C# WIX Uninstall Permanent File?

I am using a custom action during install to write a text file to my install directory. When I uninstall, that file is not removed nor is the corresponding install directory. However everything else is uninstalled properly.

I understand the reason that WIX cannot un开发者_StackOverflow中文版install this file using the uninstaller, I'm just wondering what's the best way to call into a "clean up" action on uninstall which in which I can manually delete the directory/file?

You could include a RemoveFile element in whatever component your text file is most closely associated. When that component is uninstalled, the text file will be deleted as well.

<RemoveFile Id="CleanUpLogFile" On="uninstall" Name="log.txt"/>

You could install an empty text file and then have the custom action write to the file instead of creating it.

In general, I would suggest to stay away from custom actions as much as possible (they can get quite messy when dealing with install, uninstall, patching, repair, etc.) You may want to consider having your application itself configure the file on first run or have an additional configuration app that is executed on first run.

you can always run a console app for example that removes the file through code. You would just add that project only to the uninstall custom actions.

Out of curiosity what is the nature of the text file? In similar situations where the text file is an install log I'd recommend logging to a temp directory or a location that is not under Program Files (such as the Program/AppData folders - C:\ProgramData\Manufacturer\ on windows 7 for instance).

This approach bypasses this issue completely eliminating the need to create custom clean up scripts or actions.