Visual Studio Installer Setup Project

Question

I'm wondering how to use Setup Project in Visual Studio 15, which was in

Solution -> Add -> New Project -> .../installed -> Other Project -> Types -> Visual Studio Installer ->Setup Project

but this disappeared. To create an .EXE file for a Windows Form Desktop application, it seems like it is no longer available.

Or how can I access the same functionality with higher versions?

Answer 1

There is an extension that brings it back for backwards compatibility. But at the same time the guidance has been to finally move to a Wix installer or some other installer technology.

The Installer projects are considered deprecated and bad. They can't be easily built using a CI server and more issues.

The proper solution would be:

• Use Wix Installer project (if you need Visual Studio project support)
  • Simple tutorial
  • Pluralsight
• Use something like NullSoft Installer (just build the installer by building it outside of Visual Studio.

If you have an existing investment in the old style installer projects, you can still use the extension. If you're building something new. DON'T. It may be the simplest way of adding an installer, but it'll cause more issues in the long run.