title: InstallShield not uninstalling previous software release
body: <p>I’m using InstallShield 2013 to package a major release of our software. After building the setup.exe, and attempting to install the software, it appears to be unable to uninstall the previous version, and abandons the installation. This problem only exists when there is a previous version of the software installed. </p>
  
  <p>InstallShield has the following settings applied:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Generated a new ProductCode for the release</li>
  <li>The UpgradeCode matches the older MSI UpgradeCode</li>
  <li>A new package code and product version number</li>
  <li>Under Media > Upgrades, I’ve selected to “Completely uninstall old setup before installing new setup”</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>I also have a verbose log of the process, and have checked the sections of the log that contain “return value 3” (failures). From the log file we can see that the action of FindRelatedProducts has found the previous version of the software.</p>
  
  <p>I’ve included some snippets from the log file below which may help determine the problem.</p>
  
  <pre><code>Action 11:55:42: InstallValidate. Validating install
  Action start 11:55:42: InstallValidate.
  
  MSI (c) (2C:54) [11:55:42:648]: RESTART MANAGER: Session opened.
  MSI (c) (2C:54) [11:55:42:653]: Note: 1: 2262 2: ListBox 3: -2147287038 
  Action ended 11:55:42: InstallValidate. Return value 3.
  Action ended 11:55:42: INSTALL. Return value 3.
  
  CustomAction  returned actual error code 1603 (note this may not be 100% accurate if translation happened inside sandbox)
  Action ended 11:55:42: RemoveExistingProducts. Return value 3.
  
  MSI (s) (9C:34) [11:55:53:690]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Deleting UpdateStarted property. Its current value is '1'.
  Action ended 11:55:53: INSTALL. Return value 3.
  
  MSI (s) (9C:34) [11:55:54:030]: MainEngineThread is returning 1603
  MSI (s) (9C:90) [11:55:54:032]: RESTART MANAGER: Session closed.
  MSI (s) (9C:90) [11:55:54:033]: RESTART MANAGER: Session closed.
  MSI (s) (9C:90) [11:55:54:034]: User policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
  MSI (s) (9C:90) [11:55:54:034]: Machine policy value 'DisableRollback' is 0
  MSI (s) (9C:90) [11:55:54:034]: Incrementing counter to disable shutdown.         Counter after increment: 0
  MSI (s) (9C:90) [11:55:54:034]: Note: 1: 1402 2:     HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Rollback\Scripts 3: 2 
  MSI (s) (9C:90) [11:55:54:034]: Note: 1: 1402 2: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\Rollback\Scripts 3: 2 
  MSI (s) (9C:90) [11:55:54:034]: Decrementing counter to disable shutdown. If counter &gt;= 0, shutdown will be denied.  Counter after decrement: -1
  MSI (s) (9C:90) [11:55:54:034]: Restoring environment variables
  MSI (c) (2C:4C) [11:55:54:035]: Back from server. Return value: 1603
  MSI (c) (2C:4C) [11:55:54:035]: Decrementing counter to disable shutdown. If counter &gt;= 0, shutdown will be denied.  Counter after decrement: -1
  MSI (c) (2C:4C) [11:55:54:035]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Deleting SECONDSEQUENCE property. Its current value is '1'.
  Action ended 11:55:54: ExecuteAction. Return value 3.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p><strong>Update:</strong> I've added another section of the log containing information related to the InstallValidate action as it might make the problem more apparent.</p>
  
  <pre><code>Action start 12:25:43: InstallValidate.
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:819]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Deleting MsiRestartManagerSessionKey property. Its current value is 'b7f8802fe41c494db739e217b2dcf2bd'.
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Feature: SoftwareName; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Absent
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Feature: freetrial; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Absent
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Feature: studentlicence; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Absent
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: __SoftwareName66; Installed: Null;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: __SenintalAdminControlCenter65; Installed: Null;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: __hinstall65; Installed: Null;   Request: Absent;   Action: Absent
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: __SoftwareName65; Installed: Null;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: __HaspRuntime65; Installed: Null;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: __MS_Support65; Installed: Null;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: ASCII; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: Doc; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: LIBRARY; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: MASTER; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: MSVideo; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: PDF; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: SAMPLES; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: SKETCH; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: Textures; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: SoftwareName; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: freetrial; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: studentlicence; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: AllOtherFiles; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: SenintalAdminControlCenter; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: x64bin; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: hinstall; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Absent
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: HaspRuntime; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: MS_Support; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: Breve32; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: MSPictures; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: haspvendorlib; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: SentAllService; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Absent
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: BReveService; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: NeverOverwrtie; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: _1B0A62E7C92FAC42CE4B32C814E0C048; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: _02C2A85C84D8D5F11ECD2931FC44A3F9; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: haspds_msi.dll.6CF3F7DF_6AED_451D_BF8F_AD216156BF2B; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: haspds_windows.dll1.6CF3F7DF_6AED_451D_BF8F_AD216156BF2B; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Component: CreateFolder.6CF3F7DF_6AED_451D_BF8F_AD216156BF2B; Installed: Local;   Request: Absent;   Action: Null
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: BindImage 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: ProgId 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: PublishComponent 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: SelfReg 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: Extension 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: Font 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: Class 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:820]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: TypeLib 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:823]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: _RemoveFilePath 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:824]: PROPERTY CHANGE: Modifying CostingComplete property. Its current value is '0'. Its new value: '1'.
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:824]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: BindImage 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:824]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: ProgId 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:824]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: PublishComponent 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:824]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: SelfReg 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:824]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: Extension 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:824]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: Font 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:824]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: Class 
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:824]: Note: 1: 2205 2:  3: TypeLib 
  Action ended 12:25:43: INSTALL. Return value 3.
  MSI (s) (A4:18) [12:25:43:824]: Note: 1: 2727 2:  
  MSI (c) (A0:38) [12:25:43:847]: RESTART MANAGER: Session opened.
  MSI (c) (A0:38) [12:25:43:851]: Note: 1: 2262 2: ListBox 3: -2147287038 
  Action ended 12:25:43: InstallValidate. Return value 3.
  </code></pre>