This topic lists the basic steps involved in creating, configuring, and building a Microsoft® Windows® installer package (.msi) file with Microsoft® Visual Studio® Installer. These basic steps involve:
After you've completed these steps, you can find pointers to more detailed information in other Visual Studio Installer help topics.
To author and launch an .msi file with Visual Studio Installer, complete these tasks:
To open Visual Studio Installer
The Microsoft development environment launches, and you can create a new installer project from the New tab in the New Project dialog box.
Note You can also launch Visual Studio Installer simply by launching Microsoft® Visual J++® or Microsoft® Visual InterDev™. Launching these products also opens the Microsoft development environment.
Visual Studio Installer creates your installer project. The Project Explorer displays your installer project hierarchy. You can expand the Target Machine node to start setting up the configuration of your installed product on the target machine.
For more detailed information about creating installer projects, see Creating and Opening Installer Projects.
To configure project properties
The Project Properties dialog box appears. You can view or change the project properties in the Project Properties dialog box.
For information about the different project properties and how to modify them, see Project Properties Dialog Box.
To add files to an installer project
The File System editor in Visual Studio Installer gives you a way to configure your application files on the target machine while you add them to the installer project.
The File System editor displays the files you added in the folder you selected. The files are also listed in the installer project Files node in the Project Explorer.
See the following topics for more detailed information about working with files in an installer project.
| For information about | See |
| The Visual Studio Installer File System editor | File System Editor |
| Adding files to an installer project | Adding Files to an Installer Project |
| Adding, moving, or deleting different kinds of files in an installer project and managing the file structure of installer components | Managing Components, Files, and Folders in an Installer Project |
| Setting file properties | File Properties |
To modify the target machine system registry
With the Visual Studio Installer Registry editor, you can specify registry values and keys in the target machine system.
The Registry editor appears.
See the following topics for more detailed information about manipulating the target machine registry.
| For information about | See |
| Adding and deleting registry keys and values, as well as setting registry values | Manipulating the Target Machine Registry |
| The Visual Studio Installer Registry editor | Registry Editor |
| Setting properties for registry entries | Registry Properties |
To establish document and MIME type and COM object associations
With the Visual Studio Installer Associations editor, you can specify how the target machine operating system will install and register your document types, MIME types, COM objects, and type libraries.
The Associations editor appears.
See the following topics for more detailed information about working in the Associations editor.
| For information about | See |
| Working with document types, extensions, verbs, MIME types, COM objects, and type libraries | Setting File, MIME, COM Object, and Type Library Associations |
| The Visual Studio Installer Associations editor | Associations Editor |
| Configuring properties for document types, file extensions, verbs, COM objects, and type libraries | Visual Studio Installer Object Properties |
To customize the installation run-time dialog boxes
With the Visual Studio Installer User Interface editor, you can customize the installation run-time display. Specifically, you can specify which dialogs to display to your user during the installation process, and you can customize some of the dialogs.
The User Interface editor appears.
See the following topics for more detailed information about installation user interface dialogs.
| For information about | See |
| Available user interface dialogs | Installation User Interface Dialogs |
| The Visual Studio Installer User Interface editor | User Interface Editor |
| Adding dialogs to the installer project | Adding Installation Dialogs |
| Deleting dialogs from the installer project | Deleting Installation Dialogs |
| Customizing available dialogs | Customizing Installation Dialogs |
| Working with dialog properties | User Interface Dialog Properties |
To build an installer package (.msi) file
After you configure all elements of an application's installation in your installer project (by specifying folder and file locations, file associations, registry actions, and so on), you must build the project into an installer package (.msi) file. You can then distribute the .msi file to users who want to install your application.
–or–
Note For information about these options, see the Build Tab (Project Properties Dialog Box) topic.
For more information, see Building an Installer Package (.msi) File.
To launch an installer package (.msi) file
For development and debugging purposes, the best way to launch your installer package (.msi) file is from within the Microsoft development environment.
For more information about these Windows installer requirements and launching an installer package file, see Launching an Installer Package File.