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I have a single executable which, via InnoSetup, installs into Program Files\FolderName by default. The exe has a 3rd party component which goes online to check for new versions and downloads them, then does a bit of fiddling to replace the exe - simple stuff. The problem is, it can't do this in Program Files because of the necessary security there. I was reading Windows 7 - Can't update my program's files in C:\Program Files in which David Hefferman gives a solution but then seems to say it's a bad idea - but I don't know whether the bad idea bit refers to his solution or to the OP's comments!
So what is the preferred method by which a program can update itself? One that will work on XPSP3 to Win8. I can't seem to find the right phrase to enter into Google that gives me relevant results. Ignore digital signatures and suchlike for now, for simplicity.
(Please note, it may look like I worded that as an opinion question but it's not - there must be some MS-endorsed way of doing it that I can't find. FWIW this is a Delphi program but any Win32 notes will do)
That 3rd party update utility needs to be run with administrative privileges, you can achieve that programmatically.
There is nothing wrong with installing your application in Program Files, that is the designated purpose of this folder. However, user data that is used by the application should be stored in a different location.
However you run that 3rd party Utility, you should first check the Windows OS version to see if fiddling with UAC is really necessary(Vista+...) and then run the utility in the elevated state.
He says its "extremely bad practice" to fiddle with your system so that normal users can write in "Program Files".
If your program is in "Program Files" it's installed with System Admin rights. So updates need also be installed with System Admin rights.
You can configure InnoSetup to request admin-rights so you can write to "Program Files" but if the 3rd party component does not do this its best to install everything in an other directory.
i.e. C:\Your_Program
That way your 3rd party component can write there.
There are several options here:
The easiest: make updater as a separate program with manifest, which requires admin privileges. Also you can ask for admin privileges when you start your updater. Or you can move your updater into out-of-process COM object instead of separate exe.
You can create hidden user with admin rigths during installation of your program. Then you will run your updater with credentials of this user.
You can install system service during installation of your program and this service will run from system account. So your updater will be implemented as a service.
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I've been thinking of rolling my own code for enabling my Delphi application to update seamlessly as I'll be going for "release often, release early" mentality furthermore. There are various Delphi solutions (both freeware and paid) out there and I'd like to ask if you've been using any of them or simply went on with your own solutions in this area. Any comments on the auto-update topic are welcome.
What ever scheme you use, it may be handy to know that you can actually rename a running .exe file. So rename file, copy in new file works nice. And the next time someone launch the program they will launch a the new version. This is ofcourse very handy in enviroment where many users run the same .exe file, like in citrix/terminal server/network share cases.
Years ago I wrote a simple tool which is started instead of the real program, checks for updates, loads and installs them (if any are available), and finally starts the real application.
There are however problems with that approach if your program works in a properly administered environment, where users normally don't have write access to the program directories. You can no longer simply update your own program in such environments. That's why a lot of programs these days come with their own updater tool, which can be installed to run with elevated permissions, so that program updates can be applied even though only standard users do ever log on to the system.
You have to decide whether your target audience can be assumed to run on power user or administrator accounts, or whether you will have to deal with above-mentioned problems. With Vista things got considerably harder already.
With all these problems (net access over proxies, missing write permissions for installation directories, the need to update files that the updater itself is using - just to name a few) I wouldn't try again to code this on my own. Much better to check if any one of the available solutions does all you need it to.
I use the Synapse routines GetHTTP to return a specific resource, and if found then check against the local system to see if an update is required. If so then the resource tells me what page to go to launch and I throw the URL into shell execute so the users
preferred browser is displayed.
Most of the time the download is a setup program created by InnoSetup which updates the users system and database to the latest version. When a new "paid" upgrade is needed, I then send the user to a "purchase upgrade" form. My web resources are ASP pages, so I can redirect to a different resource based on the customers version number.
For the main application (our application has a server piece, and a client piece) I have a loader which will check the server to see if the version of the client file on the server is different than the version on the client...if so, it prompts the user if the user wants to update/revert. We chose to prompt the user as sometimes an accidental bug might make it into the system and the user has to downgrade/upgrade only specific machines to help troubleshoot. I maintain a database record with the minimum version required which is updated via the database patch, so if a version must be retired then the record is updated accordingly.
I created my own solution too based on Indy for downloading and http://sourceforge.net/projects/makeupdate/ for file patching.
Before that I have used and tried several commercial tools, but no one was doing exactly what I needed.
I use TmxWebUpdate. It's free, simple and gives you good control over the process. I actually own TMS Component Pack with TWebUpdate but never really found a good reason to switch.
Edit: Link updated
We rolled our own as well. Its really not too difficult.
Our process goes something like:
When the main app is launched, it checks (using funcs from the synapse library) if there's an update available (assuming its configured to check, of course).
