Program Compatibilty Assistant - InstallMe.exe

Friends,

I have a simple C# HelloWorld.exe that simply brings up a dialog with an OK
button. If I rename it to InstallMe.exe and run it on Windows7, I get the
the "Program Compatibility Assistant" window stating "This program might not
have installed correctly.". (This is just my simple "repro" for a more real
issue.)

Is there a way, using the EXE manifest or other means, to tell that "Program
Compatibility Assistant" not to worry. My little test program just puts up
a window; somehow the name containing the text "install" wakes this thing
up. We can certainly warn our customers to ignore the message, but there
must be someway to prevent it.

Any words or advice will be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

James

Give it an actual manifest, yes. Windows is using a heuristic called
"installer elevation" because it thinks your program might be a setup
program. If you return a non-zero exit code it thinks the "install" failed.
--
Phil Wilson
The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer
http://www.apress.com/book/view/1590592972


"James Hunter Ross" <> wrote in message
news:uC6ABO%...
> Friends,
>
> I have a simple C# HelloWorld.exe that simply brings up a dialog with an
> OK button. If I rename it to InstallMe.exe and run it on Windows7, I get
> the the "Program Compatibility Assistant" window stating "This program
> might not have installed correctly.". (This is just my simple "repro" for
> a more real issue.)
>
> Is there a way, using the EXE manifest or other means, to tell that
> "Program Compatibility Assistant" not to worry. My little test program
> just puts up a window; somehow the name containing the text "install"
> wakes this thing up. We can certainly warn our customers to ignore the
> message, but there must be someway to prevent it.
>
> Any words or advice will be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
>
> James
>
>

Thanks for the reply Phil! I'll do some experiments with my little
HelloWorld.exe (renamed to InstallMe.exe) program. I do know that I return
0 though, and the "Program Compatibility Assistant" still displays; so that
is a little odd. Now that I know the heuristic is referred to as "installer
elevation" perhaps I can Google it, or work with our MS partnership clan (we
are gold partners) and get this resolved.

Thanks again! James


"Wilson, Phil" <> wrote in message
news:1A1DC1DC-A219-4992-916C-...
> Give it an actual manifest, yes. Windows is using a heuristic called
> "installer elevation" because it thinks your program might be a setup
> program. If you return a non-zero exit code it thinks the "install"
> failed.
> --
> Phil Wilson
> The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer
> http://www.apress.com/book/view/1590592972
>
>
> "James Hunter Ross" <> wrote in message
> news:uC6ABO%...
>> Friends,
>>
>> I have a simple C# HelloWorld.exe that simply brings up a dialog with an
>> OK button. If I rename it to InstallMe.exe and run it on Windows7, I get
>> the the "Program Compatibility Assistant" window stating "This program
>> might not have installed correctly.". (This is just my simple "repro"
>> for a more real issue.)
>>
>> Is there a way, using the EXE manifest or other means, to tell that
>> "Program Compatibility Assistant" not to worry. My little test program
>> just puts up a window; somehow the name containing the text "install"
>> wakes this thing up. We can certainly warn our customers to ignore the
>> message, but there must be someway to prevent it.
>>
>> Any words or advice will be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
>>
>> James
>>
>>
>

That's interesting - maybe the other end of that heuristic isn't the exit
code as I thought, maybe it's that fact that nothing changed in the
Add/Remove Programs registry area. If you find the answer I'd like to know!
--
Phil Wilson
The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer
http://www.apress.com/book/view/1590592972


"James Hunter Ross" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Thanks for the reply Phil! I'll do some experiments with my little
> HelloWorld.exe (renamed to InstallMe.exe) program. I do know that I
> return 0 though, and the "Program Compatibility Assistant" still displays;
> so that is a little odd. Now that I know the heuristic is referred to as
> "installer elevation" perhaps I can Google it, or work with our MS
> partnership clan (we are gold partners) and get this resolved.
>
> Thanks again! James
>
>
> "Wilson, Phil" <> wrote in message
> news:1A1DC1DC-A219-4992-916C-...
>> Give it an actual manifest, yes. Windows is using a heuristic called
>> "installer elevation" because it thinks your program might be a setup
>> program. If you return a non-zero exit code it thinks the "install"
>> failed.
>> --
>> Phil Wilson
>> The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer
>> http://www.apress.com/book/view/1590592972
>>
>>
>> "James Hunter Ross" <> wrote in message
>> news:uC6ABO%...
>>> Friends,
>>>
>>> I have a simple C# HelloWorld.exe that simply brings up a dialog with an
>>> OK button. If I rename it to InstallMe.exe and run it on Windows7, I
>>> get the the "Program Compatibility Assistant" window stating "This
>>> program might not have installed correctly.". (This is just my simple
>>> "repro" for a more real issue.)
>>>
>>> Is there a way, using the EXE manifest or other means, to tell that
>>> "Program Compatibility Assistant" not to worry. My little test program
>>> just puts up a window; somehow the name containing the text "install"
>>> wakes this thing up. We can certainly warn our customers to ignore the
>>> message, but there must be someway to prevent it.
>>>
>>> Any words or advice will be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
>>>
>>> James
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>

Oddly enough I just had the same problem. See here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...11(VS.85).aspx

and the SupportOS thing for Windows 7 in the manifest, that stops the
warning messages.

--
Phil Wilson
The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer
http://www.apress.com/book/view/1590592972


"James Hunter Ross" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Thanks for the reply Phil! I'll do some experiments with my little
> HelloWorld.exe (renamed to InstallMe.exe) program. I do know that I
> return 0 though, and the "Program Compatibility Assistant" still displays;
> so that is a little odd. Now that I know the heuristic is referred to as
> "installer elevation" perhaps I can Google it, or work with our MS
> partnership clan (we are gold partners) and get this resolved.
>
> Thanks again! James
>
>
> "Wilson, Phil" <> wrote in message
> news:1A1DC1DC-A219-4992-916C-...
>> Give it an actual manifest, yes. Windows is using a heuristic called
>> "installer elevation" because it thinks your program might be a setup
>> program. If you return a non-zero exit code it thinks the "install"
>> failed.
>> --
>> Phil Wilson
>> The Definitive Guide to Windows Installer
>> http://www.apress.com/book/view/1590592972
>>
>>
>> "James Hunter Ross" <> wrote in message
>> news:uC6ABO%...
>>> Friends,
>>>
>>> I have a simple C# HelloWorld.exe that simply brings up a dialog with an
>>> OK button. If I rename it to InstallMe.exe and run it on Windows7, I
>>> get the the "Program Compatibility Assistant" window stating "This
>>> program might not have installed correctly.". (This is just my simple
>>> "repro" for a more real issue.)
>>>
>>> Is there a way, using the EXE manifest or other means, to tell that
>>> "Program Compatibility Assistant" not to worry. My little test program
>>> just puts up a window; somehow the name containing the text "install"
>>> wakes this thing up. We can certainly warn our customers to ignore the
>>> message, but there must be someway to prevent it.
>>>
>>> Any words or advice will be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
>>>
>>> James
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>