How to make an MSI with Visual Studio 2012 and Installshield LE

8
votes

I've been given a Visual Studio solution someone else made. It has an installer project using Installshield LE. The installer builds fine but it makes an exe and I'm supposed to make an msi. I know the guy who wrote the project would generate msi files but I just don't see any options to do it. Is this doable with LE?

3
visual-studiovisual-studio-2012installshield
What happens when you run the .exe file? – John Saunders
The exe works just fine. – casolorz
There are scenarios where an EXE is required but it does add the additional complication of cache management. – Christopher Painter

3 Answers

26
votes

Go to step 6 and drill down to the Single Image release type. Set Compression on the build tab to yes and set setup launcher on the setup.exe tab to no. Build this release.

15
votes

Thanks for the help, guys. These tips sorted my issue.

After so many 1990s-looking releases, its amazing that InstallShield finally went to the trouble to make their Visual Studio integration so friendly... yet hid this vital option away.

I'm adding a screenshot, to help other users.

enter image description here

4
votes

I've solved it by using the following

  • By using SingleImage as the build type

  • Under - Setup.exe tab (Build | Setup.exe | Signing)

  • Select Setup Launcher = No.

The build from InstallShield will come out as a .MSI file under

(\RELEASE_PROJECT\Express\SingleImage\DiskImages\DISK1)