If so, it notifies the user and askes if they want to update.
If they do, it launches an updater .exe, and closes the main app.
The updater exe downloads the new files based on the contents of a text file it retrieves, keepiing the files in memory.
When the updater is done downloading everything correctly, it then saves the downloaded files to disk, backing up any files it replaces. This way if the download gets interupted, you dont end up with half the files installed.
Finally, it launches the main app again, and closes itself.
The trick w/ Vista is that you need to have an entry in the updater program's manifest to force it to run with administrator rights.
Normally we use the third party tool. But in some situations it was not usable so I created an own solution, which was pretty standard:
Get xml (or any other format) with update info.
If newer files are published, download and install them.
I use TWebUpdate . It works ok and has a ton of interesting options, but documentation isn't so great and I did bump into a few problems - which is why I download a full installer, instead of just the files...
I will be keeping an eye on this question, btw...
We use our own solution which follows these steps:
Application connects to http resource and downloads info file (ini text file) to memory, checks version number of newest release.
If newer version available, app downloads compressed binary package to exe location.
When download is finished, user is asked to restart application.
Upon start, application checks for presence of update package
App extracts package contents (usually a new app exe, but additional resources possible as well, e.g. updated language files etc.) - for each file it renames the current/old file to a temp name first, then extracts the new file. If the process fails at any point, the temp files are restored.
When finished, app executes new exe and closes itself.
No additional updater needed, the app exe can handle it all by itself.
For the compressed package we use our own update builder.
The package contains an index of files with a file hash, destination folder (relative path to main exe) and the compressed files.
During update we compare the stored hash with the extracted file to detect corupted files.
With Vista I see two solutions to enable Standard User Accounts to actually update the applications files:
Configure your setup to change permissions of the programs installation directory. This way files in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Your Company\You App" can be modified on Accounts with limited rights.
Example code for InnoSetup would be:
[Dirs]
Name: "{app}"; Permissions: users-modify
Install files that you plan to update to the ProgramData folder instead of the user defined directory and use this directory as an override folder. If files exist in ProgramData, use those, else check in install dir.
InnoSetup code:
[Files]
Source: "C:\Your Project\YourApp.exe"; DestDir: "{commonappdata}\Company Name\App Name\";
Same as "stg" and "GuyWithDogs", I'm using TWebUpdate from TMS. Although the documentation isn't so great, Its not so difficult to learnt.
With TWebUpdate, you have some options what the protocol you use, it could be done via HTTP, FTP or network access.
For communication layer, TWebUpdate uses WinInet. In some machines, the windows / IE URL cache can be frustating, so I've added a routine to clear the auto-update server address from cache first to ensure the information gathered from the server is up-to-date.
While testing the downgrade functionality of one of our WiX-built MSIs, I have noticed something odd.
I have allowed downgrades in the MajorUpgrade element and I have scheduled that element to be afterInstallInitialize (but I have tried it thoroughly with afterInstallValidate and I experience the same problem; we can't have it after that action, but I thought I'd test it).
Many of the files (e.g. the DLLs in our Service's bin folder) are of a higher version, with each release; therefore, the version we are downgrading to includes files of a lower version. Yet all of those files are installed fine, during the downgrade, apart from the Service EXE files; further, the Services are also not installed in Windows.
Considering all of the above, after spending two days on this problem, and after much searching, I appear to be at a loss.
I have tried two things that seem to provide some hope:
1) I have tried setting the REINSTALLMODE property to amus. This ensures that the EXE files are installed, along with the Windows Services. But most things I read about that property warn against using it, and I even have to surpress ICE40, in order to get my package to build, when setting that property. This all concerns me, as I am not sure what negative effects could be missed, if I use this property in my MSI files.
2) When I remove the KeyPath attribute from the File elements that mark up the Service EXE files and place that attribute on the Component element instead, the Service EXE files are installed onto the system during the downgrade, but the Services are still not installed in Windows. After looking into this, it seems that the KeyPath attribute must be on the File element, if I'd like Services to be installed. So it seems to me as if this idea will not help.
Any help or advice would be very much appreciated. We really could do with providing downgrade functionality.
Thank you all for your time.
MSI is essentially opposed to the idea of downgrades. Once a file is on the machine, MSI tries very hard to keep the latest version of the file around as, among other reasons, downgrading the file can re-introduce a security vulnerability. I'd suggest not directly supporting downgrades; instead, you can show a message that tells the user to uninstall the higher version first.
My solution was to use Burn to provide the 'downgrade' functionality using a custom bootstrapper application.
The bootstrapper detects, downloads, and then installs the new version. In the case of a downgrade it performs an uninstall prior to the install. However, this requires that you execute the bootstrapper of the currently installed version to get the ability to uninstall.
You then also need to worry about any state that will be removed as a consequence of uninstalling, this needs to be preserved the same way as you would during an upgrade.
