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How Do I Create a MSI File With WiX?

Last updated on September 30, 2022 @ 11:00 am

To answer the question of how to create a MSI file with WiX, one must first understand what WiX is and what it does. WiX is a toolset that allows developers to create Windows Installer-based installation packages for their software products.

In order to create a MSI file with WiX, developers must use the WiX toolset to author an XML document that defines the installation package they want to create, and then compile that XML document into a MSI file using the WiX compiler.

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The WiX toolset consists of a number of different tools, but the two most important tools for creating MSI files are theWiX compiler (wixc.exe) and theWiX linker (light.exe). The WiX compiler is used to compile XML documents into MSI files, and the WiX linker is used to link multiple MSI files together into a single installation package. In order to create a MSI file with WiX, developers must first author an XML document that defines the installation package they want to create.

The XML document that defines a WiX-based installation package is called an “installation database” or “.wxs” file. The contents of a .wxs file are divided into a number of different “sections”, each of which define a different aspect of the installation package. The most important section for creating a MSI file is the “Product” section, which defines the overall product being installed, the features that make up that product, and the components that those features contain.

PRO TIP: If you are not a experienced software developer, then it is not recommended that you attempt to create a MSI file with WiX. This process can be very complicated and if done incorrectly, could lead to serious problems with your software.

Once a developer has created a .wxs file for their product, they can compile it into a MSI file using the WiX compiler (wixc. The compiler will take the contents of the .wxs file and generate a MSI file based on it. If there are any errors in the .wxs file, they will be reported by the compiler and must be fixed before the MSI file can be generated.

After compiling a .wxs file into a MSI file, the developer can then use the WiX linker (light.exe) to link multiple MSI files together into a single installation package. This is often necessary when creating software that consists of multiple products, or when installing multiple products at once. The light.exe tool takes as input any number of MSI files and outputs a single “merged” MSI file that contains all of the content from those input files.

Conclusion: To create an effective Windows Installer-based installations for their software products, developers need to use WiX. This article has given detailed instructions on how to do so by first authoring an XML document in .wxs format -which defines different aspects about teh product being installed- ,compiling it using WiX compiler, and finally linking multiple .MSI(s) together using WiL linker.

Morgan Bash

Morgan Bash

Technology enthusiast and Co-Founder of Women Coders SF.