WiX: Avoid showing files-in-use dialog and just prompt for reboot at end of install
I am using <MajorUpgrade> in WiX 3.6 to force an uninstall of the previous version of my application when installing a newer version. My application installs an extension DLL file into Windows Explorer, so on uninstall the Files In Use lists Explorer and defaults to shutting down the listed application. This does kill Windows Explorer as my shell goes away (which is somewhat jarring for the user), however I still get an error saying that not all applications could be shutdown and states a reboot will be necessary. My preference is to avoid this thrash and skip the Files-In-Use dialog just inform the user of the required reboot at the end. Is there a way to tell WiX to skip the Files-In-Use dialog?
Answer
You can disable the Restart Manager integration by setting the MSIRESTARTMANAGERCONTROL property equal to "Disabled" (from MSI SDK). You can also try to remove the FilesInUse dialog, but the static Internal Consistency Evaluator (ICE) validation will complain. My hope is that disabling the Restart Manager will be enough to stop trying to pull the resources out of explorer.exe.