How to configure Inno Setup to uninstall everything

inno-setup

I am new to Inno Setup. Stuck on one issue ~ how to configure the uninstall piece to remove all files, folders, subfolders, and even new files/folders etc. created by application (in other words, a 100% removal of the application and associated files).

I hunted around here and also on their forum, and came up empty. Can anyone point me to a document, FAQ etc. regarding how to do this?

UPDATE

Thanks for all the feedback so far (very awesome). So it looks like I can delete everything using the {app}*.* directive in the uninstall section. Also looks like everyone is advising against it. So the question now becomes (I am wondering if this should be a totally new question) is there a way during the uninstall that we can ask the user 'Do you want to remove all project files associated with this application?' and if they answer YES, to run the uninstall {app}*.* piece?

Thanks –

Best Answer

I think the recommended approach is to specify what to remove in the uninstall section. The reasoning is that what if for whatever reason the user decided to put their own files in your installation directory that they didn't want removed, or saved data that they might want to keep around (maybe they uninstall is to install a newer version?)

That being said, I don't know offhand what the script is, but if you use ISTool (highly recommend) just got to the Uninstall Delete section and add things you want removed. It should present all the possible options in a nice GUI and generate the script for you.

Edit: An example from the Inno Setup documentation:

[UninstallDelete]
Type: files; Name: "{win}\MYPROG.INI"

But they strongly you don't do something like

[UninstallDelete]
Type: files; Name: "{app}\*.*"

NOTE: Don't be tempted to use a wildcard here to delete all files in the {app} directory. I strongly recommend against doing this for two reasons. First, users usually don't appreciate having their data files they put in the application directory deleted without warning (they might only be uninstalling it because they want to move it to a different drive, for example). It's better to leave it up to the end users to manually remove them if they want. Also, if the user happened to install the program in the wrong directory by mistake (for example, C:\WINDOWS) and then went to uninstall it there could be disastrous consequences. So again, DON'T DO THIS!

Related Solutions

Objective-c – How to convert a c-style char* array to NSArray

These lines:

unsigned char arry[1000]={"aa", "vv", "cc", "cc", "dd", ...};
NSArray *tmpary=arry;

Should instead be:

unsigned char arry[1000]={"aa", "vv", "cc", "cc", "dd", ...};
NSMutableArray * tmpary = [[NSMutableArray alloc] initWithCapacity: 1000];
for (i = 0; i < 1000; i++)
{
    [tmpary addObject: [NSString stringWithCString: arry[i] encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding]];
}

This is because a C-style array (that is, int arr[10]; for example) are not the same as actual NSArray objects, which are declared as above.

In fact, one has no idea what an NSArray actually is, other than what the methods available to you are, as defined in the documentation. This is in contrast to the C-style array, which you are guaranteed is just a contiguous chunk of memory just for you, big enough to hold the number of elements you requested.

Prevent Inno Setup deleting some files on uninstall

Flags: uninsneveruninstall for files that you install, but want/need to leave after deinstallation.

All files that would be created by Application itself AFTER the installation will not be deleted during deinstallation - unless you would program that in your installation script.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Objective-c – How to convert a c-style char* array to NSArray

Prevent Inno Setup deleting some files on uninstall

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