MSI or Exe

[pmclinn]

I have created several programs that use the visual studio 2003 setup
and deploy wizard. And my programs compile fine but I recieved tons of
feedback from users that do not understand that a msi is a executible
file (Click to install). They are looking for the .exe extension. I
also noticed several shareware boards only accept exe files. Is there
a way to compile these files, like in vb6, as a exe installation? I
need the entire setup project to be saved as a EXE.

As a side note, I tried creating a self executing zip file, but this
confused the users even more. Good grief!

-Peter

 

[Cor Ligthert]

pmClinn,

It sounds to me not clever what you want to do. Exe, bat etc. files are more
and more filtered by firewalls and virusscanners etc, while msi still is
not. However there is always a setup as well in the msi directory.

Just my thought,

Cor

 

[poldoj]

I think there's a options for create a setup.exe launcher when you build
your package

 

[pmclinn]

The firewalls do pick up on the exe's but it amazes me how many
compalaints I recieve about the MSI extension. Does anyone know what
options to select to make a single exe if it is in fact possible using
the windows installer?

 

[C-Services Holland b.v.]

The firewalls do pick up on the exe's but it amazes me how many
compalaints I recieve about the MSI extension. Does anyone know what
options to select to make a single exe if it is in fact possible using
the windows installer?

If you don't find a solution, you could always use something like
InnoSetup (which is free) to wrap up your MSI into 1 executable setup
file. The script will be very compact since it only has to extract and
execute your MSI file. That way you still have all the options of the
MSI installation.

Website: www.jrsoftware.org

It'll add about 300k to your total size if it can't compress the MSI
file further.