Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2012 Setup and Deployment Project

Question

_{Friday, August 31, 2012 12:10 PM | 3 votes}

I have installed Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2012. Created my application and then want to add a Setup and Deployment Visual Studio Installer to my app to create a setup package. In Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2010 under Setup and Deployment you have the

InstallShield LE

and

Visual Studio Installer with

• Cab Project
• Merge Module Project
• Setup Project
• Setup Wizard
• Web Setup Project

What happened to the Visual Studio Installer with

• Cab Project
• Merge Module Project
• Setup Project
• Setup Wizard
• Web Setup Project

???

www.ipdg3.com

All replies (12)

_{Tuesday, September 4, 2012 3:30 AM ✅Answered | 3 votes}

Hi iamtgo3,

I managed to create the setup project successfully by using the InstallShield 2012 Limited Edition. Here are the steps I did:

1). Register, download and install InstallShield 2012 Limited Edition. After you install it successfully, you can find the InstallShield 2012 Limited Edition in the Control Panel.
2). Launch the InstallShield 2012 Limited Edition.
3). Go to File->New->Project->Other Project Types->InstallShield Limited Edition->InstallShield Limited Edition Project.

Thanks.

Vicky Song [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

_{Friday, August 31, 2012 12:54 PM | 1 vote}

Read here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh466747.aspx

This is the key part:

_{Friday, August 31, 2012 1:22 PM}

pvdg42

Thanks for the quick reply. Thanks for the link actually seen that and thought do not tell me Microsoft took out the Visual Studio Installer. It would seems that is what has happened. Now I thought well guess I will have to bite the bullet and use the "InstallShield 2012 Limited Edition for Visual Studio". These are all great ideas however the Install shield site is still sporting the Visual Studio 11 Beta logo and after you register and install the "InstallSheild Limited Edition for Visual Studio" it does not seem to work with VS2012. I have a project and followed their instruction to the letter after installing "InstallShield 2012 Limited Edition for Visual Studio" and rebooting. I click InstallShield LE it just keeps taking me back to thier home page to start the register and download process again and again. What did I miss or do wrong  or does this just not work with VS2012?

InstallShield 2012 Limited Edition for Visual Studio makes it easy to:

• • • Build flexible installation projects for applications built with Visual
      Studio
    • Jumpstart projects with a simple design environment and Project Assistant
    • Take advantage of Installation prerequisites and custom actions
    • Digitally sign your installers
  • 1. On the File menu, point to New and click
       Project. The New Project dialog box opens.
    2. In the Installed Templates box, expand the Other
       Project Types item, then the Setup and Deployment
       item, and then click InstallShield LE. Then select the
       InstallShield Limited Edition Project template.
    3. Configure the settings for the name and project location as needed.
    4. Click OK.

www.ipdg3.com

_{Friday, August 31, 2012 2:21 PM}

Just chatted with someone for Flexera about "InstallShield 2012 Limited Edition for Visual Studio". They said the reason that they are still sporting the Visual Studio 11 beta logo is it is not ready yet for full release of VS2012. Did not get a projected release date and since Visual Studio Installer is not in Visual Studio 2012 the Setup and Deployment area is not really useful right now. Any suggestions on what to use in the mean time?

www.ipdg3.com

_{Tuesday, September 4, 2012 7:07 PM}

I managed to create the setup project successfully by using the InstallShield 2012 Limited Edition. Here are the steps I did:

1). Register, download and install InstallShield 2012 Limited Edition. After you install it successfully, you can find the InstallShield 2012 Limited Edition in the Control Panel.
2). Launch the InstallShield 2012 Limited Edition.
3). Go to File->New->Project->Other Project Types->InstallShield Limited Edition->InstallShield Limited Edition Project.

Vicky Thanks for the reply. I installed it and after rebooting and going step 1 - 3 InstallShield Limited Edition was not there. I had to install a second time and it then appeared. The other thing that gave me a laugh is that when you go to Flexera to get installshield limited edition the last paragraph on the page states:

"Please register below to download InstallShield Limited Edition for Visual Studio. The information provided below will be used for emailing a product serial number which is required for activation, creating a private support community account and for future communication regarding product updates.”

