How to embed WIC in a WiX managed bootstrapper?

Question

I build a managed bootstrapper application, based on .NET as a prerequisite. The bootstrapper will first install .NET and then run the WPF user interface (I'm using WixNetFxExtension).

However, the .NET installer requires a component called WIC to be already installed on the machine.

The problem is that some operating systems don't come with WIC (Windows Imaging Component) installed on the machine. So, how to embed it's installer to run before the .NET one?

Rick Bowerman Rick Bowerman · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-13T15:37:49

You'd want to download the WIC Installer and then add the package in your chain before your installer.

<Chain>
  <ExePackage Id="WIC" include the source and your settings here />
  <PackageGroupRef Id="NetFx40Web" />
  <MsiPackage Id="Your Installer" include the source and your settings here />
</Chain>

Additionally to prevent the installer from running unnecessarily you could add a RegistrySearch to determine if it's installed and use that as an InstallCondition on the ExePackage.

How to embed WIC in a WiX managed bootstrapper?

1 Answers