Merge msi and exe

Hi

My deployment project creates and .msi-file and an .exe-file. Is it possible to merge these into one .exe?

From stackoverflow

• Yes, you can create a self-extracting installer containing both MSI and the setup.exe bootstrapper file.

  I think it is possible to do that with WinZip, or you can use IExpress coming with Windows. Here is a guide how to create a self-extracting executable with IExpress. You can either use the IExpress wizard or manually write a config file which you then can execute in the post-built step of your setup project, e.g. by calling

  IExpress /N /Q MySetup.sed
  

  A sample configuration file would look like this:

  [Version]
  Class=IEXPRESS
  SEDVersion=3
  [Options]
  PackagePurpose=InstallApp
  ShowInstallProgramWindow=1
  HideExtractAnimation=1
  UseLongFileName=1
  InsideCompressed=0
  CAB_FixedSize=0
  CAB_ResvCodeSigning=0
  RebootMode=N
  InstallPrompt=%InstallPrompt%
  DisplayLicense=%DisplayLicense%
  FinishMessage=%FinishMessage%
  TargetName=%TargetName%
  FriendlyName=%FriendlyName%
  AppLaunched=%AppLaunched%
  PostInstallCmd=%PostInstallCmd%
  AdminQuietInstCmd=%AdminQuietInstCmd%
  UserQuietInstCmd=%UserQuietInstCmd%
  SourceFiles=SourceFiles
  [Strings]
  InstallPrompt=
  DisplayLicense=
  FinishMessage=
  TargetName=MySetup.exe
  FriendlyName=My cool application
  AppLaunched=CMD /C setup.exe
  PostInstallCmd=
  AdminQuietInstCmd=
  UserQuietInstCmd=
  FILE0="setup.exe"
  FILE1="MySetup.msi"
  [SourceFiles]
  SourceFiles0=
  [SourceFiles0]
  %FILE0%=
  %FILE1%=
  

  There is a little caveat however with the self-extracting installer scenarios. Due to another fix these scenarios are broken with the bootstrapper (setup.exe) created by VS2008 SP1. For a workaround see the following thread: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winformssetup/thread/3731985c-d9cc-4403-ab7d-992a0971f686/?ffpr=0.

  Martin : Doesn't work with VS.NET 2008 Setup Bootstrapper.

  0xA3 : Yes, it doesn't work due to a bug. See the link that I have posted (http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winformssetup/thread/3731985c-d9cc-4403-ab7d-992a0971f686/?ffpr=0) for a workaround.

  odd parity : The PostInstallCmd line in [Strings] should read PostInstallCmd=, otherwise it will give you an "error creating process" message when installation completes.

• I like it, you can see how to use IExpress on this link!

  The only problem I see was that I've generated a installer on Windows Vista 64bits, I was trying to install the generated .exe in a server with Windows Server 2008 32bits, but it throws an error about processor type.

  odd parity : I ran into this as well, you can fix it by running C:\Windows\SysWoW64\IExpress.exe instead of the one in C:\Windows\System32. That way it will always generate a 32-bit exe.