Wix silent installation of MSI can we stop creation of directory

Question

I am doing WIX MSI slient installation,and also there is some custom actions checking in between if the customaction fails how to roll back or end the slient installation process of the msi??I am copying files and also starting windows service using Wix installation.When ever customaction fails how i can stop the creation of directory and starting of the windows service??

    [CustomAction]
    public static ActionResult PrerequisiteCheck(Session session)
    {

                if (Status.IsServiceAvailable && Status.IsPrinter)
                {
                    return ActionResult.Success;
                }
                else
                {
                        //Stop Installer
                     return ActionResult.Failure;
                }
    }

<CustomAction Id="CheckPrerequiste" BinaryKey="BIN_CustomAction" DllEntry="CheckPrerequiste" Return="ignore" Execute="immediate" />

<InstallExecuteSequence> <Custom Action="CA_PrerequisiteCheck" After="InstallExecute" >  </Custom>
</InstallExecuteSequence>

<Directory Id="TARGETDIR"  Name="SourceDir">
<Directory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
<Directory Id="INSTALLLOCATION" Name="Service">
<Component Id="WindowsService" Guid="AA34D3C1-26F1-4A7E-A226-1AB01501C67C">
<File Id="00690A65EA1A3EFEB7607285DBA0C8C5" KeyPath="yes" Source="WindowsService.Svc.exe" />
<ServiceInstall Id="Service" Name="Service"   DisplayName="Windows Service" Description="Windows Service" Start="auto" ErrorControl="normal" Type="ownProcess" />
<ServiceControl Id="sc_Service" Name="Service" Stop="both" Remove="uninstall"  Wait="yes" />
<Component Id="WindowsSvcexe" Guid="06ABF18B-DEDE-4D98-AF9F-8384539A6BC3"> <File Id="49215CE1A25380930C771772AD14519B" KeyPath="yes" Source="WindowsService.Svc.exe.config" /> </Component> </Component> 
</Directory> 
</Directory> 
</Directory>

Answer 1

The installation sequence is divided into two main stages; immediate and deferred. The main reason of dividing an installation into two phases (UI and Execution) is supplying roll-back if an error occurs. All actions in the execution phase, between InstallInitialize and InstallFinalize are included in the roll-back, which is called the deferred stage. The initial phase, where the roll-back script is being prepared but the roll-back protection has not started yet is called immediate stage. The UI sequence does not have any roll-back feature, therefore actions that alter the system should never take place there. Custom actions that make system changes should be marked as deferred and should be scheduled to run between InstallInitialize and InstallFinalize in the execution phase. Roll-back actions should be supplied by the developer for custom actions:

… 
<CustomAction Id=”myaction” Execute=”deferred” Return=”check” />
…
<InstallUISequence>
    <Custom Action=”myaction” After=”CostFinalize” />
    <Custom Action=”myaction2” After=”myaction” />
</InstallUISequence> 
<InstallExecuteSequence>
    <Custom Action=”myaction3” After=”InstallInitialize” />
    <Custom Action=”myaction4” After=”myaction3” />
</InstallExecuteSequence>

Custom actions that are deferred execute during the Execute sequence’s rollback-protected phase. To give those actions rollback capabilities, separate custom actions that undo the work should be authored. Rollback actions are scheduled before the action they are meant to revert in case of an error:

<CustomAction Id="systemChangingCA" Execute="deferred" Script="vbscript">
    msgbox "Your system has been changed"
</CustomAction>

<CustomAction Id="rollbackSystemChangingCA" Execute="rollback" Script="vbscript">
    msgbox "System changes are undone"
</CustomAction>

<CustomAction Id="causeError" Execute="deferred" Script="vbscript">
    Err.Raise 507
</CustomAction>

These are scheduled as:

<InstallExecuteSequence>
    <Custom Action="rollbackSystemChangingCA" Before="systemChangingCA" />
    <Custom Action="systemChangingCA" After="InstallInitialize" />
    <Custom Action="causeError" After="systemChangingCA" />
</InstallExecuteSequence>

In this example, systemChangingCA will run during deferred phase of InstallExecuteSequence. When causeError runs afterwards, it causes an exception to be thrown, which triggers a rollback. Then rollbackSystemChangingCA runs.

Wix toolset also provides its own custom action for stimulating a rollback called WixFailWhenDeferred. It is a part of WixUtilExtension and you could use it to test your rollback methods.

The folders created by WiX itself should be removed automatically during a rollback.

You can learn more about the overall concept of Microsoft Installer and WiX from the book of Nick Ramirez: "A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML". It has many examples and cases including the ones above.