Electron-builder: Q : Does MSI work with auto-update ?

[bisonfute]

here https://github.com/electron-userland/electron-builder/releases/tag/v19.41.0 it is written that it does not. But so far many release came with msi improvements and I am not sure about the situation now. Nothing is written in the doc (I would be happy to contribute on writing something in the doc about that).

If not, would auto-update work if I wrap the NSIS in a MSI ?

Thanks for your help.

[odiseo42]

Yes. You can ship your app as MSI. Then it doesn't really matter how it got installed, since the auto update will download any file it needs from whatever update server you're using.

[r0stig]

Just to add to the discussion; I like that the msi does not come with auto-update. Our company distributes the nsis-installer to "normal" users and msi to companies that has a IT-department that distributes the installations, in those cases the environments is locked down and auto-update wont work.

If msi should have auto-update enabled I would like to set this with a flag or have some kind of variable so I can check this in the code.

[develar]

No, MSI should not work with auto-updates because MSI for admins, not for end users.

[bisonfute]

@develar just as an information. I tried to build MSI+NSIS with electron-builder, using the auto-update feature.
Then I installed the msi and updated the latest.yml file to a new .exe msis version.

It worked perfectly.

[develar]

@bisonfute Yes, our updater designed to be agnostic. Opposite to Squirrel.Windows, electron-updater and NSIS designed to avoid vendor lock.

[bisonfute]

@develar that's a great feature. Thanks for your fabulous work.

[avner-hoffmann]

@bisonfute - I did the same thing, but I noticed that after the auto update, the new version appears in the window apps as another app. e.g. if my app name is "MyApp" then after installing the MSI I see my app in the installed applications as "MyApp", and when pressing on it I can see its version as 1.12.2.0
Once I deploy a newer release (MSI + NSIS) and auto update the application I see two applications in the installed apps, both are called "MyApp" but one with the older version 1.12.2.0 and the newer with version 1.12.3
@develar - Why is this happening and how can I avoid that? (I did used the nsis configuration key uninstallDisplayName as ${productName} to remove the version number from the installed app name)

[NunoCuradoFuze]

@avner-hoffmann have you ever found the solution for this?

[avner-hoffmann]

@NunoCuradoFuze - did you try newer versions of electron-builder?

[NunoCuradoFuze]

@avner-hoffmann - yes, feeding to MSI the lastest.yml generated by NSIS works but the result are two entries with different app versions. Did you manage to solve your issue?