What's the meaning of FileAbsent as a component selection state, and what can cause it?

Question

We have an intermittent problem with an installer that leaves behind registry entries, although the rest of the obsolete component, including the file, is removed as part of the upgrade or uninstall.

On inspection the log suggests that the component selection state is FileAbsent.

MSDN isn't terribly helpful - it says what the effect of the action is (remove the file but not its reg entries), but not how that state can occur.

Anyone out there got any suggestions as to what can cause this?

Stephen

Answer 1

It means you have a component that's shared among two or more products; a file in the component is in a per-product directory but registry values aren't. If you aren't intentionally sharing the component, you have an accidental GUID copy-and-paste.