Launching an Installer Package File

Once you have built a complete installer package (.msi) file, you might want to run it to test your product installation.

You must be aware of an important Microsoft^® Windows^® installer consideration whenever you run a changed version of an installer package (.msi) file. This is that the installer, after successfully installing an application, maintains a cached version of the original .msi file on the target machine. This cached copy of the .msi file is an important safeguard for your user, because it maintains the information necessary for any future installation repairs.

However, this cached version of the .msi file can interfere with testing and debugging, because the Windows installer will always run the cached .msi file, unless it is uninstalled. That means, you could make changes to a Microsoft^® Visual Studio^® Installer project (.wip file), build them into a new version of your installer package (.msi) file, and then run the installer package — and the new installation will not include any of your changes. That's because the Windows installer would run the original, cached version of the .msi file not the newer version you have just built.

To ensure your changes are incorporated into the product installation, you must uninstall any older version of the .msi file before you run the newer version. To accomplish this, you can either:

• Run an installer package file from inside the Microsoft development environment, which will uninstall a cached .msi for you.

  –or–

• Run an installer package file from Windows Explorer. In this case, you must uninstall the cached .msi file before running your changed version.

To run an installer package file from inside the Microsoft development environment

Before starting this procedure, make sure you have built the installer project (.wip) file into an installer package (.msi) file.

1. In the Project Explorer window, right-click the installer project you want to launch.
   
   
2. Select Launch Installer from the context menu.

Visual Studio Installer will uninstall any cached version of this .msi file that exists and then launch the updated installer.

To run an installer package file from Windows Explorer

Before starting this procedure, make sure you have built the installer project (.wip) file into an installer package (.msi) file.

1. In Windows Explorer, navigate to the installer package (.msi) file you want to run.
   
   
2. If this is a changed installer, right-click the .msi file name and then select Uninstall from the context menu. Follow the prompts to complete the uninstall procedure.
   
   
3. After the uninstallation is complete, right-click the .msi file name in Windows Explorer again.
   
   
4. Select the context menu option corresponding to the installation type:
   • Select Install for an installation to a local drive.

     –or–

   • Select Install to Network for a network installation to a server.
5. Follow the prompts to complete the installation.