Software Deployment

I'm looking for clarification on what I should do with the shared DLL count in the registry. Provided your components are marked as shared (value minimum of 8, IIRC, in the Component's 'Attribute' column), I'd leave the WI engine to do what it wants.

Ian, Thanks as always for your prompt response

If application "A" installs a dll, then application "B" tries to install the same dll, instead of copying over it, Windows Installer (WI) will increment the reference count for that file..
When uninstalling app "A" (or "B"), WI will check the reference count to see if any other applications are still using that dll. If they are, then WI will decrement the counter by 1 and leave the dll behind. When that counter hits zero, the dll will be uninstalled by the next application that tries to remove it.

TK,

I think you missed something between "When uninstalling app "A" (or "B"), " and "If they are, then".
The ref counter will first be decreased by 1 and if the counter is 0 then the file will also be removed.

True, in my scenario only one app was being removed... but your clarification is important.

Just make sure your package doesnt put the referencing count down into the registry as windows will handle it! You dont want to change a 5 to a 2 now do you hehe.

P