VB5 to VB 6 and uninstall questions

[Peder]

I need to upgrade from VB5 to VB6 and at the same time need to supply an updated version of my application to about 250 users WITHOUT requiring them to uninstall. If I did not need to upgrade IDE I could just check for the location of the previous install and replace the single executable. But since I need to replace VB5 DAO and runtime files this seems like it will require updating the uninstall info on the target machine. Does anyone have any ideas about how to do this? I'm wondering if it would cause problems to have no uninstall for the update and leave the previous uninstall intact.

[This message has been edited by Peder (edited 02-06-2000).]

[Colin]

Peder,
The easiest thing would be to instruct your users to uninstall the old version first. However, to get things going the way you want, try this:

Option 1:
Set up your project to install the new VB6 runtimes, DAO etc as usual. As I understand it, only your executable file already exists. Go to the Properties for this file and click on the Advanced tab. In the Uninstall section, check the box labeled "Never Remove" - we'll let the previous version's uninstall remove this file. Now go to Settings > Uninstall. Make sure you give this release a unique description, registry key and configuration file name. This will create an uninstall that only removes the new files that have been added.

Option 2:
Set up your project as if this is a completely stand alone installation. Add all of your files that make up this release (You will need to add everything except the outdated VB5 files). Set the Uninstall to use the same registry key as the old release. This will leave your users with only one uninstall option for your product in the control panel. When they uninstall, the only side effect is that the VB5 runtime files will still be left on their system. This isn't the worst thing to happen, as many apps need them anyhow.

Hope this helps!