Develop Reference

Wix 3.11 - Installer Can't Start Service

Can anybody help me find out why my Windows service won't start.
When I install it with installutil, it works perfectly. I decided to use wix to create an installer for the end user but it won't start.
Here's my code
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi">
<Product Id="*" Name="IWErpnextPoll" Manufacturer="IWW" Language="1033" Version="1.0.0.0" UpgradeCode="ccc3c2fe-d20f-45ce-b978-4dc7c84ce6c8">
<Package InstallerVersion="200" Compressed="yes" InstallScope="perMachine" />
<MajorUpgrade DowngradeErrorMessage="A newer version of [ProductName] is already installed." />
<MediaTemplate />
<Feature Id="ProductFeature" Title="IWERPNextPoll_Setup" Level="1">
<ComponentGroupRef Id="ProductComponents" />
</Feature>
</Product>
<Fragment>
<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
<Directory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
<Directory Id="INSTALLFOLDER" Name="IWErpnextPoll" />
</Directory>
</Directory>
</Fragment>
<Fragment>
<ComponentGroup Id="ProductComponents" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER">
<!-- TODO: Remove the comments around this Component element and the ComponentRef below in order to add resources to this installer. -->
<Component Id="ProductComponent">
<File Source="$(var.IWErpnextPoll.TargetPath)" />
<ServiceInstall Id="ServiceInstaller" Name="IWErpnextPoll" Type="ownProcess" Vital="yes" DisplayName="ERPNext2Sage" Description="A background service." Start="auto" Account=".\LocalSystem" ErrorControl="normal" Interactive="no" />
<ServiceControl Id="StartService" Name="IWErpnextPoll" Stop="both" Start="install" Remove="uninstall" Wait="yes" />
</Component>
</ComponentGroup>
</Fragment>
</Wix>
The installer throws this error:
Service 'IWErpnextPoll' (IWErpnextPoll) failed to start. Verify that you have sufficient privileges to start system services
I ran the following in the command line:
msiexec /i IWERPNextPoll_Setup /l*v log.txt
but (my untrained eyes) didn't find anything that seemed off in the very very log file.
The service I wrote is my first forray into C#. I'll be very happy to get any pointers.

99.99% of the time this is a problem with the service.
A couple of pro tips.
1) Don't author the ServiceControl element for the first few builds until you know the thing is solid. Test the service after installation.
2) If you do author it, let it sit on the failed to start dialog and start profiling. Run the EXE from a command prompt and see if it is missing dependencies or throws errors. Have lots of logging code in the service to understand what is wrong.
ServiceInstaller is a form of self registration anti pattern. Perhaps you had some code in there doing something like creating an EventSource or a registry key and without it your service is throwing an exception.
Only profiling/debugging will tell for sure.

The answer by #Christopher Painter and the comments on my question led me towards the problem.
The problem was that I did not include my project dependencies in product.wsx. I had to add like so...
...
<Component Id="Serilog.dll">
<File Source="$(var.IWErpnextPoll.TargetDir)Serilog.dll" />
</Component>
<Component Id="Serilog.Settings.AppSettings.dll">
<File Source="$(var.IWErpnextPoll.TargetDir)Serilog.Settings.AppSettings.dll" />
</Component>
<Component Id="Serilog.Sinks.File.dll">
<File Source="$(var.IWErpnextPoll.TargetDir)Serilog.Sinks.File.dll" />
</Component>
<Component Id="RestSharp.dll">
<File Source="$(var.IWErpnextPoll.TargetDir)RestSharp.dll" />
</Component>
...
After this, things started working as expected

