Troubleshooting VSIX installation issues

Applies to

GhostDoc v5.5 or newer
CodeIt.Right v3.1 or newer

Symptoms

When installing VSIX in VS2017 receive message "This version is already installed"
Visual Studio says there is an update but every time you try to install it, the
Visual Studio won't update to v5.5 as it says it's already installed, when, in fact, the v5.4 is installed
Your (valid) license won't activate in VS2017

Cause

This is due to introducing the VSIX installer while the older version was still MSI-based. Being totally different technology, the VSIX installer is not able to remove the older MSI deployed version.

Solution

The solution is to uninstall the older version through Control Panel -> Programs and Features and after that, you will be able to install the VSIX version from a file or Marketplace.

Future updates

Once you have the VSIX version installed, the future updates won't be a problem for they will leverage the same VSIX update mechanism built into the Visual Studio.

Additional Information