Making .exe installable file for Windows application

2
votes

My question is pretty simple.

I am using visual studio 2013, I have developed a application the will be having a bunch of dll's and a .exe file.

I have added the Setup and package Extension with my vs2013 and it worked fine for me to bundle the files into .msi and a .exe file.

My question: I know that the .msi file alone is enough to install the app. Is it possible to have a single .exe file? I want a single .exe file and will start the installation once the .exe file double clicked.

I am seeing lot of application working like the way I said with single .exe file. I am wondering that I unable to find the answer for my question in web.

1
windowsvisual-studio-2013windows-installer
Could you not just write your own installer? This would give you the .exe extension your after AND give you a good amount of control – Harvey
@Harvey. I am really new to this part. Can you provide me the link that will give a basic idea on what you are speaking about. Thanks. – Gopichandar
Are you using WiX or Installsheild currently? as the package extention you installed should provide both. If so, have you tried both?... And as for creating your own. You create a function that will run on first run which will create the specific files in your desired directory – Harvey
@Harvey, I am using neither WIX nor Installsheild. I am using Setup and package extension. It provide me both. But the EXE file will nor work without the msi file. I want to have a one single exe file. – Gopichandar
After some research, i ended up with Innosetup – Gopichandar

1 Answers

2
votes

You just need something like WinZip, 7-zip, JZip or any of those types of tool. They'll compress your MSI file (and your setup.exe if you're installing prerequisites) into one executable. They let you specify which to run and the command line IIRC. The client runs the exe and it all just works.

Corporations often use group policy types of install - they would prefer an MSI file, in my experience.