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We have a Visual Studio setup project which generates an msi for our Windows desktop application. the vdproj file has some metadata about the files that we add to this setup project. The problem is that Visual Studio changes data (Msmkeys) for all files, everytime we add a new file to this project. As the project grows with hundreds of files, it has become difficult to track changes in vdproj. Is there a way to tell Visual Studio to not change data for already present files?

Sourabh86
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Short answer, not yet. Maybe never.

I've tweeted Scott Hanselman about this component and tried to get the question of this component's future answered by the panel at Connect 2016 via the live tweet Q&A sessions. I'm not sure who the right person to ask is.

One of the main issues you'll fight against is the automatic dependency detection.

This will mess up the GUIDS differently depending on which machine the change is made on. Making simple changes a nightmare to merge.

I generally work on the installers only on ONE machine, fixed in one build configuration (release) which minimizes the impact.

See my post here Microsoft Connect Issue

GilesDMiddleton
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  • After 6 years, VS Installer Project is still alive and has made its way into VS2022. We are still fighting with the GUID hell and Microsoft Connect has long retired. – dotNET Jan 28 '22 at 04:46
  • @dotNET you can see some of my complaints in the review section for 2017, but maybe the MS Connect is long gone. Really, I just wish they'd open source it. I see Wix in my near future - or just stop doing desktop installs all together (WebAsm?). [here](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=VisualStudioClient.MicrosoftVisualStudio2017InstallerProjects&ssr=false#review-details) – GilesDMiddleton Jan 29 '22 at 15:05