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I have created a .msi in visual studio 2008 containing my project and it requires prerequisite third party software to run including WinZip. I have had a look round and from what I've seen, there's a prerequisite window where you can select programs like .NET framework. I have also had a look at writing a bootstrapper to check whether the third party prerequisites have been installed on the machine but I've hit a brick wall. Any other suggestions or some advice on how to do this would be very helpful.

Thanks

user1087943
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    What software you using to create the .msi file. The Visual Studio Setup project is not very advanced. Other free and paid software allows you to extend your ability to do this. Please note you should avoid trying to install an internal copy of WinZip, you should simply check to see if its installed, and if its not tell the use its required. Besides you don't need WinZip to create an archive. – Security Hound Dec 08 '11 at 15:00
  • Thanks for the reply. I've been creating the .msi from visual studio. Please could you expand on how to check if the prerequisite is installed before the main project is installed. – user1087943 Dec 08 '11 at 16:32

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As Ramhound suggested in his comment, have a look at the commercial products to author your installer. Several, including my personal favorite Advanced Installer, offer free versions of the tool that may satisfy your initial requirements.

Depending upon how the prerequisites are packaged (MSI or EXE) your MSI might not directly be able to install the prereq without the use of a custom action or a bootstrapper that would search the target system for the prereq and install it if it not present on the target system.

As an aside, I have no affiliation with Advanced Installer other than the fact that I've been a paying customer for a few years now. In addition to a solid product their service is excellent as well.

Tim Lentine
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You can use the ClickOnce bootstrapper. See this page for an example how to use it to install the .net framework.

Bootstrapper packages are installed in C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v6.0A\Bootstrapper\, or a newer location. You can add your own package. To help you create one, use the Bootstrapper Manifest Generator.

The result is a setup.exe which first checks if the prerequisites are installed, and if not installs it. Then your .msi will be executed.

wimh
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