This solution works with WIX 3.11. To harvest an entire directory, you can use Heat from the WIX toolset. With Heat we can automatically include all files from a given source directory on every build. To do that we first need to edit the Setup.wixproj: Define the Harvestpath for Heat: <PropertyGroup> <DefineConstants>HarvestPath=…\Deploy</DefineConstants> </PropertyGroup> Heat will … Read more
There’s an example in the WiX tutorial: https://www.firegiant.com/wix/tutorial/getting-started/where-to-install/ <Property Id=”INSTALLDIR”> <RegistrySearch Id=’AcmeFoobarRegistry’ Type=”raw” Root=”HKLM” Key=’Software\Acme\Foobar 1.0′ Name=”InstallDir” /> </Property> Of course, you’ve got to set the registry key as part of the install too. Stick this inside a component that’s part of the original install: <RegistryKey Key=”Software\Software\Acme\Foobar 1.0″ Root=”HKLM”> <RegistryValue Id=”FoobarRegInstallDir” Type=”string” Name=”InstallDir” Value=”[INSTALLDIR]” /> … Read more
Have fun with UI! Edit: The original link to answer doesn’t exist anymore. FireGiant (the maintainers of Wix) some examples for part of this process, but it’s doesn’t completely answer this question. There is one further tutorial (UPDATE Aug.2018: Link resurrected from Wayback Machine) that does go most of the way to answer this question. … Read more
Update, Stein Åsmul: Injecting this newer list of cleanup approaches. Find your package in C:\Windows\Installer, where Windows keeps copies of installed MSI packages. The names are generated randomly, so you’ll have to look at the creation dates of the files. Open the MSI file with Orca. (Unfortunately there is no simple download for the orca … Read more
Windows installers cannot be built to target Any CPU, I typically build twice, with the managed code being set to Any CPU, whilst the installer has two configurations x86 and x64. You may find you need to create the configurations, this can be done by right clicking on the solution and selecting configuration manager then … Read more
Set the Component value Permanent=”yes” like so: <Component Id=”LicenseDoc” Guid=”*” Permanent=”yes”> <File Id =”License.rtf” Source=”$(var.SolutionDir)Installer\License.rtf” /> </Component> Remarks: This definition has to be done in the installed MSI as well as the upgrading MSI. If the base MSI did not have a component Id this file will be deleted regardless of the Permanent=”yes”
Removing that gets the following error in the MSI logs: DEBUG: Error 2819: Control Folder on dialog InstallDirDlg needs a property linked to it Basically this means that the “browse for folder” control isn’t linked up to an actual property value. You’ve used the value INSTALLLOCATION for the application folder – which in turn means … Read more
Product/@Id=”*” randomly generates a new GUID, which is sufficient for product codes. Component/@Guid=”*” calculates a GUID that stays the same as long as your target path stays the same, which is necessary to comply with component rules.
The Isaiah4110 answer is not the best way if you don´t need a UI. The simplest way to execute the exe file target you are installing through the MSI file produced by WiX is with a custom action type 18 (identifying the action by FileKey/FileRef), here you are a complete examples for v3/v4: WiX v3: … Read more
You can try work with Dark which converts any MSI into Wix. You will need to remove a lot of “junk” especially in the UI areas but it will give you a decent start.