Create Setup/MSI installer in Visual Studio 2017

Question

I have written an outlook add-in VSTO in Visual Studio Pro 2017 (VB.NET). I have published it which creates a setup.exe which is OK but I would like to create a proper installer that copies the files locally and can be run silently etc.

How do I go about doing this? When I go to create new project there is no installer project option.

Solution 1

You need to install this extension to Visual Studio 2017/2019 in order to get access to the Installer Projects.

According to the page:

This extension provides the same functionality that currently exists in Visual Studio 2015 for Visual Studio Installer projects. To use this extension, you can either open the Extensions and Updates dialog, select the online node, and search for "Visual Studio Installer Projects Extension," or you can download directly from this page.

Once you have finished installing the extension and restarted Visual Studio, you will be able to open existing Visual Studio Installer projects, or create new ones.

Solution 2

Other answers posted here for this question did not work for me using the latest Visual Studio 2017 Enterprise edition (as of 2018-09-18).

Instead, I used this method:

1. Close all but one instance of Visual Studio.
2. In the running instance, access the menu Tools->Extensions and Updates.
3. In that dialog, choose Online->Visual Studio Marketplace->Tools->Setup & Deployment.
4. From the list that appears, select Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 Installer Projects.

Once installed, close and restart Visual Studio. Go to File->New Project and search for the word Installer. You'll know you have the correct templates installed if you see a list that looks something like this:

Comments

[dkoch74]

This should be marked as the correct answer as it is Microsoft's official offering for installer project functionality in Visual Studio 2017.

[Anto sujesh]

msi which created using VS 2017 is not working on Win 7. any suggestion ?

[Jazimov]

I would need more information than "not working". But I do recommend updating Visual Studio to the latest available patch because there were some installation/setup issues identified and recently fixed.

[Anto sujesh]

Setup project required .Net Framework 4.6.2 on win 7. Win 7 SP1 only Supporting 4.6.2. so Is there any option to downgrade Setup project .Net Version on VS 2017 Community edition ?

[Nilay Mehta]

@Antosujesh I have also faced same issue. For this you can edit *.vdproj file. I searched for 4.6 with 4.5. And also updated DefaultLocation.

[smirkingman]

If the Installer Projects still don't show up: Run VS as Admin, Uninstall Installer Projects. Close VS and wait for VSIX to run. Run VS as Admin, Install Installer Projects. Close VS and wait for VSIX to run. Run VS as Admin, Enable Installer Projects. Close VS. Run VS

[zokaee hamid]

What is the difference between this answer and the higher answer?

[Jazimov]

@zokaee: What is the point of posting your comment here? Can you not see any differences? What specifically can I help you with??

[Rawat]

@zokaeehamid that answer is highest