Relative path for SQLite not working with WIX Toolset

I'm using SQLite Database and create installer of WPF application with WIX Toolset. The problem is, The below relative path works fine when I directly run from Visual Studio but does not work when I create installer with WIX and after install this installer run program then it gives fatal error for Database file.
In Project directory I've made a Database folder, in which the database files reside as you can see in below picture:
After creating installer by WIX Toolset, installed files as below:
inventory_control.db file path:
dbConnectionString path:
I've writen code for relative path connection string as under:
Relative Path:
string relativePath = #"Database\inventory_control.db";
string currentPath = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().Location;
//string path = currentPath.Substring(0, currentPath.Length - 21);
string path = Path.GetDirectoryName(currentPath);
string absolutePath = System.IO.Path.Combine(path, relativePath);
string dbConnectionString = string.Format("Data Source={0};Version=3;Pooling=True;Max Pool Size=100;", absolutePath);
//string dbConnectionString = "Data Source=inventory_control.db";
sQLiteConnection = new SQLiteConnection(dbConnectionString);
dbConnectionString gives correct current path.
The above relative path works fine when I directly run from Visual Studio but does not work when I create installer with WIX. It gives a fatal error. How to resolve?
WIX File:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi"><?define Inventory Control_TargetDir=$(var.Inventory Control.TargetDir)?>
<Product Id="f941ba49-4369-44d4-aa0c-b77f20aa41db" Name="Inventory Control" Language="1033" Version="1.0.0.0" Manufacturer="devtros.com" UpgradeCode="ce092371-53cc-4be9-ab5d-c7a2685af970">
<Package InstallerVersion="200" Compressed="yes" InstallScope="perMachine" />
<Icon Id="app_icon.ico" SourceFile="$(var.ProjectDir)app_icon.ico" />
<Property Id="ARPPRODUCTION" Value="app_icon.ico" />
<WixVariable Id="WixUIBannerBmp" Value="Images\background.bmp" />
<WixVariable Id="WixUIDialogBmp" Value="Images\background.bmp" />
<WixVariable Id="WixUILicenseRtf" Value="$(var.ProjectDir)License.rtf" />
<Property Id="WIXUI_INSTALLDIR" Value="INSTALLFOLDER" />
<UIRef Id="WixUI_InstallDir" />
<MajorUpgrade DowngradeErrorMessage="A newer version of [ProductName] is already installed." />
<MediaTemplate EmbedCab="yes" />
<Feature Id="ProductFeature" Title="Inventory Control" Level="1">
<ComponentGroupRef Id="ProductComponents" />
<ComponentRef Id="ApplicationShortcut" />
<ComponentRef Id="ApplicationShortcutDesktop" />
<ComponentGroupRef Id="Database_files" />
</Feature>
</Product>
<Fragment>
<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
<Directory Id="ProgramFilesFolder">
<Directory Id="INSTALLFOLDER" Name="Inventory Control">
<Directory Id="Files" Name="Files" />
<Directory Id="Database" Name="Database" />
</Directory>
</Directory>
<Directory Id="ProgramMenuFolder">
<Directory Id="ApplicationProgramsFolder" Name="Inventory Control" />
</Directory>
<Directory Id="DesktopFolder" Name="Desktop" />
</Directory>
</Fragment>
<Fragment>
<DirectoryRef Id="ApplicationProgramsFolder">
<Component Id="ApplicationShortcut" Guid="9bd13330-6540-406f-a3a8-d7f7c69ae7f9">
<Shortcut Id="ApplicationStartMenuShortcut" Name="Inventory Control" Description="Inventory Control" Target="[INSTALLFOLDER]Inventory Control.exe" WorkingDirectory="INSTALLFOLDER" />
<RemoveFolder Id="RemoveApplicationProgramsFolder" Directory="ApplicationProgramsFolder" On="uninstall" />
<RegistryValue Root="HKCU" Key="Software\Inventory Control" Name="installed" Type="integer" Value="1" KeyPath="yes" />
</Component>
</DirectoryRef>
<DirectoryRef Id="DesktopFolder">
<Component Id="ApplicationShortcutDesktop" Guid="cde1e030-eb64-49a5-b7b8-400b379c2d1a">
<Shortcut Id="ApplicationDesktopShortcut" Name="Inventory Control" Description="Inventory Control" Target="[INSTALLFOLDER]Inventory Control.exe" WorkingDirectory="INSTALLFOLDER" />
<RemoveFolder Id="RemoveDesktopFolder" Directory="DesktopFolder" On="uninstall" />
<RegistryValue Root="HKCU" Key="Software\Inventory Control" Name="installed" Type="integer" Value="1" KeyPath="yes" />
</Component>
</DirectoryRef>
</Fragment>
<Fragment>
<ComponentGroup Id="ProductComponents" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER">
<!-- TODO: Remove the comments around this Component element and the ComponentRef below in order to add resources to this installer. -->
<!-- <Component Id="ProductComponent"> -->
<!-- TODO: Insert files, registry keys, and other resources here. -->
<!-- </Component> -->
<Component Id="Inventory_Control.exe" Guid="0a7e7061-201b-4d49-adeb-4449e9c4da3e">
<File Id="Inventory_Control.exe" Name="Inventory Control.exe" Source="$(var.Inventory Control_TargetDir)Inventory Control.exe" />
</Component>
<Component Id="Inventory_Control.exe.config" Guid="28323615-8159-4116-b1ac-e29a70bf2593">
<File Id="Inventory_Control.exe.config" Name="Inventory Control.exe.config" Source="$(var.Inventory Control_TargetDir)Inventory Control.exe.config" />
</Component>
<Component Id="System.Windows.Controls.Input.Toolkit.dll" Guid="7d678201-767a-416b-b645-b2cb7d514893">
<File Id="System.Windows.Controls.Input.Toolkit.dll" Name="System.Windows.Controls.Input.Toolkit.dll" Source="$(var.Inventory Control_TargetDir)System.Windows.Controls.Input.Toolkit.dll" />
</Component>
<Component Id="System.Data.SQLite.dll" Guid="178a5aef-c027-4215-81ae-f148ab6cd472">
<File Id="System.Data.SQLite.dll" Name="System.Data.SQLite.dll" Source="$(var.Inventory Control_TargetDir)System.Data.SQLite.dll" />
</Component>
<Component Id="Zen.Barcode.Core.dll" Guid="20e34fc3-0066-4ffd-b401-518bc1177098">
<File Id="Zen.Barcode.Core.dll" Name="Zen.Barcode.Core.dll" Source="$(var.Inventory Control_TargetDir)Zen.Barcode.Core.dll" />
</Component>
<Component Id="WPFToolkit.dll" Guid="8d974e65-defb-4675-b9e0-ff617e5ab1da">
<File Id="WPFToolkit.dll" Name="WPFToolkit.dll" Source="$(var.Inventory Control_TargetDir)WPFToolkit.dll" />
</Component>
</ComponentGroup>
</Fragment>
<Fragment>
<ComponentGroup Id="Database_files" Directory="Database">
<Component Id="Database_inventory_control.db" Guid="0104b919-0aa9-4dc5-9492-14c474d97cf1">
<File Id="Database_inventory_control.db" Name="inventory_control.db" Source="$(var.Inventory Control_TargetDir)Database\inventory_control.db" />
</Component>
</ComponentGroup>
</Fragment>
</Wix>

