How to delete user data (APPDATA) on uninstall (WIX toolset v4)

Question

I would like to give the user the option to delete the configuration data stored in the APPDATA folder on uninstall. I have found this answer but it's quite old. There is another answer in this mailing list but it's even older.

Is there a new way of doing this?

Answer 1

We can delete folder recursively with RemoveFolderEx. For this we need to add following to our Wix root element:

xmlns:util="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs/util"

Borrowed from here

<Wix xmlns="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs"
     xmlns:util="http://wixtoolset.org/schemas/v4/wxs/util">
  <Fragment>
    <!-- Retrieve the CONFIGFOLDER "remembered" on installation -->
    <Property Id="CONFIGFOLDER_PROP" Secure="yes">
        <RegistrySearch Id="APPLICATIONFOLDER_REGSEARCH"
                Root="HKCU"
                Key="SOFTWARE\$(var.Manufacturer)\$(var.ProductName)"
                Type="raw"
                Name="Path" />
    </Property>
    <Component Id="CleanupConfigurationFolder" Directory="CONFIGFOLDER">
        <!-- 
          RemoveFolderEx requires that we "remember" the path for uninstall.
          Read the path value and set the CONFIGFOLDER property with the value.
        -->
        <RegistryValue Root="HKCU"
                Key="SOFTWARE\$(var.Manufacturer)\$(var.ProductName)"
                Name="Path"
                Type="string"
                Value="[CONFIGFOLDER]"
                KeyPath="yes" />

        <!-- We need to use CONFIGFOLDER variable here or RemoveFolderEx
                 will not remove on "uninstall". -->
        <util:RemoveFolderEx On="uninstall" Property="INSTALLFOLDER_PROP" />
        <!-- Here <RemoveFolder/> if needed -->

    </Component>
  </Fragment>
</Wix>

And the folder definition:

<!-- Appdata (User data) -->
<StandardDirectory Id="AppDataFolder">
     <Directory Id="CONFIGFOLDER" Name="!(loc.Company)"/>
</StandardDirectory>

Unfortunately RemoveFolderEx does not add the folder to the RemoveFile table, we might get this error:

The directory CONFIGFOLDER is in the user profile but is not listed in the RemoveFile table.

So, as workaround I added following dummy line after it (RemoveFolderEx)

<!-- Dummy action to track the CONFIGFOLDER in the RemoveFile table -->
<RemoveFolder Id='RemoveConfigurationFolder' Directory='CONFIGFOLDER' On='uninstall' />