However the email never came with the serial so not sure if it worked as designed or something wrong on their end for the serial number. Did you get a serial number emailed to you when you went through the Download InstallShield Limited Edition for Visual Studio on Flexera site?

www.ipdg3.com

_{Wednesday, September 5, 2012 1:50 AM}

Hi iamtgo3,

Yes, I can get the serial number in the email. Please try it agian, if you still can't get the serial number, consult Flexera engineers directly:  http://www.flexerasoftware.com/company/contact.htm 

Thanks,

Vicky Song [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

_{Monday, September 10, 2012 3:50 PM | 2 votes}

While it is possible to create a setup project, it does not properly works in some cases when multiples languages are used (C++/CLI, C#), the application is multilingual and uses some third-parties components.

And the limited edition is more limited that Visual Studio Project as they don't allows to create a 64 bit setup, have problem with long DLL filenames (and since it is third party DLLs, it is not easy nor desirable to rename them) and some depedencies are outputted to the wrong folder.

Visual Studio 2010 do have some problems but it was easier to work around and there were less problems. After a few days, I still haven't figured out how to have a working setup for my application.

And then InstallShield LE is far less stable (it crash when openening a solution if setup project is loaded) and it has far worst impact on performance causing Visual Studio to become very slow.

Otherwise, I really like Visual Studio 2012 (I am using RC version) but for that part (setup project), we have really regressed.

_{Friday, September 14, 2012 4:59 PM | 3 votes}

I do not know about you, but for a company the setup is important. The only option is to DVD5. We can not make an executable only. Install Shield is very expensive. very expensive. very expensive. Impossible. Imagine a team with 10 developers, what would be the cost

_{Thursday, September 20, 2012 1:34 PM | 3 votes}

Microsoft and Flexera both dropped the ball on this one.  Why build an app that Ican't deploy?  Install Shield Limited is very LIMITED.  At this point, I don't see any way to do something as simple as mark the .MSI for x64 instead of x86.  Previously in one project, I had the ability to compile output from 3 different service projects and a UI.  At this point, I don't see any way to have one Install Shield that handles multiple projects.  All the tutorials I've come across point to their full version.

Is there a training site directly for the Install Shield very LIMITED edition that can answer these questions?  How hard would it be for someone at Microsoft to do a side-by-side video of what we could do in the old setup and now how we can do it using this tool? 

Data Integration Application Developer

_{Monday, October 8, 2012 6:46 PM | 2 votes}

Microsoft and Flexera both dropped the ball on this one.  Why build an app that Ican't deploy?  Install Shield Limited is very LIMITED.  At this point, I don't see any way to do something as simple as mark the .MSI for x64 instead of x86.  Previously in one project, I had the ability to compile output from 3 different service projects and a UI.  At this point, I don't see any way to have one Install Shield that handles multiple projects.  All the tutorials I've come across point to their full version.

Is there a training site directly for the Install Shield very LIMITED edition that can answer these questions?  How hard would it be for someone at Microsoft to do a side-by-side video of what we could do in the old setup and now how we can do it using this tool? 

Data Integration Application Developer

Ditto! We're having multiple problems moving a VS 2010 Setup package to InstallShield 2012 Spring Limited Edition for Visual Studio.  Of all the projects in our VS Solution (Azure, mvc, wcf, etc.) I didn't expect the WPF Setup/MSI build to halt our migration to 2012. MS, please bring back basic VS setup project http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio/suggestions/3041773-bring-back-the-basic-setup-and-deployment-project-?page=1

_{Wednesday, October 17, 2012 3:51 PM}

Hi Vicky Song

by any chance do you know any step by step guide for people who need to setup a windows service project ? ( visual studio 2012 and install shield limited edition) 

Thanks

Farzad

_{Tuesday, April 22, 2014 7:18 AM}

Try using WiX: http://wixtoolset.org it's a complete tool set for creating installers. It also has project templates for visual studio, but according to their web site,  the templates only work with VS2010 (perhaps this has changed in the latest version, which doesn't have docs yet).

Or use the extension to VS2013, which brings back the installer project type: