Where is Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller found?

wix
Josh Kodroff picture Josh Kodroff · Apr 1, 2013 · Viewed 21.5k times · Source

I'm trying to compile a WiX installer (which has custom actions, which I suspect are the source of the issue) on a build server and I'm getting the following error:

  c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets(1360,9): warning MSB3245: Could not resolve
this reference. Could not locate the assembly "Microsoft.Deployment.WindowsInstaller, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
 PublicKeyToken=ce35f76fcda82bad, processorArchitecture=MSIL". Check to make sure the assembly exists on disk. If this
reference is required by your code, you may get compilation errors. [C:\code\rms1-moverssuite\src\RMSS.Setup.CustomActi
ons\RMSS.Setup.CustomActions.csproj]

Any idea what needs to be installed? I vaguely remember that I had to install something from the Windows SDK last time I did this, but can't remember what it was.

Answer

Christopher Painter picture Christopher Painter · Apr 1, 2013

It's part of Windows Installer XML (WiX) an open source project formerly from Microsoft but since transferred to the Outercurve Foundation. It can be found on CodePlex. 3.7 is the latest release.

This interop assembly is part of Deployment Tools Foundation (DTF) and you'll find an SDK help file installed in the start menu. The actual assembly will be found in C:\Program Files (x86)\WiX Toolset v3.7\SDK.

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