MsiInstallProduct function (Windows)

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MsiInstallProduct function

Applies to: desktop apps only

The MsiInstallProduct function installs or uninstalls a product.

Syntax

UINT MsiInstallProduct(
  __in  LPCTSTR szPackagePath,
  __in  LPCTSTR szCommandLine
);

Parameters

szPackagePath [in]

A null-terminated string that specifies the path to the location of the Windows Installer package. The string value can contain a URL (e.g. http://packageLocation/package/package.msi), a network path (e.g. \\packageLocation\package.msi), a file path (e.g. file://packageLocation/package.msi), or a local path (e.g. D:\packageLocation\package.msi).

szCommandLine [in]

A null-terminated string that specifies the command line property settings. This should be a list of the format Property=Setting Property=Setting. For more information, see About Properties.

To perform an administrative installation, include ACTION=ADMIN in szCommandLine. For more information, see the ACTION property.

Return value

Value	Meaning
ERROR_SUCCESS	The function completes successfully.
An error relating to an action	For more information, see Error Codes.
Initialization Error	An error that relates to initialization occurred.

For more information, see Displayed Error Messages.

Remarks

The MsiInstallProduct function displays the user interface with the current settings and log mode.

You can change user interface settings by using the MsiSetInternalUI, MsiSetExternalUI, or MsiSetExternalUIRecord functions.
You can set the log mode by using the MsiEnableLog function.
You can completely remove a product by setting REMOVE=ALL in szCommandLine.

For more information, see REMOVE Property.

Requirements

Version	Windows Installer 5.0 on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7. Windows Installer 4.0 or Windows Installer 4.5 on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista. Windows Installer on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. See the Windows Installer Run-Time Requirements for information about the minimum Windows service pack that is required by a Windows Installer version.
Header	Msi.h
Library	Msi.lib
DLL	Msi.dll
Unicode and ANSI names	MsiInstallProductW (Unicode) and MsiInstallProductA (ANSI)

I wanted to convert the MSI error code to a human readable string and didn't find anything good on the Internet so I thought I would share my solution. The following code uses the error code from any MSI API function to get the error string from the resource dll associated with MSI.

// example code

// call your MSI API function ... MsiInstallProduct() in this case
DWORD result = MsiInstallProduct(installerFullPath, commandLine);
if (result != ERROR_SUCCESS)
{
    CString message;
    message.Format(_T("%s"), GetMessageFromMsiErrCode(result).GetBuffer());
    // .... do whatever with the error message
}

// function to get error message from msimsg.dll resource dll
CString GetMessageFromMsiErrCode(DWORD error)
{
CString message = _T("Unknown error");
HMODULE module = LoadLibraryEx(_T("msimsg.dll"), NULL, LOAD_LIBRARY_AS_DATAFILE);
if (module == NULL) return message;
TCHAR buffer[8192] = _T("");
LoadString(module, error, buffer, sizeof(buffer) / sizeof(TCHAR));
FreeLibrary(module);
message = buffer;
return message;
}

Best regards,
Marty

JonK

If you want to uninstall something in code

and you can't rely on the end user having the original MSI to hand then use MsiConfigureProduct(productCode, INSTALLLEVEL_DEFAULT, INSTALLSTATE_ABSENT) instead.

Robert Flaming - MSFT

Hex Values for Win32 error codes Published as part of Open Protocol Specifications

As a part of the Open Protocol Specifications, the hex values for Win32 error codes can now be found at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc231199.aspx.