WIX: Override ARPNOMODIFY with WixUI_InstallDir Dialog Set

Question

I am using WIX Tool set to create MSI installer and i need to display Change button of Add and Remove Programs Menu. so, i set the property ' ARPNOMODIFY ' with but i get a compiler error that WixUI_InstallDir already has defined this property. after investigating a lot , i found this link WixUI_InstallDir and ARPNOREPAIR / ARPNOMODIFY properties but it doesn't work. The Change button still didn't displayed.

Answer 1

You can just copy the source of the WixUI_InstallDir from here and add a new wxs file in your project. You'll need to rename the UI Id from WixUI_InstallDir to something else. In your product just include a UIRef to the new UI defined in your new wxs file.

In this file you can change your ARPNOMODIFY property. I believe trying to set the property isn't working for you because SetProperty is a run-time change and the property in the MSI table is still the default defined value from when you built the installer.

I would suggest you investigate whether you really need to enable the Change button on add remove programs. If you are using the base install UI with no modifications, the only thing you can really change is the install dir and it is a weird use case to install the product then decide you want to change its installation location, imo.