SQLite.Interop.dll: The file SQLite.Interop.dll needed to be installed along with the rest of the runtime files in order for SQLite
to function properly.
There are two flavors of the file, x86 and x64 format. It is
probably advisable to install both files in their respective folders:
Your installation folder hierarchy - mock-up:
YourBinary.exe
x86\SQLite.Interop.dll
x64\SQLite.Interop.dll
System.Data.SQLite.dll
Etc...
Read-Write DB Location: And then your database should be stored in a writeable path (or you need to make the path writeable for regular users using custom ACL permissioning - which is never a great idea).
Exceptions: Obviously try - catch your database connection, update and access code to detect these kinds of issues.
Folder Confusion: Is there a database file inside the Database folder? It sort of looks like the inventory_control.db file is installed to the main application folder, and not that Database sub-folder?
Maybe that file has been generated by the application.exe in the wrong folder?
Or maybe you have duplicated the file in the main folder for testing purposes?
Hard-Coded Dev-Box Sins?: What does it say in Inventory Control.exe.config?
Are there relevant settings in there that could override your code's values?
Could there be a hard-coded dev-box sin in there?
Path Builder: I assume you have "message boxed" the paths from the application during launch, in order to ensure that they are correct? I like to copy the path and do a Start => Run and paste the path to see that it opens. Press CTRL + C when the message box shows. Paste into Notepad. Extract the path and try it in Start => Run.
string path = currentPath.Substring(0, currentPath.Length - 21);. It is not very robust to hard code the number of characters in the file name to get the parent directory path?
Could you improve it by using Path.GetDirectoryName(currentPath)?
Or maybe even: string dir = currentPath.Substring(0,currentPath.LastIndexOf('\\'));
Attach Debugger & Debug Binaries?: Maybe you could install debug binaries and attach to them for debugging as described here: wix c# app doesn't launch after installing. Just to get a real step-through debugging session.
Path Spaces: That database connection string. Does it need quotes around its path? As in "path with spaces"? You may not have any spaces in the paths for your visual Studio project, but when installed there are spaces in the paths.
This constructs in your source does look weird, why is it necessary?:
<?define Inventory Control_TargetDir=$(var.Inventory Control.TargetDir)?>

