How to delete a field from one CRM 2013 solution when another solution is built on top of that

Question

I have two Dynamics CRM 2013 solutions:

base
special

special is built on top of base. That means that base defines some customizations that special needs and special defines some more customizations.

Now I want to delete a field (base_relatedobjects) from both solutions. It is defined in the base solution, so I deleted it there. I export that as managed and import that to the CRM with the special solution. After publishing the field is still there and it is managed, thus not deletable.

How can I delete fields like that?

Thanks and cheers

Arne

Answer 1

You cannot remove a field from a deployed managed solution. The fact that you have another managed solution built on top is actually irrelevant in this situation. Your only options are to uninstall and re-install the managed solution or to leave the field as is.

Update: It is possible to remove managed solution components through a bit of trickery called a holding solution nicely described here: https://community.dynamics.com/crm/b/crmthinkdynamics/archive/2014/09/25/how-to-delete-an-old-component-from-your-managed-solution-in-crm-2011-2013