ClickOnce + .net client profile framework + sql compact + offline installation

Question

am having issues with prerequisites while trying to publish my windows .net 3.5 application using clickonce.

I am wanting my application to work offline as well as online, so I want to include the prerequisites in the installation and not make client download them via the internet.

My prerequisites are: .Net Framework Client Profile SQL Compact 3.5 I have downloaded the .Net Framework Client Profile Offline Installer. Installed it and put the DotNetFx35Client.exe in this location: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bootstrapper\Packages\DotNetFx35Client

Under the Project - Publish Tab I have checked the "Download prerequisites from the following location" and entered \MachineName\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bootstrapper\Packages\DotNetFx35Client

Following http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1046370?tab=oldest#tab-top

I am however still the error:

The install location for prerequisites has not been set to 'component vendo's website' file Dotnetfx35client\Dotnetfx35clientSteup.exe' in item .net framework client profile can not be located on disk.

Answer 1

First, just FYI, you can deploy the SQLCompact Edition by including the dll's rather than deploying the redistributable. Here's a blog article about how to do that.

As for the .NET Framework Client Profile, I have no idea. I would have rolled a new package for the redistributable using the Bootstrapper Manifest Generator and included it with the deployment.

One thing you should know about the .NET 3.5 Client Profile -- if your customer has any version of .NET on the machine, it will install the whole .NET 3.5 SP-1. It actually only installs the Client Profile if the customer has no version of .NET on the machine. THey changed this in .NET 4.0, and the Client Profile is smaller too, so if you can migrate, you might want to consider it. It RTMs on Monday.

RobinDotNet