Creating a prerequisite installer with target MSI embedded within it

Question

I have created an installer for my application using WIX. In addition, I have a setup.exe file which I've created using the VS Booststrapepr that verifies .NET is installed on the machine and installs it if it doesn't.

So now I'm stuck with two files - Setup.exe and the MSI. I would like to have a single file which checks for prerequisites (just like Setup.exe does) and then runs the MSI (not silently, the MSI UI must be presented).

How can I achieve that?

Thanks!

Answer 1

You do not need a seperate exe to check for presence of .NET framework, in your WiX for MSI, you can add authoring to check for presence of .NET Framework, please refer this link on how to check for precondition of .NET FX : http://wix.sourceforge.net/manual-wix3/check_for_dotnet.htm

Answer 2

Why not using a selfextractor as the easiest solution? IEXPRESS is already installed. WinRar, 7Zip, ...

The boot strapper tools available have to do the same.

Instead of taking the VS setup.exe you could also write an own small C++ starter .exe to check for .NET and otherwise just start the original .NET install.