Before you build an installer with Microsoft® Visual Studio® Installer, you'll find the following background information and concepts important:
See the following sections for detailed information.
| To read about | See |
| Benefits of building an installer based on the Windows installer | The New Microsoft Windows Installer |
| An overview of Visual Studio Installer and how you can easily build powerful application installers with it | Introducing Visual Studio Installer |
| Differences between Visual Studio Installer and other setup program authoring tools, including Visual Basic Package and Deployment Wizard, and Visual Studio 6.0 solution building and packaging features | Considerations for Choosing Visual Studio Installer |
| Basic steps to complete in order to author, build, and launch an installer package (.msi) file | Visual Studio Installer Quick Start |
| Best practices to follow when authoring an .msi file with Visual Studio Installer | Visual Studio Installer Best Practices |