[wix-users] How do I package VS2015 Redistributables?

[Jon Earle]

This would up in my spam folder, so forgive the late response, and thank you for the guidance.

So, I did make a new project in my setup solution.  I pasted in the snippet below and fiddled with it a bit to get it going.  Found that fragment couldn't be inside a bundle tag and so on.  Also, I had to double up the snip contents because our app contains both 32 and 64 bit components, so both runtime redistributables are required.  Ugh!!

I have an EXE installer now, but, the gui is not at all what I expected.  I guess I'd expected the gui to be the same as my original MSI, but rethinking it, I guess it makes sense that it's not (since it's a wrapper).

So, how do I fix this - make the wrapper GUI use the banner and welcome logo, licence text, install path, etc as the original MSI?  If it cannot be made to look the same, PLM will not accept it (and I agree with them - they want the customer experience to remain unchanged).

Is there an alternate approach - perhaps using custom actions to check and install?  I'm handy enough with C#, just don't know if that's a viable option and looking for guidance before spending time exploring that.

Alternatively, I could even propose downgrading to VS 2013 to return to the easy merge module method of distributing the runtime, but, I'd like to stay current if it's possible (and relatively painless) to do so.

Thanks!
Jon


> Date: Wed, 4 May 2016 14:35:08 +0530
> From: shashank.s.khadse at gmail.com
> To: wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org
> Subject: Re: [wix-users] How do I package VS2015 Redistributables?
> 
> Use Wix bundle for packaging the pre-reqs.
> 
> You can refer following snippet of Bundle.wxs in my case for adding pre-req
> of 2010
> 
> 
>    <Chain>
> 
>       <PackageGroupRef Id="VC10_Redist_x64" />
> 
>       <MsiPackage SourceFile="$(var.MyInstaller.TargetDir)MyInstaller.msi"
>                   Compressed="yes"
>                   ForcePerMachine="yes"
>                   DisplayInternalUI="yes"
>                   Visible="no"
>                   Vital="yes"
>                   DisplayName="Display Name"
>                   Id="MyMsi"
>                   LogPathVariable="LOGPATH_PROP" />
>     </Chain>
> 
>      <Fragment>
>     <util:RegistrySearch
>            Id="VC2010_Redist_x64_Search"
>            Variable="VC2010_Redist_x64_Installed"     <==== Variable to
> check if already installed on m/c
>            Result="exists"
>            Root="HKLM"
> 
> Key="SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\VC\VCRedist\x64"
>            Win64="yes" />
> 
>     <PackageGroup Id="VC10_Redist_x64">
>       <ExePackage Id="vcredist2010x64"
> 
> SourceFile="$(var.SolutionDir)..\Installer\MyProj\PreRequisites\VCRedist\vcredist_2010_x64.exe"
>                   Cache="yes"
>                   PerMachine="yes"
>                   Vital="yes"
>                   Compressed="yes"
>                   InstallCommand="/quiet /norestart"
>                   DetectCondition="VC2010_Redist_x64_Installed"    <====
> Variable defined in the RegistrySearch
>                   Permanent="yes" />
>     </PackageGroup>
> 
>   </Fragment>
> 
> First check if the redist is already installed by registry search and if
> not then the vcredist package will be installed.
> 
> Let me know if it works in ur case.
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, May 2, 2016 at 8:00 PM, Jon Earle <earlej at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> > I have rebuilt our client using VS2015 (update from VS2005).  It now,
> > obviously, has a dependency on the VC2015 runtime libs.  I tried to add the
> > CRT merge module, but that was insufficient to allow the app to work.  I
> > then read that MS has made a new runtime - a "universal" crt... and they
> > won't make a merge module for it.
> >
> > Clearly, this is a big problem!  Product managers don't wish to force
> > customers to download and install a separate 14MB vcredist.exe package, nor
> > do I consider it very acceptable to embed that into the installer.
> >
> > What are people doing then, to accommodate the new requirements of
> > VC2015?  Is it possible any longer, to create one MSI that installs the
> > client (all of the various apps) and the runtimes to satisfy the
> > dependencies?
> >
> > Cheers!
> >
> >
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> 
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