I have a fairly simple desktop application that uses the .NET installation project (.msi file) to complete the installation. At the first installation, everything happens in a timely manner with good feedback for the user.
The problem occurs when the user installs the latest version of the application on top of the old version on his computer. There is an unacceptably long delay of about 60 to 180 seconds from the moment you install the Welcome dialog box [This is not a welcome dialog, I removed this from the Start section of the installation project and replaced it with the CheckBox dialog box to ask if the user wants a shortcut to the working table] disappears until the Progress dialog box appears. The user sees the minute (minus) of the blank screen and believes that the installation has stopped or failed.
In the properties of the installation project, I have set the properties "DetectNewerInstalledVersion" and "RemovePreviousVersions" to true. Therefore, I believe that although nothing happens, the installer actually removes the old version. The Progress dialog box does not appear until the new version starts the installation.
I also tried:
a) Open the "Progress" dialog box, which will be displayed immediately after the "Set Icon" dialog box disappears.
or
b) Show another dialog when Uninstall is running, so that the user knows that the setup is still running, and everything is in order.
I was unsuccessful in both methods. Any ideas?
I am using VS 2008 SP1
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