WinUAE no longer supports previous install path

[Photon]

WinUAE 4.10.0 caused a prompt to remove existing install path and to install it in "Program Files".

This was not the case with WinUAE 4.9.1 and is not what is expected from an "install" on PC.

What is expected, if you choose Installer option over Zip file option, on Windows, is that everything in Registry is kept, including previous install path, and that the Update is an update.

If you choose a Zip file, you get a Zip file.

I chose to Update & Install. Well, fk me. How do I undo this mess?

I just posted a message too how on Amiga unlike PC you don't need to install things. And now we have this in between thing.

Expected behavior: Updating winuae.exe in existing install path
Actual behavior: winuae.exe removed from existing install path and installed into "Program Files" on C: like it's 1997, and shortcut remove from desktop (I think before 1997.)

OK so installers are sh*t but installing winuae rather than extracting zip shouldn't affect me as Win user in any way.

Edit: I downloaded the zip instead, which contained nothing but the .exe, and installed it in the actual folder I used before. Nobody knows if it will find trouble with the existing files and folders surrounding it.

I did what I was supposed to! I didn't get the expected result! This requires instructions provided with a download instead. Then you follow those and all is fine.

The price we pay all for a @#$ "install" is that it does what it's supposed to, without instruction.

Current WinUAE install does not.

[Minuous]

Originally Posted by Photon

I just posted a message too how on Amiga unlike PC you don't need to install things.

That's not really accurate; on both platforms there are some programs that require installer scripts and some that don't, depending on the requirements of the program.

[Toni Wilen]

Nothing in installer has changed. It does not allow (and never has) multiple install locations, even 32-bit and 64-bit at the same time is not allowed. Update install in same location still works (if old install has matching bitness and it is not manually modified). msi installers generally work this way, Windows keeps global state of installation. Have you ever used any Windows installers except those that simply dump the package in some directory?

Anyway, installer is only for "normal" users, just download the zip and copy the exe anywhere you want. Installer has never been required and winuae works standalone exactly the same way as installed version does.

Also what does this have to do how Amiga program installation works? It is totally irrelevant.

(and whats with that attitude?)

[Photon]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

(and whats with that attitude?)

Frustration, of course. This prompt is a proper good jumpscare for someone with an install path containing a complete installed WB with lots of files:

Originally Posted by Photon

WinUAE 4.10.0 caused a prompt to remove existing install path and to install it in "Program Files".

Was I one click away from deleting the WinUAE folder and everything in it? If so, that really is a valid reason to get upset.

Can you make the installer detect if the software is already installed, to decide if it should be installed or updated? This is the most important job for an installer.

If the installer has code to delete the install folder, I strongly urge to remove that code, and if not, it might still be good to rephrase the prompt and make path detection more accurate?

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Photon

Frustration, of course. This prompt is a proper good jumpscare for someone with an install path containing a complete installed WB with lots of files:



Was I one click away from deleting the WinUAE folder and everything in it? If so, that really is a valid reason to get upset.

Can you make the installer detect if the software is already installed, to decide if it should be installed or updated? This is the most important job for an installer.

If the installer has code to delete the install folder, I strongly urge to remove that code, and if not, it might still be good to rephrase the prompt and make path detection more accurate?

What exactly does it say because I can't duplicate this kind of behavior. It always asks first.

Installer is wix and it does everything automatically, only need to write a description file that tells which files are included in the package.

[Photon]

This happens on Win7x64. Win10/11 === Win7. AFAIK nothing has changed with how applications are installed because all new applications for Win10/11 install and run just fine, except Microsoft's own.

You can't reproduce it if you have the same version. I have the newest version installed now (via .zip) and then it actually detects the already installed version and shows buttons to Change or Repair the installation, not Update (or Install).

So I can't reproduce it now either.

I had 4.4 64-bit before this, and then the Installer asked, "Do you want to delete your existing installation and install into this folder?" (or similar). And the folder the program had selected for me was in a TextEdit box with the default path for Program Files (it didn't detect the existing WinUAE folder).

So maybe if you install 4.4 then 4.10 you will see the same.

But the point is, if there's some error in detecting where the previous version is installed, it shouldn't offer to delete the folder and then offer to install it in a different folder from that in which it is already installed (the one it pretends it finds and want to delete).

It seems there's something dodgy here (me installing 4.10 from .zip should have changed nothing if there was a problem with existing install detection), but if an installation program really has a function in it to delete the original application folder, it is rather unique and could cause a lot of lost work. Many applications have some related folder containing settings, templates etc at the very least.

[paraj]

I never had WinUAE installed on this machine before (always use zip), and it doesn't seem like a general issue. Installed 4.4.0, then upgrade to 4.10.0 without any scary warnings. Also tried installing to non-standard folder/switching between 32-bit and 64-bit versions, modifying files in install directory between installing/uninstalling - still no scary warnings or unintended files removed. We used Wix at a place I previously worked, and it's quite robust and doesn't remove any files it doesn't know about unless you ask very hard (WinUAE installer script does not seem to use anything out of the ordinary).

Not saying you didn't see this! But sounds like the installation was broken in some way, though I think your files would have been fine, but I wouldn't have gambled either.

[Photon]

Originally Posted by paraj

Not saying you didn't see this! But sounds like the installation was broken in some way, though I think your files would have been fine, but I wouldn't have gambled either.

I endeavor to never share anything but true ~= objectively verifiable information. Obviously it happened for me and that's the explanation why I was upset.

I can move my work parallel to the install folder and use ..\ instead of .\ for mapping so-called Harddrive Folders (virtual volumes), and probably disk images.

I think/hope the same is true for Configurations, Kickstarts, and screenshots, but I have also put Amiga related utilities in subfolders, and even though all of this is synced to the cloud, I think many/all cloud services will accept an installer deleting files in the share which means if Wix has the function to delete the files in the install folder, it will be deleted everywhere upon sync.

Does it?