[wix-users] No MSI Generated from WIX Project (V3.8)

Tue Sep 15 08:42:57 PDT 2015

I've got a Wix Project in Visual Studio 2013 that is using the following command to generate the MSI:

               C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX Toolset v3.8\bin\Light.exe -out E:\CollabNet\CheckSystemMetrics\Installation\bin\Release\Installation.msi -pdbout E:\CollabNet\CheckSystemMetrics\Installation\bin\Release\Installation.wixpdb -v -cultures:null -notidy -pedantic -contentsfile obj\Release\Installation.wixproj.BindContentsFileListnull.txt -outputsfile obj\Release\Installation.wixproj.BindOutputsFileListnull.txt -builtoutputsfile obj\Release\Installation.wixproj.BindBuiltOutputsFileListnull.txt -wixprojectfile E:\CollabNet\CheckSystemMetrics\Installation\Installation.wixproj

It tells me the build is successful and is creating the \Bin\Release directory but leaving it empty.

When I run the command in a CMD window, I get the output below:

usage:  light.exe [-?] [-b bindPath] [-nologo] [-out outputFile] objectFile [objectFile ...] [@responseFile]

   -ai        allow identical rows, identical rows will be treated as a warning
   -au        (experimental) allow unresolved references
              (will not create a valid output)
   -b <path>  specify a binder path to locate all files
              (default: current directory)
              prefix the path with 'name=' where 'name' is the name of your
              named bindpath.
   -bf        bind files into a wixout (only valid with -xo option)
   -binder <classname>  specify a specific custom binder to use provided by
                        an extension
   -cultures:<cultures>  semicolon or comma delimited list of localized
             string cultures to load from .wxl files and libraries.
             Precedence of cultures is from left to right.
   -d<name>[=<value>]  define a wix variable, with or without a value.
   -dut       drop unreal tables from the output image
   -ext <extension>  extension assembly or "class, assembly"
   -loc <loc.wxl>  read localization strings from .wxl file
   -nologo    skip printing light logo information
   -notidy    do not delete temporary files (useful for debugging)
   -o[ut]     specify output file (default: write to current directory)
   -pedantic  show pedantic messages
   -sadmin    suppress default admin sequence actions
   -sadv      suppress default adv sequence actions
   -sloc      suppress localization
   -sma       suppress processing the data in MsiAssembly table
   -ss        suppress schema validation of documents (performance boost)
   -sts       suppress tagging sectionId attribute on rows
   -sui       suppress default UI sequence actions
   -sv        suppress intermediate file version mismatch checking
   -sw[N]     suppress all warnings or a specific message ID
              (example: -sw1009 -sw1103)
   -swall     suppress all warnings (deprecated)
   -usf <output.xml>  unreferenced symbols file
   -v         verbose output
   -wx[N]     treat all warnings or a specific message ID as an error
              (example: -wx1009 -wx1103)
   -wxall     treat all warnings as errors (deprecated)
   -xo        output wixout format instead of MSI format
   -? | -help this help information

Binder arguments:
   -bcgg      use backwards compatible guid generation algorithm
              (almost never needed)
   -cc <path> path to cache built cabinets (will not be deleted after linking)
   -ct <N>    number of threads to use when creating cabinets
              (default: %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS%)
   -cub <file.cub> additional .cub file containing ICEs to run
   -dcl:level set default cabinet compression level
              (low, medium, high, none, mszip; mszip default)
   -eav       exact assembly versions (breaks .NET 1.1 RTM compatibility)
   -fv        add a 'fileVersion' entry to the MsiAssemblyName table
              (rarely needed)
   -ice:<ICE>   run a specific internal consistency evaluator (ICE)
   -O1        optimize smart cabbing for smallest cabinets (deprecated)
   -O2        optimize smart cabbing for faster install time (deprecated)
   -pdbout <output.wixpdb>  save the WixPdb to a specific file
              (default: same name as output with wixpdb extension)
   -reusecab  reuse cabinets from cabinet cache
   -sa        suppress assemblies: do not get assembly name information
              for assemblies
   -sacl      suppress resetting ACLs
              (useful when laying out image to a network share)
   -sf        suppress files: do not get any file information
              (equivalent to -sa and -sh)
   -sh        suppress file info: do not get hash, version, language, etc
   -sice:<ICE>  suppress an internal consistency evaluator (ICE)
   -sl        suppress layout
   -spdb      suppress outputting the WixPdb
   -sval      suppress MSI/MSM validation

Environment variables:
   WIX_TEMP   overrides the temporary directory used for cab creation, msm explo
ding, ...

For more information see: http://wixtoolset.org/

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John Grieb
Technical Lead

Thomson Reuters

Phone: +1-646-223-7035
Mobile: +1-631-339-2880

john.p.grieb at thomsonreuters.com<mailto:john.p.grieb at thomsonreuters.com>