Create MSI or setup project with Visual Studio 2012

I create a small application and I would like to create one MSI file.

In Visual Studio 2010 you have this project type under:

Other Project Types -> Setup and Deployment -> Visual studio Installer -> Setup Project

But the only thing you got in Visual Studio 2012 is "Enable InstallShield Limited Edition".

You can change the .NET Framework, but nothing changes.

Why is it not there any more? And how can I get it back? Is there a new way to do this?

Please see:

Visual Studio setup projects (vdproj) will not ship with future versions of VS

Windows Installer Deployment

It was announced 1 1/2 years ago that the project types were being killed. Alternatives are:

1. Use A VS2008/2010 Solution to build your installer
2. Switch to another tool such as InstallShield or Windows Installer XML

To create setup projects in Visual Studio 2012 with InstallShield Limited Edition, watch this video.

The InstallShield limited edition that cannot install services.

> "ISLE is by far the worst installer option and the upgraded, read - > paid for, version is cumbersome to use at best and impossible in most > situations. InnoSetup, Nullsoft, Advanced, WiX, or just about any > other installer is better. If you did a survey you would see that > nobody is using ISLE. I don't know why you guys continue to associate > with InstallShield. It damages your credibility. Any developer worth > half his weight in salt knows ISLE is worthless and when you stand > behind it we have to question Microsoft's judgment."

By Edward Miller (comments in Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension).

The WiX Toolset, which, while powerful is exceeding user-unfriendly and has a steep learning curve. There is even a downloadable template for installing Windows services (ref. VS2012: Installer for Windows services?).

For Visual Studio 2013, see blog post Creating installers with Visual Studio.

Have you tried the "Publish" method? You just right click on the project file in the solution explorer and select "Publish" from the pop-up menu. This creates an installer in a few very simple steps.

You can do more configuration of the installer from the Publish tab in the project properties window.

NB: This method only works for WPF & Windows Forms apps.

Microsoft has listened to the cry for supporting installers (MSI) in Visual Studio and released the Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension. You can now create installers in Visual Studio 2013; download the extension here from the visualstudiogallery.

ISLE (InstallShield Limited Edition) is the "replacement" of the Visual Studio Setup and Deploy project, but many users think Microsoft took wrong step with removing .vdproj support from Visual Studio 2012 (and later ones) and supporting third-party company software.

Many people asked for returning it back (Bring back the basic setup and deployment project type Visual Studio Installer), but Microsoft is deaf to our voices... really sad.

As WiX is really complicated, I think it is worth to try some free installation systems - NSIS or Inno Setup. Both are scriptable and easy to learn - but powerful as original SADP.

I have created a really nice Visual Studio extension for NSIS and Inno Setup with many features (intellisense, syntax highlighting, navigation bars, compilation directly from Visual Studio, etc.). You can try it at www.visual-installer.com (sorry for self promo :)

Download Inno Setup (jrsoftware.org/isdl.php) or NSIS (nsis.sourceforge.net/Download) and install V&I (unsigned-softworks.sk/visual-installer/downloads.html).

All installers are simple Next/Next/Next...

In Visual Studio, select menu File -> New -> Project, choose NSISProject or Inno Setup, and a new project will be created (with full sources).

There is some progress for Visual studio 2013 developers :-D woot woot! See blog post Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension.

Link and information were retrieved from Brian Harry's blog post Creating installers with Visual Studio.

Have a look at the article Visual Studio Installer Deployment. It will surely help you.

You can choose the correct version of .NET framework on the page. So for you, make it .NET 4.5. I guess that would be there for Visual Studio 2012.

I think that Deploying an Office Solution by Using ClickOnce (MSDN) can be useful.

After creating an Outlook plugin for Office 2010 the problem was to install it on the customer's computer, without using ISLE or other complex tools (or expensive).

The solution was to use the publish instrument of the Visual Studio project, as described in the link. Just two things to be done before the setup will work:

• Install the PIA (Primary Interop Assembly) of Office 2010

• Install the VSTO 2010 runtime