[SOLVED] Can Wix skip InstallValidate during installation on Windows

Can Wix skip InstallValidate during installation on Windows

I'm using Wix for packaging an app-service-controller, app-service, app-core and a app-tray into an installer. During upgrading, the installer does an Installvalidate step which complaints about the file in use from all my processes.

Install output as below

Info 1603.The file C:\Program Files\app\app-service-controller.exe is being held in use by the following process: Name: app-service-controller, Id: 26308, Window Title: '(not determined yet)'.  Close that application and retry.
Info 1603.The file C:\Program Files\app\app-service.exe is being held in use by the following process: Name: app-service, Id: 26028, Window Title: '(not determined yet)'.  Close that application and retry.
Info 1603.The file C:\Program Files\app\app-core.exe is being held in use by the following process: Name: app-core, Id: 25932, Window Title: '(not determined yet)'.  Close that application and retry.
Info 1603.The file C:\Program Files\app\app-tray.exe is being held in use by the following process: Name: app-tray, Id: 25856, Window Title: '(not determined yet)'.  Close that application and retry.
MSI (s) (A0:30) [12:43:46:999]: 4 application(s) had been reported to have files in use.
MSI (c) (04:48) [12:43:47:000]: File In Use: -app-service-controller- Window could not be found. Process ID: 26308
MSI (c) (04:48) [12:43:47:000]: File In Use: -app-service- Window could not be found. Process ID: 26028
MSI (c) (04:48) [12:43:47:000]: File In Use: -app-core- Window could not be found. Process ID: 25932
MSI (c) (04:48) [12:43:47:001]: File In Use: -app-tray- Window could not be found. Process ID: 25856
MSI (c) (04:48) [12:43:47:001]: No window with title could be found for FilesInUse

The problem is it takes a long time, about 5-10mins, to pass that stage then it reinstalls everything fine. Is there any way to make it quicker or even skip it?

Wix code that related to app-service

<ServiceInstall
    Id="ServiceInstall" Name="App-Service-Controller" DisplayName="$(var.Name)"
    Description="Controls the $(var.Name) foreground processes."
    Type="ownProcess" Start="auto" ErrorControl="normal">
    <util:ServiceConfig
        FirstFailureActionType='restart'
        SecondFailureActionType='restart'
        ThirdFailureActionType='restart'
        RestartServiceDelayInSeconds='1'
        ResetPeriodInDays='1'/>
    </ServiceInstall>
<ServiceControl
    Id="ServiceControl" Name="App-Service-Controller"
    Start="install" Stop="both" Remove="uninstall" Wait="yes"/>

MSI: How a Service is stopped on uninstall during InstallValidate - could that work anyway?

How does the MSI Installer InstallValidate determine files in use?

Solution

Correct me if I'm wrong.

There is no way to bypass InstallValidate. Wix will give you an error saying it's required.
You can't reorder the StopService step before InstallValidate.
You can't run a custom action as admin before InstallValidate.

So I end up creating a new process that can be executed before InstallValidate. Within that process, I use RPC the tell my service to stop.