wixinstallationwindows-installercustom-action

Removing files when uninstalling WiX

When uninstalling my application, I'd like to configure the Wix setup to remove all the files that were added after the original installation. It seems like the uninstaller removes only the directories and files that were originally installed from the MSI file and it leaves everything else that was added later in the application folder. In another words, I'd like to purge the directory when uninstalling. How do I do that?

Solution

  • Use RemoveFile element with On="uninstall". Here's an example: 

    <Directory Id="CommonAppDataFolder" Name="CommonAppDataFolder">
  <Directory Id="MyAppFolder" Name="My">
    <Component Id="MyAppFolder" Guid="*">
      <CreateFolder />
      <RemoveFile Id="PurgeAppFolder" Name="*.*" On="uninstall" />
    </Component>
  </Directory>
</Directory>

    Update

    It didn't work 100%. It removed the files, however none of the additional directories - the ones created after the installation - were removed. Any thoughts on that? – pribeiro

    Unfortunately Windows Installer doesn't support deleting directories with subdirectories. In this case you have to resort to custom action. Or, if you know what subfolders are, create a bunch of RemoveFolder and RemoveFile elements.