WiX: A Developer's Guide to Windows Installer XML

Your first WiX project

To get started, download the WiX Toolset. It can be found at:

http://wix.codeplex.com/

Once you've downloaded and installed it, open Visual Studio and select New Project | WiX | WiX Project. This will create a solution with a single .wxs (WiX source) file. Visual Studio will usually call this file Product.wxs, but the name could be anything as long as it ends with .wxs.

Even the most minimal installer must have the following XML elements:

• an XML declaration
• a Wix element that serves as the root element in your XML document
• a Product element that is a child to the Wix element, but all other elements are children to it
• a Package element
• a Media element
• at least one Directory element with at least one child Component element
• a Feature ...