Setup and Deployment Packages in Visual Studio 2008
Setup and deployment projects are frequently used by developers looking for a user friendly means to install their custom application on end users' computers. The result of creating a setup and deployment project is a portable and easy to use MSI installer package for your software. To create a bare minimum setup and deployment package for a Visual Studio application, follow these steps (written specifically for Visual Studio 2008).
1) Right click on your Visual Studio solution in the Solution Explorer panel in VS. Select "Add -> New Project..."
2) In the available project listing, select "Setup Project". Give it a name and location and click OK.
3) At this point, Visual Studio will display the file system on the target machine in your main development panel. Open the Application Folder here. Right click on the blank file system and select "Add -> Project Output..."
4) Select the project that you're creating this package for in the drop down listing. Then select the "Primary Output" option. Leave the rest of the settings as is and click OK.
5) You should see the primary output as well as any necessary dll files listed in the application folder in the development window. This is good. From here, right click on the setup and deployment project name in the solution explorer and select "Build".
6) Now you're done! The MSI and setup installation files for your custom application will be residing in the output folder that you specified when initially creating the package.
Tags: .net, 1 click install, 2008, application, deployment, installer, msi, package, setup, visual studio
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