Note
Access to this page requires authorization. You can try signing in or changing directories.
Access to this page requires authorization. You can try changing directories.
Question
Monday, August 27, 2012 3:46 AM | 4 votes
Why did Microsoft kill Setup and Deployment Projects in Visual Studio 2012?
All replies (15)
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 2:18 AM ✅Answered | 4 votes
Hi flagrantHippo, Manish,
I am sorry that .vdproj project is not supported in VS2012, so you can't open and work this project in VS2012.
See the following paragraph which is quoted from this MSDN article for further information:
You can’t open this project in Visual Studio 2012 because it doesn't support that project type. We recommend that you use InstallShield Limited Edition for Visual Studio (ISLE), a free deployment solution that directly supports most Windows platforms and application runtimes. You can also use ISLE to import data and settings from Visual Studio Installer projects. For more information, see Windows Installer Deployment.
Thanks.
Vicky Song [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Sunday, September 2, 2012 4:57 AM ✅Answered
Good Tip. The only thing about that place is there are lots of duplicate requests for the same thing. If anybody else cares vote here.
Don't know if they'll listen.
Monday, August 27, 2012 9:07 PM
We are very frustrated to find out the same. This is just dropped without any replacement. Out entire code base depend on many many vdproj projects with custom actions. We are having difficulties converting it to Install Shield solution. This is not going to be a easy transition. Does someone have a workaround or a quick solution?
Manish
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 2:30 AM
I've been pulling my hair out trying to get InstallShield Limited Edition for Visual Studio 2012 to work. It just sends me around in circles saying I should download for Visual Studio 11 Beta. Someone should tell them it's not beta anymore. It is installed already. Got an email that says I should activate but there is no way to activate nor any instructions on how to activate. The fact is this product is NOT integrated. Can some one answer me why it was removed? That page does not say why.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 4:26 PM | 1 vote
ISLE didn't work with custom actions/advanced scenarios. There are too many problems. We are stuck as of now. Should we open MS Support ticket?
Manish
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 11:57 PM | 1 vote
This is the first time I can ever remember regretting upgrading code to a newer version of Visual Studio. I'll just have to stay with Visual Studio 2010 for a while longer. A lot of code at my job uses custom actions as well. There is no way this going to work. Even if we pay another five grand for Install Shield there is another learning curve and conversion to go through. Well I guess in my spare time I'll have to learn Wix.
The thing I really don't understand is why remove it. I can understand not enhancing it for new features, but the code was there for vdproj. Why completely remove it?
Thursday, August 30, 2012 6:27 AM | 1 vote
Hi flagrantHippo, Manish,
I am sorry that I can't find any official documents about why remove this kind project from VS2012. And if you find it is very important to you, please open a feature request on the Microsoft UserVoice site here: http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio
And for further support about how to InstallShield Limited Edition for Visual Studio (ISLE), please consult setup project experts directly on the ClickOnce and Setup & Deployment Projects forum.
Thanks.
Vicky Song [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Monday, September 3, 2012 7:18 AM | 1 vote
Hi flagrantHippo,
I have voted it for you.
Thanks.
Vicky Song [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us
Thursday, September 12, 2013 9:25 PM
Why? Because in our profession things change and inevitably things have to be cut off at a certain point (legacy). It is just like VB, Microsoft had to sa no at some point. IT's like with anything, there are new ways to do things, better ways and at some point like it or not, certain things will be cut off. It's part of our job to accept that when it makes sense and in this case, yes, I'm sure WinRT since it's totally a different core, yea, some things have to go.
I'm not too pissed because I like the new stuff in VS 2012 so I'm ready to deal with it, get it done and move the f on...instead of bitching about this.
C# Web Developer
Thursday, December 26, 2013 9:30 PM
Just use NSIS.
http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page
Thursday, August 7, 2014 6:47 PM | 8 votes
If anyone is still following this thread there is an extension to fix this in VS2013
Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Projects
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/9abe329c-9bba-44a1-be59-0fbf6151054d
Thursday, October 30, 2014 7:00 PM | 1 vote
If anyone is still following this thread there is an extension to fix this in VS2013
Microsoft Visual Studio Installer Projects
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/9abe329c-9bba-44a1-be59-0fbf6151054d
So, they fixed it in 2013, but left out 2012. Smooth move.
Monday, December 8, 2014 8:32 AM
Great post! I am just struggling with this issue for sometime.
Thanks a lot guy!
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 4:52 PM
That's really useful, thanks. It's a real shame it doesn't work for Visual Studio 2015 Community, though! Visual Studio Professional is required. :(
P.S. Sorry for replying to such an old post.
Friday, June 2, 2017 7:07 PM | 3 votes
In Tools | Extensions
Search for installer and you should see this:
Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 Installer Projects