered the . It is one of the most critical identifiers in the Windows Installer (MSI) framework, serving as the unique "fingerprint" for a specific release of your software. installshield product code
: When you trigger an "Uninstall" or "Repair" from the Control Panel, Windows uses this code to locate the correct installation database. How to Find a Product Code Go to (under Organization)
The primary location is under the uninstall key. The system uses a specific registry key to store information about all installed applications that appear in the "Add or Remove Programs" list. This key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall . Within this key, the product code is stored as a subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\PRODUCT CODE . You can find the product code itself as a ProductGuid value under that subkey or see it referenced by name within the key's path. Set the action to "Uninstall the previous version
The InstallShield Product Code is a unique string used to identify your software product. An installation uses this code at runtime to determine whether the product has already been installed on a system, ensuring that the installation process runs correctly.
The Product Code must adhere to the standard GUID format: a string of 32 hexadecimal digits, typically displayed in five groups separated by hyphens, and enclosed in curly braces. An example is 5D607F6A-AF48-4003-AFA8-69E019A4496F . All letters in the GUID must be uppercase. If you ever need to generate a GUID programmatically, for example, from a PowerShell script during a build process, you can use a command like (New-Guid).ToString("B").ToUpper() to ensure it is in the correct format.
An example of a Product Code GUID is 5D607F6A-AF48-4003-AFA8-69E019A4496F . There are specific formatting rules for these GUIDs: all letters must be in uppercase. This format is not just a matter of style; it is a requirement for the Windows Installer to correctly parse the value.