Keep variables in a separate wxi include file. Enables re-use, variables are faster to find and (if needed) allows for easier manipulation by an external tool. Define Platform variables for x86 and x64 builds <!-- Product name as you want it to appear in Add/Remove Programs--> <?if $(var.Platform) = x64 ?> <?define ProductName = "Product Name (64 bit)" ?> <?define Win64 = "yes" ?> <?define PlatformProgramFilesFolder = "ProgramFiles64Folder" ?> <?else ?> <?define ProductName = "Product Name" ?> <?define Win64 = "no" ?> <?define PlatformProgramFilesFolder = "ProgramFilesFolder" ?> <?endif ?> Store the installation location in the registry, enabling upgrades to find the correct location. For example, if a user sets custom install directory. <Property Id="INSTALLLOCATION"> <RegistrySearch Id="RegistrySearch" Type="raw" Root="HKLM" Win64="$(var.Win64)" Key="Software\Company\Product" Name="InstallLocation" /> </Property> Note: WiX guru Rob Mensching has posted an excellent blog entry which goes into more detail and fixes an edge case when properties are set from the command line. Examples using 1. 2. and 3. <?include $(sys.CURRENTDIR)\Config.wxi?> <Product ... > <Package InstallerVersion="200" InstallPrivileges="elevated" InstallScope="perMachine" Platform="$(var.Platform)" Compressed="yes" Description="$(var.ProductName)" /> and <Directory Id="TARGETDIR" Name="SourceDir"> <Directory Id="$(var.PlatformProgramFilesFolder)"> <Directory Id="INSTALLLOCATION" Name="$(var.InstallName)"> The simplest approach is always do major upgrades, since it allows both new installs and upgrades in the single MSI. UpgradeCode is fixed to a unique Guid and will never change, unless we don't want to upgrade existing product. Note: In WiX 3.5 there is a new MajorUpgrade element which makes life even easier! Creating an icon in Add/Remove Programs <Icon Id="Company.ico" SourceFile="..\Tools\Company\Images\Company.ico" /> <Property Id="ARPPRODUCTICON" Value="Company.ico" /> <Property Id="ARPHELPLINK" Value="http://www.example.com/" /> On release builds we version our installers, copying the msi file to a deployment directory. An example of this using a wixproj target called from AfterBuild target: <Target Name="CopyToDeploy" Condition="'$(Configuration)' == 'Release'"> <!-- Note we append AssemblyFileVersion, changing MSI file name only works with Major Upgrades --> <Copy SourceFiles="$(OutputPath)$(OutputName).msi" DestinationFiles="..\Deploy\Setup\$(OutputName) $(AssemblyFileVersion)_$(Platform).msi" /> </Target> Use heat to harvest files with wildcard (*) Guid. Useful if you want to reuse WXS files across multiple projects (see my answer on multiple versions of the same product). For example, this batch file automatically harvests RoboHelp output. @echo off robocopy ..\WebHelp "%TEMP%\WebHelpTemp\WebHelp" /E /NP /PURGE /XD .svn "%WIX%bin\heat" dir "%TEMP%\WebHelp" -nologo -sfrag -suid -ag -srd -dir WebHelp -out WebHelp.wxs -cg WebHelpComponent -dr INSTALLLOCATION -var var.WebDeploySourceDir There's a bit going on, robocopy is stripping out Subversion working copy metadata before harvesting; the -dr root directory reference is set to our installation location rather than default TARGETDIR; -var is used to create a variable to specify the source directory (web deployment output). Easy way to include the product version in the welcome dialog title by using Strings.wxl for localization. (Credit: saschabeaumont. Added as this great tip is hidden in a comment) <WixLocalization Culture="en-US" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/wix/2006/localization"> <String Id="WelcomeDlgTitle">{\WixUI_Font_Bigger}Welcome to the [ProductName] [ProductVersion] Setup Wizard</String> </WixLocalization> Save yourself some pain and follow Wim Coehen's advice of one component per file. This also allows you to leave out (or wild-card *) the component GUID. Rob Mensching has a neat way to quickly track down problems in MSI log files by searching for value 3. Note the comments regarding internationalization. When adding conditional features, it's more intuitive to set the default feature level to 0 (disabled) and then set the condition level to your desired value. If you set the default feature level >= 1, the condition level has to be 0 to disable it, meaning the condition logic has to be the opposite to what you'd expect, which can be confusing :) <Feature Id="NewInstallFeature" Level="0" Description="New installation feature" Absent="allow"> <Condition Level="1">NOT UPGRADEFOUND</Condition> </Feature> <Feature Id="UpgradeFeature" Level="0" Description="Upgrade feature" Absent="allow"> <Condition Level="1">UPGRADEFOUND</Condition> </Feature>