Creating shortcut to folder in WIX that uses environmental variable

I'm trying to do two things in WIX:
Create new environmental variable that points to specific directory, e.g. %test% which leads to a variable [DOCUMENTSPATH]
Create a shortcut to that folder on the desktop. Shortcut must be using the same variable [DOCUMENTSPATH]
Using the <RegistryKey> and <RegistryValue> I can create the environmental variable that leads to variable.
<Component Id="EnvironmentAlias" Guid="827d993f-32c0-4088-a72a-43888a5f496a">
<RegistryKey Root="HKLM" Key="SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment">
<RegistryValue Type="string" Name="%NEW_PATH%" Value="[DOCUMENTSPATH]" Action="write"></RegistryValue>
</RegistryKey>
</Component>
This creates the shortcut
<Component Id="SampleDir" Guid="E9EAE95A-8234-406D-950D-397956287709" Directory="DesktopFolder">
<Shortcut Id="SampleDirSC"
Name="somename"
Target="[DOCUMENTSPATH]"
Advertise="yes"
Show="normal" />
</Component>
(Also tried with advertise=no)
The link and variable are created but the link type is file instead of folder - so both the behavior of it and looks are wrong. It looks like generic shortcut and does not open the folder on click - I need to right-click -> go to location to go to the [DOCUMENTSPATH] folder. This is because the [DOCUMENTSPATH] I'm using contains different environmental variable, e.g. %localappdata%.
Any ideas how to enforce target type of the shortcut in wix OR how to expand the environmental variables in wix?
Edit: additional explanation.
I am trying to make wix expand environmental variable (the one that starts with %, like %appdata%) when creating the shortcut because windows doesn't handle well dynamic variables in shortcuts.

Change your tag to this
<Component Id="SampleDir" Guid="E9EAE95A-8234-406D-950D-397956287709" Directory="DesktopFolder">
<Shortcut Id="SampleDirSC"
Name="somename"
Target="[DOCUMENTSPATH]"
WorkingDirectory="DOCUMENTSPATH"
Show="normal" />
</Component>
This is a part sample of my test code
<DirectoryRef Id="DesktopFolder">
<Component Id="ApplicationShortCutC" Guid="{CB93D6D1-AB98-4b45-98FF-4017EE5A0A09}">
<Shortcut Id="AppShortCutC" Name="!(wix.Product)"
Description="!(wix.ProductDesc)"
Target="[INSTALLDIR]"
WorkingDirectory="INSTALLDIR" />
<RegistryKey Root="HKCU" Key="!(wix.Manufacturer)\!(wix.Product)" Action="createAndRemoveOnUninstall">
<RegistryValue Name="ShortCutC" Type="integer" Value="1" KeyPath="yes" />
</RegistryKey>
<RemoveFolder Id="ShortCutFolder" Directory="ApplicationProgramsFolder" On="uninstall"/>
</Component>
</DirectoryRef
Shortcut element here, says that advertise=yes ignores the target.
Sample code

Wix - How to get a relative path

I need to reference some dlls files in my wix project, and i need to user relative path. If i use absolute path like this
C:\Users\MyUser\Documents\any\other\folder
it works perfectly, but i need a relative path like this:
../bin/dll
but it is unable to find the folder.
This is the "ComponentGroup" section where i need to get the dll folder
<ComponentGroup Id="DllsComponent" Directory="INSTALLFOLDER" Source="../bin/dll">
<Component Id="EntityFramework.dll">
<File Name="EntityFramework.dll" />
</Component>
<Component Id="EntityFramework.SqlServer.dll">
<File Name="EntityFramework.SqlServer.dll" />
</Component>
<Component Id="EntityFramework.SqlServerd.xml">
<File Name="EntityFramework.SqlServer.xml" />
</Component>
<Component Id="EntityFramework.xml">
<File Name="EntityFramework.xml" />
</Component>
<Component Id="ParodosService.exe.config">
<File Name="ParodosService.exe.config" />
</Component>
</ComponentGroup>
and the wix project structure is this:
ParodosService.Setup
|_bin
|_dll
|_EntityFramework.dll
|_EntityFramework.SqlServer.dll
|_other files...
|_Debug
|_Release
Thanks in advance...

