Windows Installer Overview

Windows Installer is the Microsoft technology for deploying applications. This technology has been part of the Windows operating system for many years and can be considered as an engine for installing .Msi packages. An .Msi package, or installer package, contains all files to be installed with your application and other important information such as shortcuts, icons, license agreements, other redistributable packages, and key/values to be written to the Windows Registry.

Windows Installer is the most powerful technology for deploying .NET applications with Visual Studio 2010. This is because Windows Installer has few limitations, whereas it brings lots of benefits. Windows Installer makes it difficult to provide updates, so if you plan to release frequent updates for your applications, you should consider ClickOnce, which is discussed in next chapter. You should choose Windows Installer as the deployment system for your application if you meet one or more of the following requirements:

• Adding values to the Windows Registry

• Customizing installation folders

• Installing assemblies to the Global Assembly Cache or installing and registering COM components

• Installing Windows services and peripheral drivers

• Executing custom actions and specifying launch conditions

• Managing ODBC components

• Creating custom shortcuts in the Windows user interface

• Elevated permissions and deeper interaction with the user

In scenarios different from the ones listed, you might instead consider ClickOnce. Visual Studio 2010 is the perfect environment for creating projects that can build Windows Installer packages that install your applications on target machines the most appropriate way. In next section you see how to accomplish this.