New system information custom actions coming soon to WiX v3
The Windows Home Server folks have an SDK for extending the server with what they call “add-ins.” Their deployment sample is written with WiX. I love to see that, so I’m looking into what setup...
View ArticleNew WiX feature: DefaultCompressionLevel
Working with multi–gigabyte setups has taught me that compressing cabinets can be very time-consuming. Of course, it can also be vital — Flight Simulator X barely fit on two DVDs; without high...
View ArticleNew WiX feature: Internet shortcuts
A common request on wix-users is how to create shortcuts to a Web site. MSI’s Shortcut table and CreateShortcuts action don’t support targets that point to URLs like http://www.joyofsetup.com/. A...
View ArticleNew WiX feature: Setting package installation scope
For flexibility at deployment time, MSI uses the value of the ALLUSERS property in determining the type of an installation—whether it’s per-machine or per-user. That lets a network administrator easily...
View ArticleNew WiX feature: Gaming extension
The Game Explorer is a new feature in Windows Vista to collect and richly present installed games. Game Explorer is a shell folder that includes detailed information about each game, including box art,...
View ArticleRFC: Vitality
The msidbFileAttributesVital File attribute bit says to Windows Installer that the file is vital to the operation of the installation and if it can’t be installed, the installation should fail. In an...
View ArticleFile vitality
The feedback was quick and consistent: Marking files vital by default is a good thing. So in the next weekly release of WiX, files will get the msidbFileAttributesVital attribute by default. The...
View ArticleNew WiX feature: Firewall extension
WixFirewallExtension is a new WiX extension that lets you configure the Windows Firewall from your program’s installer. Windows has had a built-in firewall since Windows XP was released in 2001, though...
View ArticleLocalizing more than strings in WiX v3.6
Localizing an MSI package—primarily the user interface but also bits like the product name, shortcut names, and other user-visible, localizable strings—has been pretty much unchanged since WiX v2.0:...
View Article