Question

I have a WiX installer that I would like to check for .Net 3.5, and install it if it does not exist. I have the following lines in my wixproj file:

<BootstrapperFile Include="Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.5">
    <ProductName>.NET Framework 3.5</ProductName>
</BootstrapperFile>
<BootstrapperFile Include="Microsoft.Windows.Installer.3.1">
    <ProductName>WIndows Installer 3.1</ProductName>
</BootstrapperFile>

When I create the installer, a DotNetFX35 folder is created, and in it are 4 different versions of .Net (including 3.5), and an installer file.

I have two questions:

1. How do I have it only bring in version 3.5 (so that the user doesn’t have to install 100+ MB of files)?

2. How do I tell WiX to package these files up into the MSI file, so that the user only has to download 1 file?

Answer 1

1. I think you are better of creating a separate project for the bootstrapper. If a web-install is sufficient, the following project template should work:

   <Project xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003" ToolsVersion="3.5">
   <ItemGroup>
       <BootstrapperFile Include="Microsoft.Windows.Installer.3.1">
           <ProductName>Windows Installer 3.1</ProductName>
       </BootstrapperFile>
       <BootstrapperFile Include="Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.5.SP1">
           <ProductName>.NET Framework 3.5 SP1</ProductName>
       </BootstrapperFile>
   </ItemGroup>
   <Target Name="Bootstrapper">
       <GenerateBootstrapper
           ApplicationFile="MyProject.msi"
           ApplicationName="MyProject"
           BootstrapperItems="@(BootstrapperFile)"
           OutputPath="$(OutputPath)"
           Culture="en-US"
           CopyComponents="true"
           ComponentsLocation="HomeSite"
           Path="$(BootstrapperPath)" />
   </Target></Project>
   

2. The WiX team is working on Burn, a new bootstrapper, but until it is ready for production use, you may use one of the (commercial) solutions to build a self extracting single executable that automatically runs “setup.exe”.