DEPLOYMENT UPGRADES (MAJOR VS MINOR)

WiX supports Major upgrade and Minor upgrade 

Minor Upgrade

 – increase version number (any of the first 3 numbers will do).

 – Update existing product to newer version.

Major Upgrade 

–  increase version number and change ProductId (Remember to keep UpgradeCode constant).

–  Uninstall old product and install a new one.

Minor Upgrade:

msiexec.exe /i \product.msi REINSTALLMODE=voums REINSTALL=ALL

-- REINSTALL property are case-sensitive.

The important part is the “v” in the reinstall mode settings. It forces the use of the new msi file instead of the cached copy. Therefore it can’t be set inside the package. The rest of the REINSTALLMODE flags make sure that existing files get updated, new files get installed, registry entries are re-written and shortcuts are created. REINSTALL=ALL means that only those features, that were selected by the user during the install of the old version get updated. Unselected features should not be added.