I get "Error 1706.No valid source could be found for product BOINC. The Windows Installer cannot continue." every time I try to update boinc. This needs to change, I finally managed to fix it but I shouldn't have to every single time I want to update. Learn how to make an installer that doesn't get corrupted after a while. Seriously, this is annoying. I almost don't want to use BOINC anymore because of updating always causes me to have to google for steps on how to fix and then go download an old version, click repair, then update.

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My Benchmark

It's Windows that forgets where it left the uninstaller of the previous version. It has nothing to do with the installer, or with BOINC.

Here's what happens:
The new BOINC installer invokes the uninstaller of the previous version.

This uninstaller wants to find the BOINC.msi file that it used to install the previous version with, but some corruption in the registry prevents it to find the correct version. Then you get that error message.

A simple search won't do it either, because the uninstaller doesn't clean up after itself, so when you do a search on your system, you'll find you'll have a lot of BOINC.msi files in C:\Windows\Downloaded Installations\

You try to find which one was used by the previous installer, it's impossible, which is the problem that the uninstaller has as well.

Why Windows forgets and why it happens a lot of some people's computers and never on others is also something we cannot say. For example, over the past 5 years of intensive testing I have gathered 163 (!!) BOINC.msi files on my computer, I haven't had an error for the uninstaller in a long time.

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I have a hunch on how it happens then, I clean up my system every so often, removing junk files from installers that can't figure out how to clean up after themselves. So, these files get removed often, and this may also be the case with many other machines, even those with automated tools that clean up for users who don't know what's being cleaned up.

That said, perhaps you should change the installer, make it a custom installer and not use Windows Installer tools to rely on. Then you can extract an uninstall.exe file into the directory of boinc so that each future version can always find the uninstaller no matter what.

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My Benchmark

It's the Windows disk cleanup tool [W7-64]. You can pick what to clean and one is old installation files. First I deleted all old BOINC.msi manually, except for the latest 3. Installation went fine. Then cleaned with old installations selected and -all- BOINC.msi were gone from c:\windows\installer [quick filter: 'size:large BOINC.msi']. Others were still there for Windows and other software, speculating some keys are not set to tell Windows cleanup to leave them alone. Rerunning cleanup again did not list 'old installation files', so Windows was satisfied the place was clear of any unneeded junk. Since keeping copies of the installer packages, it's not a problem to me. Ran 7.6.1 over 7.6.2 and low and behold, no moaning about a missing msi, but was told to boot the device. Figure that, never asked to do when upgrading, but with down?

Edit: And the boot took a long time to come back to the log-in screen. Before 10 minutes with ... 'Cleaning Up'. :/

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Coelum Non Animum Mutant, Qui Trans Mare Currunt

I don't use the Windows cleanup tool. I use System Mechanic to maintain my system better than Windows can do. It lets me clear all junk files when I want, including things left behind by previous installers.

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This image is an animated PNG made by me, Vas. Requires Firefox or Chrome with APNG Plugin.

My Benchmark