WiX bootstrapper for .NET 4.5

Question

I am new to WiX and have built a standalone installer. I would like to detect if the system has .NET 4.5 on it and prompt the user to install this. My development environment is Visual Studio 2010 using the WiX 3.7 toolset.

From some of the tutorials I have seen I should either use WiX 3.6 Burn or use the WiX bootstrapper project template in Visual Studio 2010.

For some reason, when I installed Wix 3.7 I don't have the bootstrapper template (I am not sure if I am missing an extension to download).

Is it better to use the bootstrapper template over Burn? What are the differences?

Answer 1

You need to create a new project named "Bootstrapper Project" (this template must be in your Visual Studio 2010 installation, related to the Windows Installer XML). Here are very good blog posts with manuals:

• Introducing Managed Bootstrapper Applications by Heath Stewart
• WiX Burn – tips/tricks by Neil Sleightholm