[wix-users] Repackaging with WiX?

[Blair Murri]

Many years ago, when MSFT wasn't yet installing .NET Framework onto XP boxes via Windows Update, I looked at shipping a configured app (for the app's own maker) via MSI for their customers who needed a per-user installation option. Then they informed me that their app required .NET and there was no guarantee that the box had the required version installed, so we kept the before/after snapshot tool and used it to feed into an application virtualization system's packaging toolset instead.

I know that some repackagers have used WiX as part of their tooling, but none had released any code publicly that I've ever noticed. The idea is very plausible, although there are several things most repackagers tend to do that really cause problems, and automation alone isn't likely to improve that.

I trust Chris to have good advice on the subject. If you're serious you should talk to him.

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________________________________
From: wix-users <wix-users-bounces at lists.wixtoolset.org> on behalf of Dan Gough via wix-users <wix-users at lists.wixtoolset.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2019 5:59:30 AM
To: WiX Toolset Users Mailing List
Cc: Dan Gough
Subject: [wix-users] Repackaging with WiX?

Hi,

WiX is mostly used by developers and software vendors, but there's a huge
untapped market out there, which is repackaging non-MSI setups so that they
can be configured and deployed for enterprise deployment. There are a bunch
of commercial tools out there that do this, but they are all have issues
and are mostly extortionately expensive.

After some brief investigation it looks like I could build a before/after
snapshot tool to output a folder of files and a reg file, then harvest that
into a WiX project and build from there.

I just wondered if anyone out there has attempted anything similar, or
would be interested in such a project?

Regards,
Dan

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