Frequently Used MSI Properties

What is an MSI property and what are their types?

Properties are global variables that installer uses during install or uninstall. It can be divided as:

Public Property: Installer can use it internally as well as externally, which means it can be changed during run-time also. The values of public properties can be set at the command line, and their values are preserved when execution switches from the User Interface sequence to the Execute sequence.

e.g.: INSTALL LEVEL

Private Property: Installer can use it internally only. Hence can't be changed during run-time. Private properties, on the other hand, cannot have their values set at the command line, and are reset to their default values when execution switches from the User Interface sequence to the Execute sequence.

e.g.: Product Code, Product Version, Manufacturer, Version etc.

Another way to identify Private property is that it contain at least one lowercase letter.

Restricted Public Property: Installer can't use it internally or externally for security purposes. e.g.: ALLUSERS, REMOVE, REBOOT, REINSTALL MODE etc.

Serial keys are generally stored as Restricted Properties to keep it secret.

Some of the commonly used properties with their respective (and generally used) values are given below:

ALLUSERS	1	The Installer will attempt a per-machine installation
REBOOT	ReallySuppress	All applications must be packaged without the requirement to reboot the application or the OS itself. This property will prevent Windows installer service performing a reboot. For the applications that require reboot, notification must be provided to the application deployment team who will manage the reboot of the servers and workstations (generally in Maintenance Mode). Note: Success, Failure, Soft or Hard Reboot message can be flagged with respective Return Codes in SCCM
ROOTDRIVE	C:\	During install, msiexec identifies the drive with most amount of available space and it installs it there. Setting ROOTDRIVE property value will enable you to specify any particular drive.
ARPNOMODIFY	1	This setting disables the Change button for the products in Add or Remove programs in the control panel

REBOOT PROPERTY: An administrator typically uses this property with a series of installations to install several products at the same time with only one restart or no restart at the end.

For example, the installer automatically prompts for a restart if it needs to replace any files in use during the installation.

REBOOT value	Description
Force	The UI always prompts the user with an option to restart at the end. If there is no user interface, and this is not a multiple-package installation, the system automatically restarts at the end of the installation.
Suppress	Suppress prompts for a restart at the end of the installation. The installer still prompts the user with an option to restart during the installation whenever it encounters the ForceReboot action. If there is no user interface, the system automatically restarts at each ForceReboot.
ReallySuppress	Suppresses all restarts and restart prompts initiated by ForceReboot during the installation. Both the restart prompt and the restart itself are suppressed.

Variable	Windows Installer Property	Path	Function
USERPROFILE		C:\Users\%USERNAME%	Local path to the user profile.
APPDATA	AppDataFolder	%USERPROFILE%\AppData\ Roaming	Configuration data of applications which roam with users
LOCALAPPDATA	LocalAppDataFolder	%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local	Configuration data and temporary data for applications that must not roam.
TEMP	TempFolder	%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp	Temporary files and folders for the user
ALLUSERSPROFILE	CommonAppDataFolder	C:\ProgramData	Local application data that are used by all users. For example the Start menu icons are placed within this folder.
DOCUMENTS FOLDER	PersonalFolder	%USERPROFILE%\Documents	Users' personal documents folder.
PUBLIC FOLDER	Public	C:\Users\Public	Public folder in users directory

The INSTALLLEVEL property is the initial level at which features are selected "ON" for installation by default. A feature is installed only if the value in the Level field of the Feature table is less than or equal to the current INSTALLLEVEL value. 

The LaunchCondition table is used by the LaunchConditions action. It contains a list of conditions that all must be satisfied for the installation to begin.

The LaunchCondition table has the following columns.

Condition
Expression that must evaluate to True for installation to begin.

Description
Localizable text to display when the condition fails and the installation must be terminated.

Remarks
You cannot guarantee the order in which the launch conditions are evaluated by authoring this table. If it is necessary to control the order in which conditions are evaluated, you should do this by using Custom Action.

REINSTALL: Comma-delimited list of features to be reinstalled.

REINSTALLMODE: A string of letters showing the actions to be performed during reinstall. The default is “omus”, where
o: fixes file which has older version or is missing
m: fixes all machine based files during reinstall, generally HKLM and HKCR entries

u: fixes all user based files during reinstall, generally HKU entries

s: reinstall all shortcuts with their respective icons

The REINSTALLMODE property is a string that contains letters specifying the type of reinstall to perform. Options are case-insensitive and order-independent. This property should normally always be used in conjunction with the REINSTALL property. However, this property can also be used during installation, not just reinstall.

Note  The Windows Installer ignores the REINSTALLMODE property during an administrative installation.

By default the REINSTALLMODE is "omus".

Code	Option
p	Reinstall only if the file is missing.
o	Reinstall if the file is missing or is an older version.
e	Reinstall if the file is missing, or is an equal or older version.
d	Reinstall if the file is missing or a different version is present.
c	Verify the checksum values, and reinstall the file if they are missing or corrupt. This flag only repairs files that have msidbFileAttributesChecksum in the Attributes column of the File Table.
a	Force all files to be reinstalled, regardless of checksum or version.
u	Rewrite all required registry entries from the Registry Table that go to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER or HKEY_USERS registry hive.
m	Rewrite all required registry entries from the Registry Table that go to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE or HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
s	Reinstall all shortcuts and re-cache all icons overwriting any existing shortcuts and icons.
v	Use to run from the source package and re-cache the local package. Do not use the v reinstall option code for the first installation of an application or feature.