Change installer type

[aloneguid (aloneguid)]

I have changed the installer type from zip to msi in my package aloneguid.bt, but it doesn't seem like it is possible to do so in WinGet. Can you recommend next steps? I'd be happy to completely remove current versions and start again from the first .msi version.

[Yusuke Hayashi (yhay81)]

You should not need to delete the existing versions. If the MSI is the same product and should replace the portable build, keep the same PackageIdentifier: aloneguid.bt and submit the first MSI as a new, higher package version.

For that version, the installer manifest should no longer contain the archive/portable-only fields (NestedInstallerType, NestedInstallerFiles, etc.). The important part is approximately:

InstallerType: msi
UpgradeBehavior: uninstallPrevious
Installers:
- Architecture: x64
  InstallerUrl: https://.../bt.msi
  InstallerSha256: ...
  ProductCode: '{PRODUCT-CODE-FROM-THIS-MSI}'
  AppsAndFeaturesEntries:
  - DisplayName: ...
    Publisher: aloneguid
    ProductCode: '{PRODUCT-CODE-FROM-THIS-MSI}'
    UpgradeCode: '{STABLE-UPGRADE-CODE-FROM-THE-MSI}'
    InstallerType: msi

UpgradeBehavior: uninstallPrevious is the key migration step: WinGet removes the currently managed portable installation before running the MSI. The MSI ProductCode/ARP data lets WinGet correlate the new installation for later list and upgrade operations. (The ProductCode may change between MSI versions; the MSI UpgradeCode should remain stable.)

I would test both paths locally before opening the PR:

1. Clean install of the new manifest.
2. Install the current WinGet portable version, then upgrade using the new local manifest and confirm that the portable command/symlink is removed, the MSI is installed, and winget list -e --id aloneguid.bt shows only one correctly-versioned entry.
3. Run winget validate <new-version-directory>.

If you are editing an already-published package version, create a new release/version instead; changing the installer technology retroactively is not a reason to remove catalog history. A separate package ID is only preferable if the MSI and portable builds are intentionally different products that users may want installed side by side.

Relevant schema details: UpgradeBehavior and ProductCode / AppsAndFeaturesEntries.

[Imre Eilertsen (DandelionSprout)]

I see no obvious problems in https://github.com/microsoft/winget-pkgs/pull/408049/changes that would've prevented such a change in Winget, so this should go reasonably well.

[aloneguid (aloneguid)]

Thank you for the pointers, I hope this PR gets accepted soon.

[aloneguid (aloneguid)]

It seems like PR is stuck. I'm not sure what else needs to be done, maybe this use case is not supported?

[aloneguid (aloneguid)]

Yusuke Hayashi (@yhay81)

[Graham David (voyager2saturn)]

Why did you close the PR?