Windows Installer uses build version or file version to update dlls

Question

I have a winforms.net (2.0) application that I need to update on client computers. At the moment, this is done by increasing the build version and file version in all projects and increasing the version in the Installer project in VS2008.

Now the application uses isolated storage to save some user settings in an XML file (grid layouts, etc.).

The problem that I am facing right now is that if I increase all version numbers, the application has a new location for Isolated Storage because the File Version has changed . With the new location for Isolated Storage, all settings were actually lost.

When upgrading, does the Windows installer replace the DLL based on the file version or assembly version ?

If this is a build version, then all I need to do is not increase the file version.

Answer 1

Some good readings and discussions here:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/netfxbcl/thread/6ed4d384-f6e9-42ee-b485-0bf40d0abd65/

To answer your question, I believe that MSI respects FileVersion in the first place:

File Version Rules