CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#wixinstallationsilent
Pavan
Pavan

Reputation: 49

Silent installer for wix 3.5 with custom actions in c#\.NET

Is there any way I can put all the properties and values of my WIX 3.5 installer, like the user inputs in my custom dialogs , into one single file and pass it to my MSI installer for silent installation? Something like one would do with a response file with installshield with a properties file? I made sure to have all my custom actions in installexecute sequence. All my custom actions are in c#/.NET

Upvotes: 3

Views: 496

Answers (2)

Tom Blodget
Tom Blodget

Reputation: 20772

Not quite.

As you probably know, all the UI actions are skipped during a silent installation => no dialogs => no place for user inputs.

There are methods, though. You'll have to set the properties as they would have been set by the UI.

  • First, as an alternative, you could build your installer without any dialogs that take user inputs => same outcome with silent and non-silent installations.
  • Second, if the defaults are okay, then no properties need to be changed.
  • In any case, you might get by with passing property values on the msiexec command line.
  • If not, Christopher Painter's answer concerning transforms gives the most general solution.

Upvotes: 0

Christopher Painter
Christopher Painter

Reputation: 55571

You use the Windows Installer SDK tool ORCA (MSI database editor) to create a transform. In the transform you define all your properties.

Editing MSI files with Microsoft Orca

Once you have created your transform you perform the silent installation like this:

msiexec /I foo.msi TRANSFORMS=foo.mst /qn /l*v install.log

Silent installations completely skip the UI sequence so you aren't recording user input like a response file. You are setting properties and fully skipping the UI.

Upvotes: 2

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