Using Wix, to allow downgrading and still have the Windows Service install properly on downgrade, use the following combination:
<Wix ...>
<Product ...>
<Property Id="REINSTALLMODE" Value="amus" />
<MajorUpgrade Schedule="afterInstallInitialize" AllowDowngrades="yes" />
I was also using WixSharp to generate the .wxs file and used this code to do so:
// https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/reinstallmode
// a = Force all files to be reinstalled, regardless of checksum or version.
// m = Rewrite all required registry entries from the Registry Table that go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT registry hive. Rewrite all information from the Class Table, Verb Table, PublishComponent Table, ProgID Table, MIME Table, Icon Table, Extension Table, and AppID Table regardless of machine or user assignment.Reinstall all qualified components.When reinstalling an application, this option runs the RegisterTypeLibraries and InstallODBC actions.
// u = Rewrite all required registry entries from the Registry Table that go to theHKEY_CURRENT_USER or HKEY_USERS registry hive.
// s = Reinstall all shortcuts and re-cache all icons overwriting any existing shortcuts and icons.
project.AddXml("Wix/Product", "<Property Id=\"REINSTALLMODE\" Value=\"amus\" />");
// Allow downgrading versions
// https://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/xsd/wix/majorupgrade.html
project.AddXml("Wix/Product", "<MajorUpgrade Schedule=\"afterInstallInitialize\" AllowDowngrades=\"yes\" />");
See also:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/msi/reinstallmode
https://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/xsd/wix/msiproperty.html
https://wixtoolset.org/documentation/manual/v3/xsd/wix/majorupgrade.html
My computer crashed recently. We have a Delphi app that takes a lot of work to get running.
One of my co-workers has it all installed still. Is there a way to copy the stuff stored in the palette? And the library paths?
I am using Delphi 5 (I know it is very very very old)
That information is stored in the Registry. I don't know exactly how Delphi 5 does it, but try looking for a key called HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5 or something like that. You'll find all the registration information under that key, including a list of installed packages. You can export the keys to a registry file, copy it to the new computer and install it.
Standard disclaimer: Mucking around in the registry manually can be risky if you don't know what you're doing. Be very careful, and if this solution causes your computer to crash, your house to burn down, or demons to come flying out your nose, it's not my fault.
Try CNWizards which has an export functionality for your IDE settings. You can use the same tool restore them on the new machine. We use it to get the same settings on every development machine. In that way we can ensure that all builds are the same, regardless of who built it.
Based on my experience of having done this a few times(!), the most important registry keys are:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Known Packages
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Library
and possibly
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Known IDE Packages
and maybe
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Palette
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Borland\Delphi\5.0\Palette Defaults
So long as you have done a standard D5 installation first.
It's easier/more reliable to let the IDE fill in the other bits as you start using it and you change options as appropriate. Some component packages, eg madExcept, DevExpress etc are often best re-installed using their own installers anyway.
Unless you're going to have multiple users on the same machine using Delphi then the HKLM stuff isn't really all that important - I don't think.
As a related aside - I have learned that a good way to handle this is to build a FinalBuilder script (or similar) to set up my Delphi environment each time I decide to use a new machine/installation. I copy/download/checkout (which can be done in FB too) all package source then use FB to compile it, copy it, create dirs, and fill in the appropriate registry keys etc. I always get a consistent environment and makes it much easier to rebuild individual components or packages as and when they get upgraded too. The items can also be put into the script in 'dependency order' so that you know to re-compile a dependent package if something else changes. I now have a single FB sciprt that builds D5, D2007, D2009, D2010 environments and packages of all my main components, all depending on which compiler(s) I'm interested in which I indicate by a simple variable. Well worth it.
Seems to have just worked for me on a Win 7, SP1 and Delphi 5
Logged as user with Delphi & 3rd party components installed.
registry export
hkey current user\software\borland
(no other borland products so selected Borland)
rather than Borland\Delphi\5.0)
Logged into pc as new user.
Did not start Delphi5 (i.e. never started for this user).
Regedit File, Import
Started Delphi all components, including lots of 3rd
party, present.
Project compiled as expected under new user.
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I've been thinking of rolling my own code for enabling my Delphi application to update seamlessly as I'll be going for "release often, release early" mentality furthermore. There are various Delphi solutions (both freeware and paid) out there and I'd like to ask if you've been using any of them or simply went on with your own solutions in this area. Any comments on the auto-update topic are welcome.
What ever scheme you use, it may be handy to know that you can actually rename a running .exe file. So rename file, copy in new file works nice. And the next time someone launch the program they will launch a the new version. This is ofcourse very handy in enviroment where many users run the same .exe file, like in citrix/terminal server/network share cases.
Years ago I wrote a simple tool which is started instead of the real program, checks for updates, loads and installs them (if any are available), and finally starts the real application.
