Creating a .NET Windows Installer – Part 1

You can create a Windows Installer project on its own, or you can add it to an existing solution. The latter solution is often better, because it guarantees that the source project and the setup are always conveniently linked together in the same solution. It's also the approach we use with the FontViewer application.

To start, open the existing project that requires the setup program. Right-click on the solution item in the Solution Explorer window, and choose Add New Project. Choose Setup Project from the Setup and Deployment Projects group.

Once you type in the name of the project, click OK.

You also need to configure the build options for your solution, otherwise every time you run the program from the IDE, both the source and the setup projects will be built. As setup programs typically take several minutes to build, this can be a very time consuming (and annoying) process.

To change this behavior: right-click on the solution item in the Solution Explorer, and then choose Properties. Choose Configuration Properties and clear the Build checkmark for the setup project.

Now the setup file will not be created automatically. To build it manually, right-click on the setup project and choose Build.