我很惊讶没有人提到在构建期间使用T4生成WXS文件。我是通过Henry Lee @ New Age Solutions了解到这一点的。

实际上，您创建了一个自定义MSBuild任务来执行T4模板，该模板在编译Wix项目之前输出WXS。这允许您(取决于您如何实现它)自动包含来自编译另一个解决方案的所有程序集输出(这意味着您不再需要在添加新程序集时编辑wxs)。

设置DISABLEADVTSHORTCUTS属性，强制安装程序中所有发布的快捷方式成为常规快捷方式，并且不需要包括一个虚拟的reg键作为小键盘。

<Property Id="DISABLEADVTSHORTCUTS" Value="1"/>

我认为Windows Installer 4.0或更高版本是必需的。

检查是否安装IIS:

<Property Id="IIS_MAJOR_VERSION">
    <RegistrySearch Id="CheckIISVersion" Root="HKLM" Key="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\InetStp" Name="MajorVersion" Type="raw" />
</Property>

<Condition Message="IIS must be installed">
    Installed OR IIS_MAJOR_VERSION
</Condition>

检查Vista+上是否安装了iis6元数据库兼容性:

<Property Id="IIS_METABASE_COMPAT">
    <RegistrySearch Id="CheckIISMetabase" Root="HKLM" Key="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\InetStp\Components" Name="ADSICompatibility" Type="raw" />
</Property>

<Condition Message="IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility feature must be installed">
    Installed OR ((VersionNT &lt; 600) OR IIS_METABASE_COMPAT)
</Condition>

Peter Tate已经展示了如何在单独的wix片段中定义可重用的ComponentGroup定义。一些与此相关的额外技巧:

目录别名

组件组片段不需要知道主产品wxs定义的目录。在你的组件组片段中，你可以这样描述一个文件夹:

<DirectoryRef Id="component1InstallFolder">
...
</DirectoryRef>

然后主产品可以别名它的一个目录(例如。"productInstallFolder")像这样:

<Directory Id="productInstallFolder" Name="ProductName">
   <!-- not subfolders (because no Name attribute) but aliases for parent! -->
   <Directory Id="component1InstallFolder"/> 
   <Directory Id="component2InstallFolder"/> 
</Directory>

依赖关系图

ComponentGroup元素可以包含ComponentGroupRef子元素。如果您有大量可重用组件，并且它们之间有复杂的依赖关系图，那么这是非常棒的。你只需要为每个组件在自己的片段中建立一个ComponentGroup，并像这样声明依赖项:

<ComponentGroup Id="B">
   <ComponentRef Id="_B" />
   <ComponentGroupRef Id="A">
</ComponentGroup>

如果您现在在设置中引用组件组“B”，因为它是应用程序的直接依赖项，那么它将自动拉入组件组“a”，即使应用程序作者从未意识到它是“B”的依赖项。只要你没有任何循环依赖，它就“可以工作”。

Reusable wixlib

如果您使用lit.exe将大池-o-可重用组件编译为可重用的wixlib，则上述依赖关系图的想法效果最好。在创建应用程序设置时，可以像引用wixobj文件一样引用这个wixlib。exe链接器将自动消除没有被主产品wxs文件“拉入”的任何片段。

当安装不允许卸载或重新安装且不能回滚时，执行强制重新安装。 VBscript脚本，用于覆盖一个没有卸载的安装。

Dim objShell
set objShell = wscript.createObject("wscript.shell")

iReturn = objShell.Run("CMD /K MsiExec.exe /I ""C:\Users\TheUser\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Projects\InstallationTarget\HelloInstaller\bin\Debug\HelloInstaller.msi"" REINSTALLMODE=vomus REINSTALL=ALL",,True)