Synopsis

Product built on 2016 Installshield version, installs well. But on install, it throws this message:

The setup must update files or services that cannot be updated while system is running. If you choose to continue, a reboot will be required to complete the setup.

I click on OK, it uninstalls fine and I don't see any issues.

Is there a way to tell which files it is looking and prevent this message from popping up?

Discussion

The message that you are seeing is automatically thrown directly by the Windows Installer Engine and usually suggests that its unable to access a file as its locked (maybe due to a running application or service).

Please make sure that your application is not running,and no services or processes which may be using your files are also not running.

You can try to determine which files are locked by logging the uninstall, information about how to set up Windows Installer logging can be found here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/223300/how-to-enable-windows-installer-logging

Once you have your log try searching for "in use" to see if this provides any useful hints as to what is going on.

If you are happy that your application is uninstalled correctly and do not want to troubleshoot which files are causing this, you can try adding the property "MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL" with value "disable" in the property manager of your project.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa370377%28v=vs.85%29.aspx