wix3

How to register file types/extensions with a WiX installer?

I didn't find an explicit answer to this question in the WiX Documentation (or Google, for that matter). Of course I could just write the appropriate registry keys in HKCR, but it makes me feel dirty and I'd expect this to be a standard task which should have a nice default solution. For bonus points, I'd like to know how to make it "sa...

Including all dependencies

I'm just starting out with WiX as I need to be able to automate building an MSI on our CI server. Is there anyway to automatically include all the dependencies of a project? ...

How do you register a win32 com dll in WiX3?

So I found this example on registering DLLs: http://blogs.msdn.com/robmen/archive/2004/04/28/122491.aspx and WiX complains about the "AssemblyRegisterComInterop" attribute. I removed that and changed the "Assembly" attribute to win32 and it says I need to specify the AssemblyManifest attribute, but I don't know what to put there. ...

Is it possible to use .png images for WiX bitmaps

I am using 2 500K bitmaps in to display images on my WiX dialogs. They dramatically increase the size of the installation package, and what is worse - it looks there's no way to package them as a part of a .cab file since they're <binary>-es in the WiX terms. So, I thught, is there any way to use other file formats for bitmaps or WiX i...

Execute process as normal user from MSI (wix) under different context

I'm trying to configure an installer for some software we use within the company. The installer is pushed out to target machines via SMS, and it performs the following steps: Terminate any currently running instances of the app (the app is a utility, so this isn't an impact on the user). Remove the previous version. Install the update...

How to create a multi-level subfolder in Start menu using Wix

Hi guys. How do I create sub folders (several levels deep) in the Windows Start menu, using Wix? Currently I am able to put my shortcut in the Start menu, but only in a folder immediately under Programs (Start / Programs / MyFolder), but I want to nest my shortcut deeper (Start / Programs / MyPlatform / MyProduct / etc). I tried differen...

WiX tricks and tips

We've been using WiX 3 for a while now, and despite the usual gripes about ease of use, it's going reasonably well. What I'm looking for is useful advice regarding: Setting up a WiX project (layout, references, file patterns) Integrating WiX into solutions, and build/release processes Configuring installers for new installations and up...

How to create/Where to get Wix Bootstrapper for Multiple Instances

I'm currently learning how to create msi installers using WiX and it seems I've hit a wall. All is well when I create an MSI containing everything needed for a single environment. I have features, and components, and can install my MSI. Now I'm at the stage where I want to convert this in a SQL Server-style installer, where you have m...

How do you use WiX to deploy VSTO 3.0 addins?

I want to deploy a VSTO 3 Application Level Word 2007 addin that I've written with Visual Studio 2008. I see that WiX has an extension named WixOfficeExtension that looks like it might have this functionality, but I can't find any documentation for it, and I can't discern it's purpose from the source code. Has anyone attempted this befo...

WIX Merge Module : Trying to use $(var.Project.TargetFileName)

I have created a simple Wix 3 Merge Module in VS 2005 ( .wxs ) <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <Wix xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi"&gt; <Module Id="TestMergeModule" Language="1033" Version="1.0.0.0"> <Package Id="ef2a568e-a8db-4213-a211-9261c26031aa" Manufacturer="Me" InstallerVersion="200" /> <Director...

WiX Includes vs Fragments

Quite simply, what's the difference between a WiX include (.wxi file) and a WiX fragment (.wxs file)? What are the use cases for each? Which "should" be used and why? ...

How to add a UI to a WIX3 installer

I've tried <UIRef Id="WixUI_Minimal" /> but I get "Unresolved reference to symbol WixUI:WixUIMinimal". What am I doing wrong? ...

How to build a Minimal WIX Installer UI without a license page?

I would like to use the WixUI_Minimal installer, but I don't want the license page. How would you do this? ...

Wix Major Upgrade, what am I doing wrong?

Upgrades work fine if no components have changed, but any time a component changes the upgrade fails and it requires the user to manually uninstall and reinstall. Some snippets: <Product Id="*" Name="My Application" Language="1033" Version="!(bind.FileVersion.ClientEXE)" Manufacturer="My Company" UpgradeCode="MYGUID-b94a-44eb-8e92-9286...

WIX installer with Multiple Entries in Add/Remove Programs

I am developing installer for a Application Suite using WIX, and the structure is follows: Application Core     |_ _ Flavor1     |_ _ Flavor2     |_ _ Flavor3 Application Core is a product like Visual Studio and, Flavors 1,2,3 are sub products under it. Here is my problem, - In Add remove programs should have 4 entries for Appl...

ServiceInstall or ServiceControl Problem

Hi, During Installation, I'm installing my service using ServiceInstall and ServiceControl tags. But, my service is not running. I'm getting error message "Please check you have sufficient privilege to start service". But, I'm in Administrators group. I'm using Wix ver 3.0. code snippet is here, <File Id='myexe' Name='myexe.exe' DiskI...

Windows Installer: Signing Transforms

I've done a fair bit of Googling around this topic, and I haven't found a definitive answer yet. Hopefully one of you guys will be able to help out :-) I'm producing a Multi-lingual User Interface (MUI) installer using WiX; the output is a localised MSI for each culture targetted. After the MSIs have been built, a transform (MST) is g...

Store value of ConfigurableDirectory in registry

Our installer allows the users to select where they want to install certain files, but we need to have a registry entry that points to that location. I am using the ConfigurableDirectory option of the Feature to do that. How can I get the directory that the user selected so I can write it to the registry? ...

Add a summary information to WiX generated MSI

How to add (or change a default values) a summary page information to a WiX-generated MSI file? Summary page is the tab page which is visible if you right click on the MSI file in the Windows Explorer and includes following text fields: Title, Subject, Author, Category, Keywords, Comments ...

Defining Wix properties and values based on VS active configuration

How can I define Wix properties and values that change depending on which Visual Studio configuration is active? e.g. For our release build, var x = 1 and for the export build, var x = 2. ...