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I want to develop an installer project which will provide me a .msi. I would like to avoid using other tools like InstallShield, InstallBuilder etc. We would like to use custom GUI in this installer. The problem is that I am not quiet certain about how to start the implementation. So, I need some advise about how to start developing the project and what to do study for this.

Please note that, I have already created an installer using visual studio 2010. But the UI of this is not modifiable easily.

I want all of your kind help.

Naseef Chowdhury
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1 Answers1

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Check out IsWiX. The concept is project templates (scaffolding) and graphical designers for Windows Installer XML. Most of the work is done for you without editing XML. For custom UI, check out these two .wxs fragments:

UI.wxs

Uncomment to inject a custom dialog into the install wizard loop -->
<UIRef Id="CustomDlg"/>

UI-CustomDialog.wxs

...a bunch of XML to define a new dialog with header, body, footer and transition buttons...

We don't have designers for dialogs yet but I'd love a developer to help me write it.

Here's a couple sample videos:

Create and Package a Windows Service using IsWiX

IsWiX Web Site Demo

If Native MSI UI isn't fancy enough, you can look into writing a custom bootstrapper application for Wix / Burn using native or managed (WPF) code.

Christopher Painter
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  • I have installed isWix, but I could not find this tool in Visual Studio. By seeing the tutorial I have noticed that it should have been seen in the visual studio. Can you please help on this? – Naseef Chowdhury Apr 08 '15 at 04:03
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    What version and edition of Visual Studio are you using? I highly suggest Visual Studio 2013 Community Edition (Free) or higher. Please note that Express editions don't support AddIns. – Christopher Painter Apr 08 '15 at 11:19
  • Solved the issue. I needed to re-install the WIX Toolset. I have some additional question about language support and others. I feel if I could get a forum only dedicated for isWix then it would have been much better. As the questions will be more frequent. And thanks for the tool. I found the tool very interesting and useful. – Naseef Chowdhury Apr 08 '15 at 11:25
  • Also please note that my "multiproject solution templates" use a DLL that requires VS2012+. On 2010 you'll have to create a merge module project, then create a setup project and then add the merge module as a reference to the project. Sorry. – Christopher Painter Apr 08 '15 at 11:32
  • You can post additional questions and tag them with ISWIX and I'll see them. Otherwise you can post issues on CodePlex also. – Christopher Painter Apr 08 '15 at 11:33
  • What is the minimum version of .NET Framework required to run the installer prepared by isWix? – Naseef Chowdhury Apr 09 '15 at 04:30
  • IsWiX merely writes WiX souce. WiX builds the MSI. The project template adds a .NET 4.0 check but it is there merely on the assumption you are shipping .NET code. If you are not, it can be removed as the installer itself has no dependencies on the .NET framework. – Christopher Painter Apr 09 '15 at 11:12
  • I have already requested to join in the iswix project of codeplex. But it says creating issues and commenting is disabled now. – Naseef Chowdhury Apr 09 '15 at 11:46
  • Let us [continue this discussion in chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/rooms/74822/discussion-between-naseef-ur-rahman-and-christopher-painter). – Naseef Chowdhury Apr 09 '15 at 11:47