Cannot Distinguish Version of Operating System When Using SYSINFO in Custom Action

Title

Summary

Custom Action SYSINFO cannot distinguish between Operating System versions

Symptoms

When using the InstallScript system variable, SYSINFO, to determine the Operating System of the target machine, if the operating system of the target machine is Vista/Windows Server 2008 or newer, SYSINFO returns 0 for the minor version (i.e., SYSINFO.nOSMinor = 0).

One would expect SYSINFO to return zero for the minor version of the Operating System on target systems running Vista or Windows Server 2008 and to return one for the minor version of the Operating system on target systems running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

This is only a problem when SYSINFO is used in a Custom Action of an MSI based install. This problem does not exist if the installation package was created with an InstallScript project.

Cause

The unexpected behavior occurs because of Microsoft Windows Resource Protection shims in effect when Windows Installer (i.e., MSI) packages are executed on these operating systems.

Steps To Reproduce

To reproduce this problem:

Add a Custom Action of type InstallScript to a Basic MSI or InstallScript MSI project.
In the InstallScript function, code SYSINFO.nOSMinor to retrieve the value of the operating system's minor version stored in the InstallScript SYSINFO structure system variable.

Resolution

In an MSI based installation, obtain the version of the Operating System by retrieving the value of the MSI Property, VersionNT. To retrieve this property from the MSI database, use the Windows Installer function, MsiGetProperty.

Workaround

In the rare situation where one has requirements to use the InstallScript SYSINFO to obtain this information, then the members, SYSINFO.WINNT.bWinVista, SYSINFO.nOSProductType and SYSINFO.nISOSL, can be used to determine the Operating System running on the target machine. For more details on this solution, please refer to the meaning of these members in the InstallShield Help Library article, SYSINFO.

Additional Information

For more information on the InstallScript System Variable, SYSINFO, please refer to the InstallScript Language Reference section of the InstallShield Help Library at SYSINFO

For more information on the MSI Property, VersionNT, please refer to the following Microsoft articles:

VersionNT Property

Operating System Property Values

For more information on using the MsiGetProperty function, please refer to the following articles:

MsiGetProperty Function

Getting and Setting Properties

For information about Windows Resource Protection, please refer to the Microsoft article, About Windows Resource Protection

For more information on the particular Windows Resource Protection shims affecting this behavior, please refer to the following blog on the MSDN website:

Why Custom Actions get a Windows Vista Version Lie on Windows 7

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