There are however problems with that approach if your program works in a properly administered environment, where users normally don't have write access to the program directories. You can no longer simply update your own program in such environments. That's why a lot of programs these days come with their own updater tool, which can be installed to run with elevated permissions, so that program updates can be applied even though only standard users do ever log on to the system.
You have to decide whether your target audience can be assumed to run on power user or administrator accounts, or whether you will have to deal with above-mentioned problems. With Vista things got considerably harder already.
With all these problems (net access over proxies, missing write permissions for installation directories, the need to update files that the updater itself is using - just to name a few) I wouldn't try again to code this on my own. Much better to check if any one of the available solutions does all you need it to.
I use the Synapse routines GetHTTP to return a specific resource, and if found then check against the local system to see if an update is required. If so then the resource tells me what page to go to launch and I throw the URL into shell execute so the users
preferred browser is displayed.
Most of the time the download is a setup program created by InnoSetup which updates the users system and database to the latest version. When a new "paid" upgrade is needed, I then send the user to a "purchase upgrade" form. My web resources are ASP pages, so I can redirect to a different resource based on the customers version number.
For the main application (our application has a server piece, and a client piece) I have a loader which will check the server to see if the version of the client file on the server is different than the version on the client...if so, it prompts the user if the user wants to update/revert. We chose to prompt the user as sometimes an accidental bug might make it into the system and the user has to downgrade/upgrade only specific machines to help troubleshoot. I maintain a database record with the minimum version required which is updated via the database patch, so if a version must be retired then the record is updated accordingly.
I created my own solution too based on Indy for downloading and http://sourceforge.net/projects/makeupdate/ for file patching.
Before that I have used and tried several commercial tools, but no one was doing exactly what I needed.
I use TmxWebUpdate. It's free, simple and gives you good control over the process. I actually own TMS Component Pack with TWebUpdate but never really found a good reason to switch.
Edit: Link updated
We rolled our own as well. Its really not too difficult.
Our process goes something like:
When the main app is launched, it checks (using funcs from the synapse library) if there's an update available (assuming its configured to check, of course).
If so, it notifies the user and askes if they want to update.
If they do, it launches an updater .exe, and closes the main app.
The updater exe downloads the new files based on the contents of a text file it retrieves, keepiing the files in memory.
When the updater is done downloading everything correctly, it then saves the downloaded files to disk, backing up any files it replaces. This way if the download gets interupted, you dont end up with half the files installed.
Finally, it launches the main app again, and closes itself.
The trick w/ Vista is that you need to have an entry in the updater program's manifest to force it to run with administrator rights.
Normally we use the third party tool. But in some situations it was not usable so I created an own solution, which was pretty standard:
Get xml (or any other format) with update info.
If newer files are published, download and install them.
I use TWebUpdate . It works ok and has a ton of interesting options, but documentation isn't so great and I did bump into a few problems - which is why I download a full installer, instead of just the files...
I will be keeping an eye on this question, btw...
We use our own solution which follows these steps:
Application connects to http resource and downloads info file (ini text file) to memory, checks version number of newest release.
If newer version available, app downloads compressed binary package to exe location.
When download is finished, user is asked to restart application.
Upon start, application checks for presence of update package
App extracts package contents (usually a new app exe, but additional resources possible as well, e.g. updated language files etc.) - for each file it renames the current/old file to a temp name first, then extracts the new file. If the process fails at any point, the temp files are restored.
When finished, app executes new exe and closes itself.
No additional updater needed, the app exe can handle it all by itself.
For the compressed package we use our own update builder.
The package contains an index of files with a file hash, destination folder (relative path to main exe) and the compressed files.
During update we compare the stored hash with the extracted file to detect corupted files.
With Vista I see two solutions to enable Standard User Accounts to actually update the applications files:
Configure your setup to change permissions of the programs installation directory. This way files in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Your Company\You App" can be modified on Accounts with limited rights.
Example code for InnoSetup would be:
[Dirs]
Name: "{app}"; Permissions: users-modify
Install files that you plan to update to the ProgramData folder instead of the user defined directory and use this directory as an override folder. If files exist in ProgramData, use those, else check in install dir.
InnoSetup code:
[Files]
Source: "C:\Your Project\YourApp.exe"; DestDir: "{commonappdata}\Company Name\App Name\";
Same as "stg" and "GuyWithDogs", I'm using TWebUpdate from TMS. Although the documentation isn't so great, Its not so difficult to learnt.
With TWebUpdate, you have some options what the protocol you use, it could be done via HTTP, FTP or network access.
For communication layer, TWebUpdate uses WinInet. In some machines, the windows / IE URL cache can be frustating, so I've added a routine to clear the auto-update server address from cache first to ensure the information gathered from the server is up-to-date.