You can use predefined directory properties from the list
System Folder Properties
Set the closest in the directory table and than use it in the source attribute.
<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
<Directory Id="DesktopFolder">
</Directory>
</Directory>
Source attribute:
Source="$(var.DesktopFolder)../bin/dll

Unresolved reference to symbol in Wix

I am trying to create a installer for MVC4 application using Wix. I found an example that shows how to create an installer for a MVC4 Application at this link
But when I try to build the Wix Setup Project, it gives me errors like below
Error 16 Unresolved reference to symbol 'WixComponentGroup:MyWebWebComponents'
in section 'Product:{D16E42B5-3C6F-4EE5-B2F4-727BF8B74A92}'.
C:\Users\Baris\Desktop\New folder\WIXInstallerDemo-master\DemoWebsite.Setup\Product.wxs 15
1 DemoWebsite.Setup
Error 17 Unresolved reference to symbol 'WixComponentGroup:DemoWebsiteIssConfiguration'
in section 'Product:{D16E42B5-3C6F-4EE5-B2F4-727BF8B74A92}'.
C:\Users\Baris\Desktop\New folder\WIXInstallerDemo-master\DemoWebsite.Setup\Product.wxs 16
1 DemoWebsite.Setup`
I tried adding WixUIExtension as a reference but it doesn't work.
This is the Product.wxs. And feature node's children nodes causes this error
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi">
<Product Id="{D16E42B5-3C6F-4EE5-B2F4-727BF8B74A92}" Name="Demo website setup" Language="1033" Version="1.0.0.0" Manufacturer="Me" UpgradeCode="9279b740-8419-45c4-9538-6a45f8e949c7">
<Package InstallerVersion="200" Compressed="yes" InstallScope="perMachine" />
<MajorUpgrade DowngradeErrorMessage="A newer version of [ProductName] is already installed." />
<Media Id="1" Cabinet="DemoWebsite.cab" EmbedCab="yes" />
<Property Id="DB_USER" Value="sa"/>
<Property Id="DB_PASSWORD" Value="sa"/>
<Property Id="DB_SERVER" Value="LOCAL"/>
<Property Id="DB_DATABASE" Value="DemoWebsite"/>
<Feature Id="ProductFeature" Title="DemoWebsite.Setup" Level="1">
<ComponentGroupRef Id="MyWebWebComponents" />
<ComponentGroupRef Id="DemoWebsiteIssConfiguration" />
</Feature>
<!-- Specify UI -->
<UIRef Id="MyUI" />
<Property Id="WIXUI_INSTALLDIR" Value="INETPUB" />
</Product>
<Fragment>
<!-- Will default to C:\ if that is the main disk-->
<Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir">
<!-- Will reference to C:\inetpub-->
<Directory Id="INETPUB" Name="Inetpub">
<!-- Will reference to c:\Inetpub\Demowebsite-->
<Directory Id="INSTALLFOLDER" Name="DemoWebsite">
</Directory>
</Directory>
</Directory>
</Fragment>
</Wix>
What am I doing wrong? I know its very specific for SO but I cannot find any solution on the web.
I am using VS 2012- Wix 4.0

The error message says it all: it expects a ComponentGroup-tag containing your components (containing e.g. files or registry keys). If you take a look at the example project that you linked in your question, the <ComponentGroupRef Id="DemoWebsiteIssConfiguration" />-element references a ComponentGroup with the name DemoWebsiteIssConfiguration. You can find this in the file DemoWebsite.Setup\IISConfiguration.wxs:
<ComponentGroup Id="DemoWebsiteIssConfiguration">
<ComponentRef Id="InstallWebsite" />
<ComponentRef Id="DemoWebsiteAppPool" />
</ComponentGroup>
It is a ComponentGroup which contains two components or, in this case, references to two components. These components are defined above the ComponentGroup-element in the same file.
Regarding the other ComponentGroupRef with the id MyWebComponents: The referenced ComponentGroup is created dynamically during the build. You can take a look at the file DemoWebsite.Setup\setup.build. This file is a MSBuild-file used to build the setup. It contains a target named Harvest that invokes heat, another tool in the WiX Toolset package. heat will parse e.g. a directory and gather all the files contained within and put them in a ComponentGroup that you can reference in your source file. I.e. you define a reference to a ComponentGroup and then you can create the content of this dynamically. This way you don't have to bother if a file is added to or removed from the project, as heat will gather them dynamically.
<Target Name="Harvest">
<!-- Harvest all content of published result -->
<Exec
Command='$(WixPath)heat dir $(Publish) -dr INSTALLFOLDER -ke -srd -cg MyWebWebComponents -var var.publishDir -gg -out $(WebSiteContentCode)'
ContinueOnError="false"
WorkingDirectory="." />
</Target>
The name of the dynamically created ComponentGroup is defined with the parameter -cg. you can invoke heat with the parameter -? for a short description of the possible parameters.