As stated above this section was split from an existing answer with broader scope: How do I avoid common design flaws in my WiX / MSI deployment solution? (an answer intended to help developers make better deployment decisions). 9. Overuse of per-user file and registry deployment. Some applications won’t run correctly for all users on … Read more
First of all: there is a script in the Windows Installer SDK called WiMakCab.vbs which is used to create *.cab files for use in MSI files. One of the lines in that script is: Dim compressType : compressType = “MSZIP”). You should probably try that script when creating the cabs. Below is an annotated quote … Read more
Adventures in Installing a C#/WPF Application (WiX)
Similar Answers: I want to add some linkes to previous answers on the topic of deferred mode custom actions. There are links to github-samples in these answers – including one sample which uses the DTF class CustomActionData to easily send properties to deferred mode (once you are properly set up): How to hide the value … Read more
The problem is that my custom uninstallation action runs after the removal of standard install files That’s because you have scheduled it before InstallFiles, which comes after RemoveFiles in a standard InstallExecuteSequence. You can also open your MSI file in an editor like Orca or InstEd and have a look at the InstallExecuteSequence table. Sort … Read more
The first thing that comes to mind with this question is whether the products in question are decomposed the way they should be. As a general rule all MSI files think they own whatever they install, and they will uninstall everything attached to a component GUID inside the MSI on uninstall if the reference count … Read more
http://www.mail-archive.com/wix-users@lists.sourceforge.net/msg05097.html gives an solution to republish the properties that were changed in the custom action immediately after it. Here is an example of how I have gotten it to work in my code: <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”utf-8″?> <Wix xmlns=”http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/wi”> <Fragment> <Binary Id=”ConnectionStringExtension.dll” SourceFile=”$(var.ConnectionStringExtension.TargetDir)$(var.ConnectionStringExtension.TargetName).CA.dll” /> <CustomAction Id=”MyCustomAction” BinaryKey=”ConnectionStringExtension.dll” DllEntry=”VerifyConnectionString” Execute=”immediate” /> <UI> <Dialog Id=”ConnectionStringDlg” Width=”370″ Height=”270″ Title=”Database … Read more
UPDATE Aug 2017: This very nice answer now appears outdated. Please also read the other answers in the “thread” for a few different “bootstrapper options”. The MSI package created by Wix is not able to do that. Windows Installer is rather limited and one MSI file (your installer) is not allowed to call another MSI … Read more
Squirrel: It’s like ClickOnce, but it works. Squirrel is both a set of tools and a library, to completely manage both installation and updating your desktop Windows application, written in either C# or any other language (that is, Squirrel can manage native C++ applications). Squirrel uses NuGet packages to create installation and update packages, which … Read more
NOTE: The below has not been tested extensively – conditions are notorious for being difficult to get right. Testing conditions requires real-world testing. A few more links: Condition debugging WiX launch conditions Wix Tools update uses old custom actions (example of complex conditions) How to add a WiX custom action that happens only on uninstall … Read more