Discussion:
Unable to Get Installer Types - On Uninstall!
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MPulse
2006-10-05 23:01:01 UTC
Permalink
Howdy Experts!

Listen, I am not a developer, so speak in small words...

We have a client application that is getting an error which states "Unable
to get installer types in the <app exe path> assembly --> one or more of the
types in the assembly unable to load".

This only happens when UNINSTALLING the app, and only on a few computers.
So far I have seen it on XP SP2, and Windows 2k SP4.

Any help for how to trouble shoot this would be great. Thanks!

-Randy
legalize+ (Richard [Microsoft Windows Installer MVP])
2006-10-06 23:19:11 UTC
Permalink
[Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]
Post by MPulse
Listen, I am not a developer, so speak in small words...
heh heh, OK. If what I say doesn't make any sense, then just ask more
questions to get things clarified.
Post by MPulse
We have a client application that is getting an error which states "Unable
to get installer types in the <app exe path> assembly --> one or more of the
types in the assembly unable to load".
First -- is this an installation package that you created, or are you
just a user/admin trying to remove it?

This sounds like someone wrote a .NET uninstall custom action through
Visual Studio .NET. When attempting to execute the uninstall custom
action, it couldn't find what it expected (a .NET assembly exporting
some type that inherits from the Installer class), so it gave an
error. Does the uninstall then rollback, or does it just continue?
Post by MPulse
This only happens when UNINSTALLING the app, and only on a few computers.
So far I have seen it on XP SP2, and Windows 2k SP4.
Is it really specific to the OS, or is that just the OSes of the
computers on which it fails? In other words, does it fail on every XP
SP2 machine or just some of them?
Post by MPulse
Any help for how to trouble shoot this would be great. Thanks!
One thing you can do to get detailed information about what's wrong is
to generate a verbose log for the uninstall process. Try this from a
command prompt:

msiexec /l*v uninstall.log /uninstall <path to .msi for package to remove>

and then examine uninstall.log for hints on what the problem is; I
suspect the relevant messages will be near the end of the uninstall
attempt.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html>
MPulse
2006-10-09 18:05:01 UTC
Permalink
Richard,

Thank you for the reply, but I found the problem. Turns out this is another
case of a user not giving you the ENTIRE story. The user had gone in and
deleted all the files from the installation folder manually, and then tried
to run the uninstall from Add/Remove. Of course, it failed. Download and
install Clean Up Utility, ran it, reinstalled app, and then ran a successful
uninstall.

All is well. Thanks again for your assistance.

-Randy
Post by legalize+ (Richard [Microsoft Windows Installer MVP])
[Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]
Post by MPulse
Listen, I am not a developer, so speak in small words...
heh heh, OK. If what I say doesn't make any sense, then just ask more
questions to get things clarified.
Post by MPulse
We have a client application that is getting an error which states "Unable
to get installer types in the <app exe path> assembly --> one or more of the
types in the assembly unable to load".
First -- is this an installation package that you created, or are you
just a user/admin trying to remove it?
This sounds like someone wrote a .NET uninstall custom action through
Visual Studio .NET. When attempting to execute the uninstall custom
action, it couldn't find what it expected (a .NET assembly exporting
some type that inherits from the Installer class), so it gave an
error. Does the uninstall then rollback, or does it just continue?
Post by MPulse
This only happens when UNINSTALLING the app, and only on a few computers.
So far I have seen it on XP SP2, and Windows 2k SP4.
Is it really specific to the OS, or is that just the OSes of the
computers on which it fails? In other words, does it fail on every XP
SP2 machine or just some of them?
Post by MPulse
Any help for how to trouble shoot this would be great. Thanks!
One thing you can do to get detailed information about what's wrong is
to generate a verbose log for the uninstall process. Try this from a
msiexec /l*v uninstall.log /uninstall <path to .msi for package to remove>
and then examine uninstall.log for hints on what the problem is; I
suspect the relevant messages will be near the end of the uninstall
attempt.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html>
Kiran Jain
2006-11-26 06:14:01 UTC
Permalink
hi richard,
I too have a similar problem.
I have created an Windows.NET app in C#. with crystal reports.
These all run fine on my development computer. I modified my setup project to
include all the merge modules that CR.NET needs, added the
licence key info. and rebuilt the solution. still everything works fine when
I run the installation. both on Development computer as well as on Client
computer.
later i added an installer class to add the Database path to a config file
during installation
I successfully installed the app. on my development computer.
but when I try to run it on Client system, I receive the following error:

Unable to get installer types in the <app Path>\app.exe assembly --> one or
more of the types in the assembly unable to load.

I am using .NET Studio 2003 and app is on c# with few crystal Reports.
Now if i copy and paste the bin/debug directory from the development system
to my client system, it gives the following error when trying to run crystal
report module:

File or assembly name CrystalDecision.Windows.Forms, or one of its
dependencies, was not found.
Post by legalize+ (Richard [Microsoft Windows Installer MVP])
[Please do not mail me a copy of your followup]
Post by MPulse
Listen, I am not a developer, so speak in small words...
heh heh, OK. If what I say doesn't make any sense, then just ask more
questions to get things clarified.
Post by MPulse
We have a client application that is getting an error which states "Unable
to get installer types in the <app exe path> assembly --> one or more of the
types in the assembly unable to load".
First -- is this an installation package that you created, or are you
just a user/admin trying to remove it?
This sounds like someone wrote a .NET uninstall custom action through
Visual Studio .NET. When attempting to execute the uninstall custom
action, it couldn't find what it expected (a .NET assembly exporting
some type that inherits from the Installer class), so it gave an
error. Does the uninstall then rollback, or does it just continue?
Post by MPulse
This only happens when UNINSTALLING the app, and only on a few computers.
So far I have seen it on XP SP2, and Windows 2k SP4.
Is it really specific to the OS, or is that just the OSes of the
computers on which it fails? In other words, does it fail on every XP
SP2 machine or just some of them?
Post by MPulse
Any help for how to trouble shoot this would be great. Thanks!
One thing you can do to get detailed information about what's wrong is
to generate a verbose log for the uninstall process. Try this from a
msiexec /l*v uninstall.log /uninstall <path to .msi for package to remove>
and then examine uninstall.log for hints on what the problem is; I
suspect the relevant messages will be near the end of the uninstall
attempt.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html>
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