Installing VSPackages With Windows Installer

Applies to: Visual Studio Visual Studio for Mac

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2017. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

Integrating your VSPackage into Visual Studio requires more than just copying files to a user's computer. Your VSPackage's installer must install the VSPackage and its dependent files, and register and integrate them into Visual Studio. Your VSPackage can take advantage of integration features such as displaying an icon on the Visual Studio splash screen and About dialog box.

Microsoft Windows Installer files are the recommended way to distribute your VSPackages. Easy-to-use Windows Installer packages can run on any Windows operating system supported by Visual Studio. For more information, see Windows Installer.

In This Section

• Windows Installer Basics

Provides an overview of the Windows Installer.

• VSPackage Setup Scenarios

Discusses different ways you can support side-by-side installations of both your VSPackages and Visual Studio.

• Authoring a Windows Installer Package

Provides an overview of the typical steps installers follow to correctly install and integrate VSPackages into Visual Studio.

• Detecting System Requirements

Describes how an installer can detect Visual Studio and its components and cancel setup if VSPackage requirements are not met.

• Component Management

Discusses how to develop an installer that will maintain the integrity of previous product versions.

• Choosing the Installation Directory for a VSPackage

Summarizes the options for locating VSPackages.

• VSPackage Registration

Discusses how VSPackages are registered at installation time and why self-registration is a bad idea.

• Deploying Project Types

Discusses how to use the new project-type aggregator for managed-code project types.

• How to: Generate Registry Information for an Installer

Explains how to use RegPkg.exe to generate a registration manifest for a managed VSPackage.

• Commands That Must Be Run After Installation

Explains how to run post-installation commands to integrate VSPackages into Visual Studio.

• Uninstalling a VSPackage With Windows Installer

Describes the steps your installer must perform when users uninstall your VSPackage.