No publish.htm VS 2013 ClickOnce installation

Question

After I converted my windows app from VS2008 to VS2013. I found out the VS2013 ClickOnce does not work the same way as in VS2008. With VS2008, I deployed my app to my local IIS folder and copy all the files (publish.htm, setup.exe, MyApp.application and Application Files) to QA and Production environment and users can download and install the app from respective environments without problem.

With VS2013, there is no publish.htm file. And when users download the installation package, it pops the error saying it can't download files from my local IIS folder instead of from QA or Production web servers.

Has anyone tried ClickOnce with VS2013?

Answer 1

See if the publish file is not activated in your project settings -> publish -> Options -> Deployment. We used the network share publish, which created a publish-file, and created a web directory which points to that share manually.

Even if the file is generated, the description in Publish.htm is a bit misleading. It reads

The following prerequisites are required: Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 (x86 and x64) If these components are already installed, you can launch the application now. Otherwise, click the button below to install the prerequisites and run the application.

If you click "launch" it will start the download/your application, you only need to click "Install" to get the required components like .net Framework (which won't work if you have not deployed them in your directory).

Answer 2

Have your users click on the .application file