InstallShield 2012 Spring Express Edition User Guide

Preparing Installations for
Maintenance and Uninstallation
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InstallShield lets your users rerun your installation to change program features or reinstall or remove
your application. When users select your application in Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel,
the installation displays dialog boxes that let users do any of the following:
1. Install individual features that were not previously installed, and uninstall individual features.
2. Reinstall your application with the settings selected during the first installation.
3. Uninstall your application.
To modify, repair, or uninstall an application, the operating system must have some indication that the
application is present. To allow this, an installation registers an application with the operating system so
that it can be easily maintained or uninstalled. You enter the necessary information in the General
Information view. For more information, see Specifying Installation Information.
In InstallShield installations, maintenance (that is, modification and repair) is handled automatically. In
addition, uninstallation is handled automatically—with the sole exception of custom actions, which must
either undo their own effect during uninstallation or have their effect undone by another custom action
that runs only during uninstallation.
Removing Registry Data Created by Your Product
By default, your product’s uninstaller removes only data that was created by your installation program.
You can use a special uninstallation flag in the Registry view. The uninstallation flag controls the registry
data to be removed during uninstallation. In particular, using the Uninstall entire key flag on a registry
key causes the key and all its values and subkeys to be removed during uninstallation. For more
information, see Registry Flags.
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