Displaying the correct size in Windows' Add/Remove Programs

Question

I have a need to manually setup the registry settings for an entry in Window's Add/Remove Programs (for XP and Vista). Everything works except for the displayed size.

According to this 2004 post by Raymond Chen it should be possible by setting the EstimatedSize registry value but it doesn't work. This more recent MSDN page says the EstimatedSize value is "Determined and set by the Windows Installer." Does anyhow know how I can manually set the size value outside the Windows Installer?

(Suggestions to use a single large MSI are appreciated but we have done that in the past and its proven difficult and inflexible. Our current approach is a custom application to manage hundreds of smaller MSI packages, but this means the application itself has to write out the registry settings for Add/Remove Programs.)

Answer 1

you could try building the sub-projects into msm (merge modules) and then linking the lot into a single msi - you get the benefits of having individual modules, and a single msi that way.

Answer 2

Hi there, I actually just got this question answered for me. You could write a small batch file that executes the steps mentioned here:

Setting estimated size